Burgh Heath CC ‘V’ St Lukes A -Friendly 40 Overs Saturday 31^st May

Report by Wasif Zamir

After a good victory last week against a good Wimbledon Village, St Lukes were looking forward to a friendly against a Burgh Heath side that have been known for high tempo matches.

After losing the toss we were put into bat on a soft wicket with larger than usual boundaries. We started slow but steady as Dieter and Richard S looked very solid, Dieter effectively finding the gaps- however due to the size of the pitch and a slow outfield we knew hitting boundaries were going to be difficult. After “putting on his specs” Richard S really started to unwind, smashing the ball around the field. Dieter was then caught behind (14). The middle order then fell to pieces as Shoks, Wasif and Martin Fleming were all caught out for ducks! John Breaden added 3. In between the “chaos” Mitsi (15) “ran out” Richard S (30) after sending him back for a second run. Some very useful runs were added by the tail as Nick Raviden (15), Evan (11*) and Roy Yatali (13*) punished the bowlers. St Lukes finished on 117-8 from 40 Overs.

After a good tea, St Lukes started in high spirit as we felt that 117 was decent score considering the state and size of the pitch, meanwhile the Burgh Heath openers saw things a little differently- Getting boundaries from the get-go, despite this St Lukes bowled well but had a task getting through the “iron defence” of the openers, with Evan, Raj, Shoks, Mitsi and Dieter bowling good spells. Shoks was rewarded by taking a wicket (Caught by Mitsi) but by then it was a bit late to recover, the final 13 runs coming of Wasif’s over (ouch!)

Man of the match, Richard Somers (Batted brilliantly, unfortunately run out)