Cincinnati overcame challenges on and off the field to ensure a successful start to the new season. Prior to the match, the Skip & Vice's long deliberations over the batting order (see previous post) had been thrown into chaos with a couple of late changes to selection. Ash's shock withdrawal on Saturday afternoon (most had been anticipating Sunday morning at the earliest) was followed by news that our "secret batter" was not yet ready to come out of the shadows.
Clearly upset by the last-minute confusion, the Skip decided to preempt the traditional coin-tossing ritual with a direct request to bat first. The rattled West XI captain obliged and, despite a sometimes tricky wicket, we scored 172-7 off 35. Main contributors were Lurpak (47), Selfish (36) and Adam (29*). The Ross Bros held things together with a fifty partnership in the middle overs and Adam hit out well in the closing stages. His straight six in the last over was bettered only by an amazing Caribbean-style step across the stumps and whack to the mid-wicket boundary.
Highlights of tea were home-made carrot and ginger cake (Chairman) and wedding cake (Lurpak). After the interval, our fielding and bowling were impressive. Selfish and the Chairman both took three wickets (the latter needing a 13-mile run to warm up for his spell), Lurpak and Adam contained well and the Skip got his first stumping of the season. Special mention to Jack for his excellent keeping. West XI ended on 153-8, 20 runs short of victory.
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