Competitive Sileby side pushed all the way

Plenty of promise from young Countesthorpe first X1

The dawn of a new season saw Bassett Avenue in fine fettle, a wicket with a tinge of green but dry gave both batsmen and bowlers a chance to show their skills and wickets for both Muggle and Graham early on both well held in the slips, gave Countesthorpe hope. Michael Phillips and Joe Charity joined in a partnership of 112 both reaching excellent 50's before skipper Thorpe'y removed them in identical fashion both getting frustrated and hitting across the line.

Toony's accurate first few overs and the skipper bowling a tight line slammed the brakes on the scoring rate and what could have been a chase well in excess of 300 actually turned into one of less that 250 Graham Rowe's second spell showed what an asset he will be to the club, and Tyler patrolling the boundary made some excellent stops on his debut. Thorpeys 2-40 were the standout figures in a Sileby total of 241-7

In reply Toony opened with Will in the absence of the unwell Ben. Together they put on 41 before Toony was caught at gully. Will timed the ball nicely hitting 4 fours before edging behind and Ed on his debut was caught at gully. enter Kuamra, returning to the side after a year away Kumara picked up where he left off, smiting the ball to the boundary. Skipper Ruddle was blowing at fuse as he couldn't predict where the next ball would cross the boundary line and with support from Dave and Tyler the target was suddenly reachable.

Tyler played the shot of the day though the covers before Ruddle found the edge. Graham and Dylan then supported Kumara, who races past 50 looking to increase the rate Kumara eventually missed a straight one departing for a superb 82 including 4 sixes and 8 fours in only 62 balls.

Muggle smashed a couple of boundaries before missing a straight one, but the skipper joined Dylan in a 44 ninth wicket partnership leaving us just 6 short of the Sileby total. Thorpey rivaled Kumara for M o M with his lightening 35 not out at the end and Dylan looked extremely accomplished on debut reaching 17 not out in quick time.

Plenty to please the crowd on a day when cricket was the winner, here's hoping for more enjoyable days during the rest of the season