It was nice for the Eastry pigeons to finally play in non gale force winds for the first time this year, as they were again led by vice captain Matt Deveson. Elham won the toss and chose to bowl, which proved to be the right decision as Friend and Deveson were strangled for runs during the first 10 overs. However after the dismissals of Matt and Kevin Deveson, Dicky Swain was brought to the crease and proceeded to attack the bowling with force. He quickly overtook the cautious Friend to reach 50 with some lusty blows over cow corner combined with drives that lanced through the cover fielders. Friend eventually accelerated his innings, reaching 59 before being caught and bowled by Tutton. After cameos by the fielding virtuoso, Robin Smit (12), and then Weathered (9), Eastry finished on exactly 200 for the loss of only four wickets, with Dicky Swain still at the crease with an unbeaten 74.

After tea Eastry then took to the field to defend what they thought was a par score for the wicket, knowing that the match could swing either way. Elham started strongly with Risby sending the ball racing to the boundary on several occasions with crushing cover drives, taking the attack to the Eastry opening bowlers. However, Risby then chipped one up, which appeared to be safe, until the form of David Waring glided underneath the dropping ball, and plucked a sensational acrobatic catch with one hand. The taking of the wicket was little relief to Eastry as the new batsmen continued to score runs, until the bowling tandem of Andy Betts and Pete Eastman; combined with excellent fielding, managed to bring the run rate down. The drying up of the runs brought wickets, as Elham lost 4 wickets without score, as they tried to keep up with the required run rate. With 7 wickets down and requiring 70 to win off of the final 10 overs, the youthful lower order set about bunkering down to try and force the draw. The match was finely poised with only 8 overs and 3 wickets remaining, however the astute captain Deveson turned to his second spinner Matt Sumner, who proceeded to claim the final 3 Elham wickets in just two overs. The win leaves the Saturday XI undefeated after three games hopefully the good run of form continues over the next few games.

View the scorecard: http://eastry.play-cricket.com/scoreboard/scorecard.asp?id=11772036

This Saturday Eastry played Northdown  CC on a sunny yet incredibly blustery day. Northdown won the toss and elected to bowl in the swirling winds, and with a brief pre-game rain shower the ball offered to seam early on in the innings. After two early wickets of Deveson (3) and Sumner (17) Eastry were in a vulnerable position at 65-2, however Aaron Friend and Robin Smit set about rebuilding the innings. This was stalled however when Friend was caught (surprise) for 56 and two quick wickets of Dartnell (8) and Weathered (0) left the Pigeons stranded on 118-5 with only 45 minutes left to bat. Feeling that a score of 175 should be a defendable total, Smit and Deveson upped the run rate and formed a fast scoring partnership of 83, with Smit playing a beautiful innings combining back foot finesse with powerful blows into the trees, eventually being bowled by Scott for 83. Eastry eventually declared before tea at 212-8.

After an enormous tea, capped off by an amazing Eton Mess (thank you Holly!), a much heavier Eastry team took to the field to bowl in the late afternoon sunshine. Northdown’s Humphries came out of the blocks quickly, and after only 6 overs had raced to 34, dismantling the Eastry opening bowlers, as the track seemed to offer very little movement for the ball. Humphries fine stroke play came to an end as he played one shot too many, and fired a straight drive back at bowler Andy Betts who took a fantastic reflex catch low to his right, leaving Northdown 44-1. Northdown then began to slowly lose wickets after some accurate bowling from Betts had David Brear caught for no run, and then opening batsman Francis Hatt was run out by Deveson for a steady 22 as the required run rate climbed higher and higher with the team languishing on 97-3 as the 20 over mark crept nearer. With two new batsmen, however, Northdown found a new spurt of run scoring, with Green (48) manipulating the erratic bowling of Deveson and Crow (21) hit some punishing sixes off of David Waring, leaving Eastry to watch as an impressive partnership threatened to take the game away from them rapidly. But “cometh the hour cometh the man” as skipper Lord Graham Phebey tossed the cherry to Robin Smit (after much persuading by his esteemed vice-captain) who then proceeded to rattle the top of Crow’s off stump with his very first ball, and then removed the bails of Green a few overs later. With the majority of their middle order back in the dressing room Northdown looked to batten down the hatches and hold out for the draw with 14 overs left to bat. Deveson looked threatening to the tail, taking three wickets, but with only four overs left and two resolute batsmen at either end offering no chances to the fielding side the game ended as a draw with Northdown finishing on 163-8.

View the scorecard at: http://eastry.play-cricket.com/scoreboard/scorecard.asp?id=11772014