Ley Hill v Belsize Village, Sunday 11 May 2003

Will Holman

Ley Hill once again snatched defeat from the jaws of a draw, despite posting a mammoth total of 251. Sparkling batting from Jon Lown and Will Holman was insufficient to match that of Belsize Village, particularly when it transpired that Hill had only one recognised bowler on the side.

Paul Green won the toss and elected to bat, turning to his favourite combination of youth and experience, Will Holman and Keith Strickland. Strickland started in ruthless form, despatching a series of lollipops over the road on the way to a quick-fire 32. Holman meanwhile was more reticent, cautiously nurdling singles to test the strength of his new bat. As Belsize's medium-pacers continued to serve up a diet of pies, Holman, himself no stranger to pastry, blasted delivery after delivery to the off-side boundary. The echoing crash of premium custom-made willow on leather was reported as far afield as Cowcroft Woods, as Holman reached 89 before holeing out to mid-off in the final over. Jon Lown meanwhile had accelerated to a similar score, in large part due to a ruthless pinching of the strike. Number 4 bat Keith Brewer then ran himself out attempting to deny Lown the strike with two balls remaining and a century in sight. The ton was just out of reach, and Ley Hill closed on 251, with the Bronzed Adonis unbeaten on 93.

After a disappointing tea consisting largely of mechanically-recovered meats, Ley Hill took to the field and opened up with wayward paceman Kevin Phillips and seven-foot colt Scott Peterson. Under 16s have their overs restricted by a national ruling, so Scott's fine spell was cut short to four overs. The pacy youngster did enough to prove that he is a real prospect for the future, beating the bat on several occasions. Phillips did quite the opposite, but did find his rhythm in a later spell. Green brought himself on in order to provide as many overs as possible to the opposition, and then presented them with a further three by inexplicably setting the 20-over point back by 10 minutes. Belsize exploited this gift and some equally charitable bowling, smashing boundaries to all holes of the golf course. Colts Ben Ford and Craig Peterson were given their chance, and Ben took his with aplomb, returning two important wickets for a comparatively low 28 runs - another find for seasons to come. But Hill's hollow and inconsistent attack was being found out, and Belsize kept up with their nine-per-over target. Batsman Hooper, recovering from heavily bruised buttocks, soared to a ton. Despite some testing bowling from Holman and Phillips, Belsize met their target with four balls to spare.

Ley Hill: 251 for 3 (Lown 93*, Holman W. 89)
Belsize Village: 254 for 4 (Hooper 139*, Bhamra 48)
Ley Hill lost by six wickets

Man of the match: Lown and Holman share the accolade for excellent stroke play that briefly demoralised the visitors
Clown of the match: The inventor of the 20-overs-at-6:10 rule

Click here for the scorecard