Patience, Patience!
The thirds failed to make it a clean sweep of victories for the weekend after suffering a defeat at the hands of a Lakeside team, that was largely of their own making. Lakeside have a certain way of approaching batting which is well documented, but the bowlers array of wide and full deliveries fed that style in allowing, assisted by some sub standard fielding and catching, the visitors to reach 134-4 before making inroads into tail end that is regularly in evidence when playing against these opponents. That tail saw batsmen 5 to 11 inclusive register just eleven runs with Elliot Hogben capitalising to capture five of those scalps for 45 runs and Jordy Higham add to his weekend tally with 3-32. Earlier, Lewis Keogh had shown that a tight line and length could restrict the cavalier batting as he took two early wickets for 17 runs at less than three an over.
The reply got off to a poor start as Steve Mac, who's
scintillating century against the same opponents last season will live long in
the memory, played all round one to be bowled without scoring. Opening partner
Owen Hogben then edged to slip, also for a duck, and at 4-2, the visitors' 174
was beginning to look a distance away. When Jordy lofted one to mid off with
the score on 22, Lewis and Dan Jones came together and the two left handers put
together a mature stand of 86 that should have been a decent platform to secure
victory, but some crazy shot selection threw away that advantage as a catalogue
of huge swipes at the ball ensued when only gentle pushes around the vacant
gaps to pick up ones, twos and the occasional boundary was all that was
required. In the final analysis, defeat by nineteen runs is what will be
recorded for posterity, but the feeling that the game was thrown away, still
pervades.