Fourth Team Lose Opener

Harefield 3s , relegated from Level 6 were our visitors and they won the toss and elected to bat. We were missing a few bowlers and certainly lacked a pace threat but bowled tightly and boundaries were at a premium . Their number 3 Hanif scored an unbeaten 50 and helped them to 184-9 off 45.

John Graham was the pick of the bowlers with four wickets and evergreen Skipper Grouty and debutant Ryan James got a couple each. It was a good effort , we fielded well and it was good to be back out over the hedge.

We needed a couple of our top 4 to get big scores to get us over the line and Nick Wake (pictured) with a fine 50 certainly gave us a chance but Harefield bowled well and we also found boundaries hard to come by . Opening bowler Bukhari choked us bowling 10 overs 1-10 and a couple of good catches cooked our goose. We kept on going and got to 130-8 so were far from disgraced.

An enjoyable enough start and as ever the beer was deserved and enjoyable.