After finally locating the ground (tip: don’t rely on the sat nav because you end up in a housing estate), Petersfield batted first on an artificial strip with occasional exaggerated bounce.
The nerves of the waiting batsmen weren’t helped by a wandering gazebo, doubling up as a temporary ‘pavilion’, which kept getting detached from its moorings in the blustery conditions, threatening to take out our lower-middle order.
On the field of play, batting was a struggle against some tight bowling, skipper Stratford-Tuke leading the way with a fluent 36. Some bold attacking shots from Newman (23) in the late stages of the innings took the score to 126, which was probably only about 20-30 runs short of a really competitive total given the conditions.
Defending a low score was always going to be tricky, but opening bowlers Godman and Newman ripped into the Overton top order. Wickets fell regularly and U15 Ben Cox sustained the pressure with a fantastic spell of controlled swing bowling (3 for 21).
With the opposition a man down due to injury and beginning to panic, victory for Petersfield looked a real possibility. The fielding was keen but Overton managed to scramble home – just – with two wickets to spare.
This was a spirited performance by an inexperienced Petersfield XI. With a few more runs on the board a first victory of the season surely can’t be far away.
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