BELT @ Hazelbury Bryan 12/09/21

Having lost the toss, Pete and Luke opened the bowling.  Pete was generating some pace up the hill and Luke looked dangerous when he hit a line outside off stump.  This contributed to a very slow and steady start.  Luke got a vital breakthrough when he got one to come down the hill to take off stump.  Simon came on up the hill and when he hit a full length looked dangerous.  One such delivery got an edge only for the skipper to not get a hand down to it at gulley.  Ben came on down the hill but was not able to fire it outside off stump enough to force the batsmen to play straight.  However, an attempted 2 got a crucial wicket with a run out and the Wanderers’ tails were up.  Another strong partnership dented the optimism and some footballing fielding allowed BELT to accelerate.  It was David that provided the remaining wickets.  Both Ben and PW took great catches at mid-off and mid-on respectively and 2 more wickets gave David a great return of 4-20 from 11 overs.  120-7 from 42 overs was a good effort given the tricky nature of the wicket and was always going to be a challenge for the Wanderers.

Tea was provided by Skipper and then it was the Wanderers’ reply.  Mike M (1) was bowled second over with other Mike (on debut, 1) caught in the next. When Ben (3) was bowled in the 5th over the score was 8-3.  Skipper joined Simon and both looked comfortable surviving – but scoring runs looked tricky!  After 20 dots Skipper (3) played on and was followed by Big Dog (1).  Simon (11) was caught trying to force a shot after hitting a successful boundary to get into double figures and then David (4) was bowled.  Bob looked comfortable blocking out but needed someone to stay with him in an attempt to salvage a draw.  Pete (9) scored the only other four of the innings before he was caught bringing Luke to the crease.  Bob (2) got one down the hill that jumped off the unusually unpredictable wicket at Hazelbury and was caught at slip.  PW was bowled first ball.  44 all out tells the story.

MOM: David with his wickets

Catch of the day: PW