Eastry started the weekend with a victory over touring side Woodcutters. After losing an early wicket, Eastry looked to rebuild and did so gradually with Woodcutters openers bowling tight lines. Seeing off the opening bowlers for the loss of just the one wicket, Eastry looked to kick on. Paul Welch played an uncharacteristic innings scoring and running quickly in an effort to get back in time to organise tea. The Lord had set a target of 225 but with regular wickets falling, the target was getting further away. A wicket in the last over brought Dave Waring to the crease and with a few swings he brought the total to within 1 of the target, much to the Lords disappointment. It was pointed out that the total 224 meant a chase of 225 and so the Lord was happier going into tea.
After tea, Eastry took to the field in high spirits, these were further lifted by an early wicket from Mathew Deveson. However Woodcutters fought back with both Isaac and Jessop reaching half centuries and putting Woodcutters in a good position. With Eastry getting nervous and the Lord questioning his own target, there was one last push and as the result of some tight bowling from D Swain the breakthrough came. As the old saying goes one brings two, and before long Woodcutters had gone from 122-1 with 20 overs left, to 171-9. The last Woodcutters batsmen of Clifton and Patterson showed some fight and frustrated Eastry with some intelligent batting getting their side to within 9 of the total. Desperate times called for desperate measures and so the Lord turned to James Mayland who had previously gone for 48 off 5 overs. But this time he was back with vengeance and marked out the long run, taking five balls to claim the final wicket.

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On a surprisingly sunny opening game of the season, Eastry were in good spirits after a pre-season which managed to avoid any major injuries. Canterbury won the toss and elected to bowl on what looked like a solid, dry track.
Guest skipper for Eastry was Roger Hill and he sent out Aero and Kevin The Groundsman to set the tone. With both trying to re adjust after a winter of indoor cricket it took a few overs to get up to speed. Aero started to find the boundary while Kevin nudged and nurdled picking up singles fighting through the pain of having to borrow shoes slightly too small. Before they could establish a partnership Canterbury found a breakthrough dismissing Aero for 20 bringing Harry Kenton to the crease. Harry soon picked up the pace with some power hitting along the ground causing a few fields to duck and dive to avoid a few irregular bounces from an uneven outfield. But just a Harry was kicking on he was deceived by a good old fashion straight ball. Eastry batsmen continued to progress with a few decent shots and also some unconventional from Paul Welch. The innings finished with Albert honing his vision and a usual cameo from Mayhem, settling for a 249 total.
Canterbury’s chase took an early set back when Dave Waring was asked to bowl from the pavilion end and rewarded Roger for his bold decision with a wicket in his first over. With Canterbury digging deep to steady the innings Roger looked to change it up and made another bold decision asking the returning Greeny not to bowl his new found pace weapon but return to the old trusted leg spin. Robson and Trafford both passed 50 with two different styles. Eastry were still unable to make the break through despite Greeny eventually unleashing the new weapon off a run up rivalling Matt Deveson. 20 overs were called and Eastry had a chance to regroup and mount one last push introducing Harry to the attack picking up 4 wickets. Once the breakthrough was made Eastry went into attack and found themselves needing only a couple of wickets to secure victory. But with a resilient tail, the final wicket did not come in the dwindling light.

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