SATURDAY XI v Havant - 25th August 2018
Ten man Curdridge travelled to Hayling Island for the last league game of the season to face Havant 3rds on Saturday.
For once the sun was shining on the Island but not all things went to plan as some early season football training had clearly taken place on the square with stud marks littering the track.
Same for both sides was the opinion and it proved not to be an issue.
Skipper lost the toss but got what he wanted and Curdridge took to the field. Del boy started the car at the top of the hill and with Dan Tav missing David was promoted to open at the other end.
The first breakthrough didn’t take long with Jay taking a good catch in the covers off David’s medium pace. This was then followed by two more snared behind the stumps by Jack and with Del keeping it tight at the other end the opposition were 45-3 after 16 overs.
The spin twins were introduced and Jay picked up one in his first over, surprising the batsman by getting one to turn a bit and knocking the pegs back.
Havant then built a bit of momentum with their female stars in particular taking a liking to Jay’s off breaks, with one in particular launched over the long boundary for six as the middle order for Havant built a score.
Luke and Jay then grabbed an LBW each and they were backed up by the fielding - Punter in particular putting his body on the line using his pods to good effect to stop a crisply hit drive.
A run out followed before Craig and Punter finished the innings, Punter taking 2 and should have had a third had skipper calibrated his hands to the curvature of his belly.
Tea demolished and Craig and Al started up and didn’t waste much time in finding the boundary with some biff.
Alan cunningly decided that he would even up the teams by cracking a long hop into the cover fielders hands but with enough power that said hands were broken and the fielder was forced to leave the field leaving both teams with ten players.
Jay who was waiting to bat at number 3 then decided that he needed a number 2 so our number 4 became our number 3, and when our number 2 was bowled our number 4 (David) walked out whilst our number 3 was returning from his number 2.
This proved to be quite a costly trip for Jay as Dave and Craig nurtured the bowling to all parts of the ground for the next hour and a half and when the target was reached Jay was still padded up waiting to bat.
The score was reached with overs to spare with Craig unbeaten on 86 and Dave on 42.
A good end to the season which will see Curdridge finish seventh in the table, a strong first season at this level following back to back promotions and definitely a feeling that we had let a few games get away during the season so something to build on for next year.
There is a friendly game next Sunday at home vs Newport Gentlemen.
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Man of the Match - Craig takes it today for his well made 86
Donut of the day - Jay for his ill timed toilet trip
Champagne moment - Punter’s Pods