Primrose Hill CC v Ealing CC

The weather was perfect for a game of cricket at the beautiful setting of Regents Park. This was Ealing's first game of the season and it was played under the following rules:

12 players per side
Score starts at 200
Lose 5 runs for each wicket
Each pair bats for 3 overs

Straight from the start, Ealing were handicapped by the fact we only had 9 players against Primrose Hill's 12. It was agreed that Ealing would still bat for 18 overs with 3 batsman batting twice. To add to our woes, many of our players went out to the middle with the motto of "hit the ball out of the park". This resulted in us losing wickets at regular intervals. The inexperience also showed with the running between the wickets, as there were several run outs. We lost 12 wickets in total and ended up with a total score of 193

At the end of the innings, the boys were given a stern talking to and I was pleased with the way they fought back in the field. The boys attacked at every opportunity and stopped the flow of runs by taking wickets regularly. In the final over, Primrose Hill were on 206, but a fantastic bowling effort saw Ealing take 2 wickets in the space of 3 balls. Primrose Hill were now on 196 with 3 balls to spare. In the end they managed to hold out and win the game by 4 runs. If a couple of catches were taken and a needless overthrow not given away 5 runs, then the result may have been different. As we all know, there is a thin line between winning and losing

All in all, I was pleased with the boys efforts considering it was their first ever game. They did Ealing CC proud and I'm sure they will rectify the mistakes as they mature and gain a better understanding of the game