Post date: Jun 16, 2013 9:58:44 AM
BCC travelled up to Kentisbeare in the Hatton party bus, looking to make it 4 wins on the bounce. With Lee pulling out late through injury, Pat came in to the side with vice-captain Mark Fog standing in as skipper.
Mark lost the toss and the opposition opted to bat in overcast conditions, but with a hard pitch and U11-sized straight boundaries. Kentisbeare got off to a steady start, with Dan Fog finding plenty of bounce and plenty of carry from the track. Chrissy Lavis was also accurate early on but got a little unlucky with a few edges and false shots flying to the boundary. Dan got the breakthrough, catching the edge of the opposition skipper's bat, caught well by Mark Fog behind the stumps. Norman and Farley dug in well, hitting the odd boundary but not many runs came from tight early spells from Boother and Tom Fog. At drinks, the home side had only made 80, but were still just one wicket down. After drinks there was an immediate change of pace as Norman (90) and Farley (83) went after Cal Mal, regularly clearing the fence. They continued to play their shots and they soon moved on to 150, with 16 overs still to go. Thankfully we then got a breakthrough with Dan Fog taking a stunning one handed catch from left-armer Tommy Boother's bowling. The boundaries kept on coming, but more wickets from Boother and Tom Fog meant that the game wasn't getting out of hand. Lavis returned and picked up two wickets, both bowled with great yorkers, but nothing could stop the batsmen finding the boundary. In truth, we didn't bowl or field too badly, the home side just batted really well to get themselves to 293-6. A steady platform was built early on and some really clean hitting towards the end took them to a 40 run over par score at this ground. Nonetheless, after our batting performances in recent weeks, we still thought that was a very gettable total.
After a lovely tea, Jacko opened up with returning left-hander Phil Woods. The first over from Chave was pretty sharp, with Woods playing out a maiden with a few false shots. The next over was rather different, with Jacko starting in typical imperious style, caressing the ball to the boundary twice through the covers. Jacko then upped the pace with a six onto the road, before he got a good delivery which he nicked to the keeper. Phil came in at three and immediately climbed into the bowling, hitting any loose balls to and over the fence. The two Phils shared well over 100 before Woods picked out the man at long on for a well played 47. Phil brought up his 100 with another powerful boundary, leaving the visitors needing less than 100 at around run-a-ball, only 2 down. Chave (3-34) returned and got rid of Phil, caught behind for an unbelievable 133, off less than 100 balls. Tom Fog went the same over for 15, caught behind on the hook. Hints of a BCC collapse began to return as Lavis went very next ball caught at long on, leaving James to face a hatrick ball with the batsmen crossing. James punched it for 4, but Briddy still needed 80 at over a run a ball for a victory that had only an over before looked in the bag. Pat was struck on the neck first ball but that didn't worry him, as he smashed the next ball to the boundary for 4. The next over was milked for a few singles before James cleared the boundary for a much needed 6. Pat was striking it nicely and smashed 3 straight sixes off the next over, leaving us suddenly needing less than 5 an over. James joined the action with another 6 taking us within 20 of a great win. Pat then tried one shot too many and was bowled leaving us needing 15 with 4 wickets left. Mark Fog found the gaps to pick up the singles before James smashed another six to level the scores and then tickled one to fine-leg to finish off a great win, with 16 balls to spare! By all accounts it was a great chase, with Phil. H's quality ton definitely being the highlight! That's 4 wins from 4 for BCC, with the batting going really well yet again! Next week it's Upottery at home, with another win needed to push us up into promotion contention!