Crawley Eagles 191 all out (48.1 overs) – 12 points

East Preston 152-9 (45 overs) – 13 points

The team headed to delightful Crawley this week, with much of the talk in advance being of the standard of the wicket that we would be faced with. The pre-match inspection brought no surprises as we found an underprepared track with a lot of give in the surface. The skipper was of course delighted to win the toss and be able to ask the Eagles to bat first.

Darryl opened as usual and did not disappoint with the amount of movement and variable bounce that he extracted from the pitch, and he was paired with young science guru Tom C who bowled an impeccable line. The first wicket came in the seventh over as the slow scoring rate got to the home openers and a suicidal run out ensued courtesy of a throw from Coskin (13-1). Sean replaced Tom and started with five wides and could not get any control so was removed from the attack after just a couple of overs to be replaced by Jack. At the other end, Coskin was brought on to try to use the unpredictability of the bounce, but it was Jack who struck next, trapping the other opener in front (37-2) and Coskin quickly followed with another LBW decision (38-3). A brief flurry of runs came before Smutt took a catch behind off Jack (52-4) in the 20^th over. Ali, Eagles number 3, decided that grafting was not the way to play on this track and started to up the tempo and, along with his Inzy look-alike partner, started to hit out. Miggins, who was suffering from a sore back, being his main victim.

The bowlers were used in shorter spells, with Tom C remaining miserly and Sean quite the opposite, which led to a prolonged sulk.

Eventually, as the EP heads were dropping and there was a danger of in-fighting developing, Darryl bowled Ali (150-5). Jack’s return, whilst not as economical as his first spell brought more wickets, firstly bowling Armer (172-6). Coskin took a good catch off Darryl (179-7), another run out (186-8) and Jack’s fourth wicket, having “Inzy” caught by Tom R at extra cover (191-9), saw Eagles panicking in search of the 200 and full batting points. Darryl ended the innings by having the Eagles skipper caught by Sean (191 all out) and EP had 10 points in the bag, although the score was the highest by some way on the Eagles track this year.

A debate on the content on one of the sandwiches (apparently it was chicken & chilli) and a couple of choice science facts from Tom C (meringue is a good fire retardant) cheered up the EP camp over tea and the team looked ahead to what everyone expected to be a difficult run chase. As it turned out, there wasn’t a lot of “chasing” going on as runs proved even more difficult than the first innings. Jack was bowled off his third ball for 2 (2-2) and Sean’s glum mood was not lightened when he fell for the same, albeit slightly slower score (12-2). Smutt and Darryl tried to repair the damage, but a break in play to allow the scorer to move inside away from the unseasonal draughts led to a loss in Darryl’s concentration and he was out the next ball caught at deep gully for 16 (57-3). Smutt ground along for 42 before he was given leg before (76-4).

The rate of around 3 an over was never likely to get EP near to the target and Tom R, Gary and Spice were all bowled, for 14, 9 and 4, trying to get a move on (100-5, 102-6, 107-7) and EP had only earned one batting point when the skipper joined Miggins at the crease. Miggins decided to open his shoulders and struck a couple of good straight sixes and the sight of some friendly left arm spin was welcomed by Andy who joined in the fun to get a second point before he was bowled for 14 by a ball that pitched halfway down and hit the stumps 9 inches up, a mode of dismissal that had been inevitable for most of the afternoon (141-8). Andy’s parting instructions were to go for 150, and Miggins duly obliged off the spinner before he was LBW playing no shot for 33 (152-9). Coskin negotiated the solitary remaining delivery and a draw was secured.

Thanks to the vagaries of the points system, despite being outplayed, EP emerged a point richer than Eagles, which was in all honesty, totally undeserved.

Well grafted Smutt; well batted Miggins – constantly improving; well bowled Tom C; and valuable wickets from Darryl and Jack.