Petersfield 3rd XI vs Ashford Hill 2nd XI

Ashford Hill 183 ao
Petersfield 121 ao

Ashford Hill won by 62 runs

Was it really only five weeks ago that the Thirds were sweltering in temperatures pushing 30 degrees at Longparish? This Saturday saw the team dispatched to yet another remote location in the far reaches of north Hampshire to play Ashford Hill. Conditions were bleak – cold, wet, windy, horrible.

Bowling first, despite freezing fingers and wearing as many sweaters as possible while retaining at least some ability to remain mobile in the field, Petersfield battled hard to bowl out the opposition for 183.

Loose deliveries were punished unerringly and ‘Field’s attack was further frustrated by a last wicket partnership where the combined ages of the batsmen must have been well into three figures.

Rory Newman bowled superbly to pick up his first ‘five-fer’ of the season (10-1-44-5), while fellow U15 Alex Thomas did his fantasy league ratings no harm at all with four catches behind the stumps, three off Newman. The other wicket-takers were Smith (2), with Godman and O’Brien picking up one each. Windebank (snr) and Phipps took two smart catches in the deep.

In response, Petersfield got off to their traditional sluggish start and also lost two quick wickets. Thomas and May got the innings back on track with a partnership of 83, May looking in great touch in compiling an authoritative 57.

The game was there to be won but disaster struck with Thomas calamitously run-out for 23. This triggered a collapse, as Petersfield lost their last seven wickets for 34 runs, with only Newman (15) showing some resistance as the required run rate began to climb.

This was a classic encounter of the wily old veterans against the enthusiastic young bucks (and it’s not often that the venerable Mark Holloway can be counted as the latter). On this occasion the more seasoned players of Ashford Hill managed to prevail.