Compton v Petersfield pre-season friendly

Petersfield 2’s first pre-season game was unfortunately a hard fought defeat away at Compton. On a soft green pitch, that seemed more to be the square than their regular wicket, it was important to win the toss and bowl. In his first outing as captain, Frank Straw promptly lost it. Compton took no time in deciding to field, and Petersfield padded up. James Stratford-Tuke and John Windebank opened slowly and steadily, getting used to the pitch, and Petersfield reached 20 off the first 10 overs. However, disaster struck in the 11 th , when a combination of dubious calling, paired with Compton’s new star fielder (Robert Straw on loan for the innings) led to the run out of James S-T (8). After losing Rich Stephens (2) LBW, and then John Windebank (13) a stubborn defence was made on the difficult pitch by Eoin Seager and Gabriel Broadhurst. After Eoin (18) fell in the 23 rd over with the score on 60, wickets were lost consistently to canny Compton bowling, and some exceptional catching. The only true batsman left – Gabriel (33) – stubbornly refused to get out, and after cameos from Frank Straw (10), Mark Holloway (13) and Oscar Windebank (13), he eventually fell in the 36 th over. Robert (0) and Nigel Straw (2) closed off the innings, and Petersfield had set a target of 132 after their 40 overs. The 2’s opened their reply with the young guns of Oscar Windebank and Robert Straw. Finding the pitch to be a challenge for faster bowling, neither could find a breakthrough. Oscar finished with a very respectable 0-14 off 6, while Robert struggled against Compton’s captain/opening batsmen A Elms, with figures of 0-40 off 4. Mark Holloway came into the attack and did a fantastic job of stemming the runs, while try as he might, Frank Straw couldn’t dislodge the Compton Captain, but did find the wicket of Compton’s other opener, with the help of a great top edge catch from Richard Stephens. With the home team on 86 after 20 overs, needing 47 for victory, Elms retired on 51. Mark and Frank carried on; put could make no more breakthroughs, Mark ending with very good figures of 0-33 off 9, and Frank with 1-11 off 6. Compton edged towards their target while the bowlers rotated with Eoin Seager bowling 0-11 off 1, Nigel Straw bowling 0-2 off1 and Richard Stephens 0-13 of 1.2. Compton reached their target of 132 after 28 overs with a six over cow corner from A Stickley (34). While they may have lost, Petersfield can take a lot of positives from the game. There was the stubborn defence with the bat from Gabe who batted for 20 overs while others fell around him, the containment bowling of Mark and Frank, and the overall excellent fielding by the whole team. Looking forward to Waterlooville this Sunday! Champagne Moment: Oscar Windebank’s huge six that cleared the boundary, the fence, and a third of a ploughed field at the end of the Petersfield Innings!