1st XI Record First Win

Cubs 1st XI visited Great Brickhill eager to get their first win of the season and things looked good as they won the toss and elected to bat on a used deck that looked good but would certainly take some spin. We set off at a fantastic rate with the score on 61 when Junaid Allie (32) fell in the 6th over. Owen Venables then came to the crease and put on a further 74 with Chris Baines (23). Dawie Viljoen (21) and Alec Howe (10) provided some good support with Dawie falling to a comical run out as he walked off assuming the catch had been taking and not seeing that it had been dropped but did not manage to make his ground. Venables was next to fall having reached 88 and Will Rodnight (20) and Ollie Fairhurst (4) falling in quick succession and with 35 overs gone it looked like we might not bat 50 overs. However, the experience of Steve George (29*) and Neil Giles (32) put on a valuable 74 runs to see us to the 50 over mark and a great total of 327.

As we took to the field we knew that we had to work hard if we were to win and things started well as Will Rodnight snaffled 2 early wickets and Ollie Fairhurst nicked off the other opener. Soon after Brickhill were struggling at 53 for 4. Howerver, a 123 run 5 wicket partnership led to a few nerves in some places, but in truth with 8 an over required for the final 25 overs it was never going to be close if we bowled well. The next two wickets fell at 210 and once Maicol Javed fell as the 9th wicket for a superb 110 it was just a case of taking the last wicket to wrap up a convincing win. Ollie Fairhurst was the pick of the bowlers with 3 for 33 with 2 wickets each for Owen Venables, Will Rodnight and Neil Giles. Special mention to Nick Rowe who bowled well without much luck.