Firstly, as always, we would like to thank Ashford for a fantastic game of cricket on what turned out to be a fabulous Sunday afternoon  at very scenic Oak Hill Cricket Club.   The format of the game was 25 overs of 6 balls.   (Batter to retire with over 24, and max 8 balls an over).

The Walnuts batted first and struggled to get runs on the board from some excellent bowling and fielding from the home team, finding the gaps was hard to come by.   There was some stand out performances, with Frank (27) getting his maximum with a huge 6 to finish up, and a number of players getting into double figures (Sean, Josh, Damian and Philip).   Walnuts eventually posted a score of 102 - and we were not confident it would be enough, and so we were proved correct - it would not have been enough.

As with the Walnuts, Ashford also found runs difficult to come by, with the ever brilliant Josh opening - who finished on 2 wickets for 17 in his 4 overs -  and a tidy spell by Colin. However Ashford kept the scoreboard ticking over, and approached the target with a good few overs to spare.   This was a game of inches, and it was of course the bowling of the Saffer and a huge contribution by Eric (3 wickets for 10 runs of 4 overs) that took us over the line, and the captaincy decisions from Brian, however it was also the outstanding fielding close in by Tom Markham and Paddy Devlin that saved boundaries and stopped the runs, and a few acrobatics by Philip and again Josh (rightly named MOTM) saving the Walnuts as well.   Sean took 2 brilliant wickets - and Brian took 1 on his first ball.   Josh cleaned up on the 17th over and Ashford (with 2 retirees on maximums) were bowled out for 95.   

We would like to thank Ashford and the groundstaff of Oak Hill Cricket Club, for allowing us onto this hallowed turf, and also it has to be said for the fabulous spread they put in at the innings break.

Walnuts are now 5-4 for the season with 2 games remaining.

Ashford @ Oak Hill August 22nd 2021

Cracker in Oak Hill