Farley Hill (A) – 14.6.15

RUASCC 187-6 (40 overs)

Murphy 50, Greenhalf 35 not out, Ward 34

Farley Hill 189-4 (35.2 overs)

Withers 3-35, Ashman 1-40

RUASCC lost by 6 wickets

Two games at Farley Hill this year, two defeats – and not even very close ones to be honest.  The home side made this run chase look pretty easy in the end, helped enormously by captain Jalil’s assured 80 and also by the fact we only brought four bowlers to a limited-overs game.

Eagle won the toss, chose to bat first and came up against accurate bowling on a pitch with variable bounce.  There was also plenty of swing in the air and Eagle was the first victim of it – bowled off an inside edge for two.  Ward meanwhile had set off with typical intent and he hit three fours and a six in a rapid 34.  Several partnerships got started: 32, 27, 55, 29, mostly anchored by Murphy’s patient half-century, but the highlight was the 40 stand between Greenhalf and Weeks who combined to inject some pace towards the end of the innings and took us to the respectable, if not daunting, total of 187.

Withers and Ashman opened the bowling and kept the run rate down at about four an over in the early stages.  Withers removed both openers and was withdrawn from the attack with the home side on 40-2, but the third wicket added 87 before Ashman produced a gem of an accidental off-spinner to clean bowl Holland.  Sadly there was no miracle turnaround - the fourth wicket added a further 50 as Farley cantered home with nearly five overs to spare, with the only other RUASCC success coming when Withers finally bowled Jalil with his penultimate delivery.

RUASCC Highlight:  Weeks’ first scoring stroke, a kind of flat-batted straight drive for four.  Nobody was expecting it, but it set the tone for what was probably his most positive RUASCC knock.

RUASCC Man of the Match:  Murphy.  Conditions were tough, but he made it look tough.

RUASCC Team:  Ward, Eagle (capt), Murphy, Mazhar, Dip (wkt), Greenhalf, Weeks, Main, Green, Ashman, Withers