12/05/2002 v LUTON VILLAGE

lost

Mark Cooper came in and hit some good shots, whilst Clive was gradually playing himself in. and eventually the score stared moving. Mark had a good over, sweeping 10 in three balls, and Clive hit a good hook for 4. The uneven bounce did for Clive as he tried to repeat the hook and was given out LBW. Late resistence from Pete Smith , who hit a swashbuckling 9, and Adam , who hit 8 not out- took the total to 94. Two more run outs , made this an even more dispiriting innings, the run outs being a combination of bad calling, the long grass, lack of patience and good fielding.

Luton started off well against good bowling from Richard and Neil. By this time the sun had come out and the pitch had dried. Clive missed a sharp chance down the legside behind the stumps , and this seemed to galvanise the batsman into action. He hit a 6 and a 4 in the next two balls, and henceforth chanced his arm against all the bowlers. Massive clean hit sixes were mixed up with heaves across the line, but the end result was that Luton won this match with ease and no loss of wickets. Mark Cooper and Steve Lawton bowled well at the end, showing again signs of hope for the rest of the season.

In truth Luton were much too strong for us, but we made it too easy for them.