Compton and Chandlers Ford II v Wherwell.

Wherwell travelled to looking to make it back to back wins in this fragmented season. Overnight rain had caught out the home side and the covers had not been used meaning there was a drying surface making the idea of bowling first highly inviting. Nathan Young called correct and had no hesitation inviting the home side to bat.

Stuart Taylor and Craig Beckingham took the new ball and immediately batting looked difficult with inconsistent bounce and pace troubling the batters and it was Taylor who made the breakthrough having the opener adjudged caught behind with the score struggling to stay ahead of the overs.

A brief flurry pushed the scoring rate to nearly three an over and the home side looked set for a reasonable score with wickets in hand but Wherwell’s change bowlers were all on song and the home side stalled and stuttered from 51-2 to 106 all out. Nathan Young with 3-32 was the most successful bowler and two wickets a piece for Matt Guilfoyle and Russel Ingrem plus a superb run out by the latter combination showed how tight Wherwell have become as a team backing up each other in the field and placing bodies on the line.

With a low target Beckingham and Jeremy Wickham opened and Beckingham looked in a hurry but went for a shot too many and was caught at point. Gladwyn too looked to be positive but perished in the same manner. This brought Taylor to the crease off the back of a league ton in his previous match and what had looked a difficult pitch matched with tidy bowling suddenly appeared to be a carpet with gentle throw downs. Taylor defended his first ball then hit his second for six which set a tone for an onslaught that took the game away from the home side. With the watchful Wickham supporting Taylor smashed the ball to all parts and fell for 48 to a catch on the boundary.

Wickham too perished going for an out of character slog sweep, but Ingrem completed the win with six wickets and 26 overs remaining.