Little Baddow Cricket Club Saturday 2nd XI v Hullbridge on Sat 05 May 2007 at 1.30
Little Baddow Cricket Club Won 107 runs
The first game of the season was greeted by an overcast sky following weeks of sunshine, while the wicket at Riffhams was hard and the outfield lightning quick. The Edge lost the toss and we were inserted by an understrength looking opposition.
The Welshman and Big Dog strode out to the middle and were immediately greeted by a by some extremely wayward bowling at one end and the usual on the spot stuff from Taylor. Scoring off the bat proved difficult at first but extras were coming at a rapid rate to boost the total while our openers got their eye in! Gradually runs started to flow and the opening partnership passed the 100 mark as the Welshman reached his fifty. Big Dog was first out with the score on 133 and was shortly followed by the Welshman for a solid 77. Useful contributions from The Edge, Blaydesy and Franko in the middle order pushed our score past 200 while some lusty blows from the lower order meant we finished on 257-8 from our 45 overs with maximum batting points.
In reply Hullbridge started slowly with Glenda extracting some lift and lateral movement from the pitch, however it was the Edge who picked up the first 2 wickets to put the oppo firmly on the back foot. An inspired bowling change to bring on the Jnr Bucknell first change swung the game Baddow's way. Demonstrating great control, combined with flight & guile the Jnr Bucknell snaffled 4 wickets, and was ably assisted by Franko at the other end who bowled well to take 1 for himself. With overs running out the oppo just managed to claim 1 batting point as LBCC romped home by 107 runs.
All in all a good start to the season but we will face stiffer opposition than this during the division 5 campaign.
MOTM: Stuart Bucknell
Teas: 7/10
Little Baddow Cricket Club Saturday 2nd XI Batting
257 for 8
Hullbridge Bowling
Hullbridge Batting
157 for 7
Little Baddow Cricket Club Saturday 2nd XI Bowling