The Lee vs Ley Hill, 5th July 2003

A truly memorable afternoon: an incident-packed game, with a cast of characters fighting to grab the headlines. There was Brian Bevan, with his first outing of the season, showing the alertness, agility and sheer athleticism we have come to expect from him. There was Maurice, diving bravely to miss a half-chance, stop a certain boundary and collapse in a heap on a damaged thumb that he did not allow to prevent him batting.

But these were just the bit players. On Saturday there were two real stars. First, Phil Ogley, with a spectacular display of juggling, the like of which has surely never been seen before. As the ball plummeted to the ground at last, the Ley Hill batsman just could not believe his good luck. Nor could we. 

Then, as the game was approaching its end, Rudd, surprised by a beamer, livened things up by giving Ley Hill's strike bowler a friendly word of advice. All in all, it was an action-packed afternoon.

But I ought to say something about the game. Ley Hill won the toss, decided to bat, and set off at a cracking pace.  Thanks to one big partnership, they looked to be heading for something well in excess of 250. But when the partnership was belatedly broken, we clawed our way back and dismissed them for 206 with three overs to spare. Chris Williams was the bowling hero with the excellent figures of 5 for 40; he was well supported by Dixon (3 for 24 from 6.4 overs) and Rudd (2 for 51 from 12 overs).  

So far as our batting goes, the less said the better. The only guy who remotely did himself justice was PD, with a disciplined 57. We ended up all out for a very inadequate 122. So Ley Hill had a comfortable victory, and all we had to show for the afternoon was a measly 7 points. Plus those memorable cameos from Ogley and Rudd.

Come back, Bryn. Things can only get better!