Walmley suffer in the heat

The hottest day of the year so far greeted us at Walmley's new ground. Initial inspection of the playing surface and outfield raised some suspicions that this could be a tricky afternoon, with a crusty cakey track and a footballer's outfield....

Sutton lost the toss and were out into bat. Soon our suspicions were confirmed with a pitch that had no pace and a tendency to misbehave.

Our top order however failed to adapt as we tried to force the issue and subsequently paid the price for our impatience, slipping to 46-4.

With Parth Patel coming to the crease to join Asim Ashfaq at this stage, we would have been happy to get a score of around 150, but our middle order batsmen had other ideas.

A stunning partnership of 170 for the 5th wicket then ensued, with Asim taking the lead with some innovative shots and sheer brut force at times. Parth provided the perfect foil, letting Asim boss the strike whilst skilfully accumulating runs at a subtle rate.

The midday sun started to tire the opposition and they folded, taking us to a total of 216/4, with Asim finishing on 91 not out and Parth on 57!

After a well earned rest, Sutton took to the field and started with pace and spin at alternate ends. Despite some accurate bowling from Dan Wright the wicket offered nothing in general to the pace and it was Spike Whitehouse from the top end that started to turn the screw with 2 wickets in his first spell.

Jacob Lee replaced Dan, and this proved fruitful as Jacob took a magnificent wicket ( caught and bowled) with the catch of the season so far!

Shahrukh Atif replaced Spike and produced an excellent spell of spin returning figures of 10 -1 -22 -2.

Rohit Chopra and Hemant Patel opted for spin in their spells, with Hem taking a further wicket.

Cometh the hour and cometh the young man Spike for his return spell! Spike settled into his spell with nice flight and good length and he effectively wrapped up the match. 1 wicket and then 2! On a hatrick ball.....so close!

Another over for Spike equalled another wicket and then Dan Wright capped it off with a cracking run out hitting the stumps direct - coincidentally running out his old Walmley compatriot and skipper For the day Darren!!!

Spike ended the day with figures of 6.5-1-24-5....his first 5'fer, and I'm sure there'll be many more to come hopefully!

Walmley all out for 108....

A cracking team performance, and a chuffed skipper.

Another week, another win. Streetly at home next week.....