Match Report
18th May -v- Belhus at North Stifford
Crusaders slipped to their first defeat of the season, after a close, roller-coaster encounter with Belhus.
On a cold and cloudy afternoon Belhus opted to bowl first, making good use of a pitch that offered a bit of movement and soon had Crusaders on the back foot.
Pommie and Chand found the going tough, with Maidment and Long regularly beating the bat and it wasn't long before Chand was comprehensively beaten. The 'engine-room' of Grrrregains, Morrison and White sadly mis-fired and Pommie perished trying to take advantage of a young child in the field. By this time skipper Wajih had joined us along with the return of Globe-trotter Grant. Surely our fortunes would improve. In the end it was a 7th wicket partnership between Wajih and Danglers that gave us something to defend. Coming together at 72-6 they added 69, before Wajih perished for an entertaining 57. Nomi had time to swat eight runs from the final two balls of the innings, leaving Belhus 40 overs to reach a target of 150.
Tea was as good as ever with a vast array of sandwiches, salads, pasta and cakes. It seemed a shame to have to go back out and play cricket. Belhus found the going equally as uncomfortable as our openers, with Moysey beating the outside edge and newboy James hitting the pitch and getting some bounce. The difference was that we did not make the early breakthrough. Excellent spells from Pommie (3-21) and Nomi in the mid section of the innings started to drag the game back in our favour, with the run rate getting up to about 7 per over at one stage, but despite a couple of fine run outs Belhus still had wickets in hand.
A few dashed singles, a couple of poor deliveries from Spud and then Chand came on. Enough said. Belhus reached their target with 4 balls to spare.
