Camden I v Cherry Hinton (home)

THIRDS PICKED OFF BY CHERRIES

Winning run comes to an abrupt end

Camden (6pts) 207-6 lost to Cherry Hinton (20pts) 252-7 by 45 runs

The contrast between the two clubs couldn’t have been clearer. Cherry Hinton arrived with a manager and a scorer, and had decided that their regular skipper would be better off playing against Camden II. Camden’s selectors, not for the first time, had opted to send out a First X. Having lost the toss, Captain Redfern had a decision to make. With Rizwan unavailable, who would take the new ball with Farid? Manganda was the man, but there were to be no early inroads. Farid (0-23) bowled a tidy eight-over spell, but the Thirds had to wait until the fourteenth over for the breakthrough – Subbu (1-51) finding the edge, Prathyush doing the rest. Redders brought himself on and was rewarded with a wicket in each of his first three overs. An LBW, a bowled, and a run out thanks to Sutton’s diving parry and Subbu’s fine throw. With Cherry Hinton 100-4 after twenty-one overs, the game was there for the taking. And Redders had yet to turn to his in-form spinners.

Cherry Hinton’s left-handed opener had other ideas, however. By the time he was out in the thirty-fifth over – stumped Prathyush, bowled Karan for a fine 121 – the visitors had raced to 213-5. It might have been different had Redders not dropped a catch, but the skipper could – and did – argue that the damage had already been done. Karan (1-53) and Krishna couldn’t replicate recent heroics, and the game was well and truly taken away from the Thirds. Prathyush took another stumping off Krishna (1-56), who would later a catch off the returning Manganda (1-36), but Cherry Hinton finished up with an imposing 252-7.

Any hopes of a third consecutive fifty-plus opening stand were dealt a blow with the sight of  Captain Redfern attending to yet another injury. In the skipper’s absence, Batley and Sutton could only manage 31, with Sutton’s run of form coming to a tame end, caught at cover for 14. Batley made it three fifties in as many matches, however, and put on 62 for the second wicket before Prathyush fell for an uncharacteristically stodgy 15. When Batley (53) and Krishna (0) perished in the twenty-fifth over, the Thirds were a long way behind the rate at 109-4. Enter Redders and debutant Ketul Saharan (cap number 175), the pair adding 57 before Ketul – who had batted with increasing panache and had earlier hit a six – was bowled for a promising 30. Subbu carried on the fun and Redderrs completed a first half century of the season. Any hopes of winning had evaporated by this point, but maximum batting points were in sight when Redders was bowled for 52. Subbu (16*) and Farid (1*) secured the bonus point, but it was of little consolation as the Thirds finished some 45 runs adrift on 207-6.

Man of the Match: Andrew Redfern