Everytime we play Ashby Carington they get a little bit stronger..
The league fixture was a very even contest that we came out on the correct side of
The first friendly saw their batting line up improve and we got beaten quite comfortably
Today's friendly saw a stronger batting line up again and they also improved the bowlers too - sadly it was not much of a contest but they have a great pub so a worthwhile trip in the end..
Bowling first against a torrent of balls flying over heads into the brook, the opener retired on 50 before Fleckney stemmed the runs briefly with the younger Hill picking up a wicket and the older Hill also bowling a good line and length again. The problem was that they had batting depth - 1 more retired on 50, another got caught on the boundary by Chris Jeffs off the bowling of Magic Max Potter for 49 before the final pair called it a day with 5 overs spare after they smashed it to all parts - some of the bowling figures are a little bit scary to look at..
So the small matter of 8.25 runs per over for 40 overs to get a victory - this would be a challenge for top class village cricketers (if that's not an oxy-moron), we are Fleckney, it was completely beyond us already.
But lets focus on the positives - Brij Barot played a couple of lovely drives for four, James Bide-Thomas found the boundary with some cracking blows but alas the wickets tumbled at fairly regular intervals, only one man really counter punched for a long enough period to make an impact, and that was one of the nicest men in the club - Chris (Chill) Hill who loves playing at this ground after a good bowling performance last week, struck a maiden FVCC 50 with some lusty hooks and cuts and it was the job of the tail to stick around long enough to get him to that landmark and Funtime Frankie Smith in at No.11 managed to do just that.
