After a very wet spring, the morning of the 3rd May brought glorious sunshine and the prospect of two T20 games for the Crusaders against the RAF at Vine Lane: a fixture that is eagerly awaited every season. Spirits were high despite an early start.
The RAF chose to bat first on a pitch and outfield that was still damp and slow from the previous rain and a disciplined bowling performance meant that their innings didn’t progress to a threatening total. Opening batsman Fairclough batted well for his 45, receiving support at the end from Gough (22*), to bring the score to 107-5 off 20 overs. Kit Wilson impressed with the ball, returning figures of 2-13 from his 4 overs.
An ultimately successful chase was made to look difficult by our batsman. A slow start left the score at 41-2 off 10 overs, with work to do to overhaul the total. Jon French (36) and Matt Samson (23) combined well for a partnership of 50, but 4 wickets were then lost for 11 runs, leaving the score at 89-6. Another wicket fell, needing 12 runs to win off the last over with only 3 wickets in hand. After a combination of good running and a couple of wides, it was left to Wilson, with 6 needed off 3 deliveries, to strike a 6 over mid-wicket to the short boundary to win the game.
We came out to bat again after lunch in the first innings of the second game of the day. After an early wicket, French moved the score along with 34. After his departure, Tom Corner (69*) anchored the innings very well, before ploughing the last 2 balls of the innings for 6 to bring the score to 136-5.
What followed was an outstanding bowling and fielding performance, led by Wilson and Oli Melvill with the ball. Wilson, Toby Hiram and Matti Thal picked up 2 wickets each with one apiece for Melvill, Sam Jelley and Mudara Senanayake. We bowled the RAF out for 40 to seal the victory by 96 runs.
It was satisfying to see the improvement in our performance between the two games but there is still room for collective improvement, particularly in the batting.