Petersfield 1s report v Bishops Waltham

Petersfield 1 st XI Vs Bishop’s Waltham, 6 th June, at BW.

Petersfield slip to their first defeat of the season in a top of the table clash against Bishop’s Waltham.

Electing to bat, Bishop’s Waltham made a rapid start thanks to impressive hitting from opener Phil Baldock who smashed a number of lusty sixes; they reached 75 off the first 10 overs. Worse followed as Baldock continued to be aggressive before holing out in the 20 th over for 103 with the score already on 143. With 25 overs remaining and 320 a distinct possibility many sides could have easily crumbled but Petersfield dug deep and fought back. The slow left arm of Keith Gumbe (10-4-34) ripped through the middle order and Bishop’s Waltham, after being so dominant, were reduced to 187-7 with 10 overs left. With the game swinging back to Petersfield it then took a fine 39 from their number 8, Sam Nedhurst to take them to 256-9.

In reply Petersfield couldn’t quite match the fireworks of Phil Baldock but nevertheless set about the chase methodically. Skipper Damian Carson (17) fell in the 10 th over to one that nipped back from Neeraz Trivedi but fellow opener Gabe Broadhurst’s (51) played some fine cuts and lofted drives to keep Field in the game before he fell to Suhaib Ahmed in the 20 th over. There after Ash Spencer (41) and Dominic Carson (67) were able to manipulate the Bishop’s Waltham attack with quick 1s and 2s and at 184-2 with 10 over remaining, Petersfield looked on course to upset a Bishop’s Waltham team containing 2 overseas players. Alas is wasn’t to be. Carson and Spencer fell to loose shots off Neeraz Trivedi in quick succession and the lower order never really fired as they tried to keep up with the run rate, Ahmed taking the remaining wickets (10-5-45). As the chase petered out, Field finished on 223-9 some 30 runs short. Petersfield will be particularly proud of their fightback with the ball earlier in the day and will no doubt bounce back on Saturday against Rowledge.