The season opener was in the beautiful grounds of Headley Cricket Club on the periphery of Headley Heath in the Surrey North Downs.

Losing the toss and being put into field wasn’t a bad thing as if we’d won the toss, we’d have fielded… Headely started well enough and at 67 for 3 were well enough placed to go on and post a 200+ score for us to chase. However, while they are good batsmen, they simply want to hit every ball for a boundary (as the ground is rumoured to be one of the smallest in the UK, who can blame them), while this has it’s rewards, it’s also high risk.

Their approach in this instant didn’t pay off and from 67 for 3 they were all out for 111 in 28.5 overs. All the bowlers chipped in and Billy Smail removed their high scorer (29) and as well as ensuring the tail didn’t wag. He ended with 5.5 overs, 1 maiden, 14 runs and 4 wickets.

After an enjoyable tea, Sunny and Jim opened the batting and Headley CC were eager to prevent us from chasing the runs down. Unfortunately Jim (19) and Sunny (2) fell with only 30 on the board and Watson Senior (22) and Ryan “Spiceman” Spicer (29) put some of the loose bowling to the sword. At 74 for 2 we were cruising, but Dave missed a straight one and the umpire was left with no option, but to raise the dreaded finger. An unexpected (or expected, hence why we fielded first) wobble and we suddenly found ourselves 100 for 6 with Billy and, the stand-in Skipper, Brett at the crease.

Fortunately for Captain Scott or unfortunately for Headley CC, calm heads prevailed, forward defensives were utilised and the realisation that we required 12 runs in 15 overs allowed Billy and Brett to take safe singles and see Captain Scott home for a 4 wicket victory and a strong start to the season.

The full scorecard can be found here for those that would like to pick at the bones of the game.