Match report 28 July 2007

Laughton v Isfield

Laughton won the toss and elected to field.

Isfield 160-10 (48.3 overs) 6 pts

Laughton 161-1 (27? overs) 30 pts.

TAILS ALWAYS FAILS

Never be clever when tossing the coin, always call heads, always, always, always...

Oh well, the visit to Division 8 leaders was going to be difficult enough without an overnight drenching making winning the toss absolutely critical. Healey of course called wrong and the Laughton had no hesitation in inserting the visitors.

Steve Newham and Huw Williams opened and closed shortly afterwards with both going cheaply. Emile Chasseaud and Lawrie Richards dug in however and although scoring slowly at first put on over a hundred with Lawrie making his half century while Emile went for the jug-avoidance route with 46. As the stand progressed, Laughton played the 'Would anyone like a Pimms?' routine, which was gladly accepted but may have affected the remaining batsmen's performance.

The lower middle order had just 9 overs to make an impact and apart from Tim Knight relishing the contest against Richard Ellinor the rest succumbed without troubling the scorers too greatly. Moose showed great faith in his partners, Jamie Hall and Martin Fellows, by taking a single early on in the over seemingly preferring to watch the innings demise from the non-striker's end. So with just 9 balls unused the total had reached a credible 160 all out.

It was decided to go for the spin option of Huw Williams and Moose using the old ball to blunt or at least surprise the Laughton reply which worked in part but failed to take a wicket. The more orthodox pace attack of Lawrie Richards with Moose switching from off breaks eventually brought a victim but there were too many loose deliveries and when Stacy Turner started to hit big it was all over bar the shouting. Jamie Hall had a couple of overs at the end and apart from a vicious beamer that was swatted to the boundary bowled straight and on a length.

Beers were partaken in the Roebuck and spirits were raised by the arrival of boxes of wine from the Follies. Mark Barrett had to explain why he said to the skipper 'I like your bottom'. I will leave Mr Barrett to explain himself personally to whoever would like to know.