Frindsbury’s winning streak against Westgate finally came to an end on Saturday as they were soundly beaten by 8 wickets at Hawtrey Fields.
Frindsbury welcomed back both Budds, Sam Gracey , Pete Blackman, Matt Payne and David Evans as half of the victorious team from the previous week were forced to make way. Skipper Sam Dudgeon lost the toss and it was no surprise when he was asked to bat first following 3 successful run chases by Frindsbury in the previous games between the 2 sides.
Blackman and Gracey got Frindsbury off to a solid start on the usual good batting strip and fast outfield and had pushed the score on to 40 when Gracey frustratinglyholed out off a full toss for 16. This bought last week’s hero Rob Sait to the crease and he showed what a rich vein of form he is in by hitting the ball hard and straight for a number of boundaries. Blackman was then given out to a ball hitting his thigh pad and Dudgeon and Budd followed cheaply as the early momentum was lost.
Shiva joined Sait and together they both looked comfortable and it was no surprise when Sait bought up asecond successive half century as the Westgate bowlers started to toil in the sun. Yet again though the innings looked like stalling as Sait was out to a loose shot and Shiva padded up to a straight 1. It was leftto Dan Scudder to up the run rate which he did in his own unique fashion hitting a big 6 but it was youngsters Sam Budd and David Evans who really gave the innings some impetus. Budd (41) began hitting the ball hard and straight and ably supported by the hard running Evans (25no) they put on over 70 as Frindsbury posted 206-8
Frindsbury knew that faced with the strong Westgate batting line-up they would need to take early wickets but without the missing Chris Mumford this would be a tall order. Payne was his usual metronomic self and beat the bat of both openers regularly and was unlucky when Dudgeon put down Keith Sandwell in the slips. Frindsbury were left to rue this chance as both Sandwell and fellow opener Watford, after patiently playing themselves in, began to play their shots and were able to keep up with the required rate.
The introduction of slow bowler Pete Elswood bought about the first breakthrough claiming Sandwell LBW but the spin of Gracey at the other end didn’t have the same effect as the hard hitting younger Sandwell began to take the game away from Frindsbury. Payne deservedly claimed the wicket of Watford for an excellent 64 but this only bought Westgate skipper Wood to the crease. He immediately went on the attack and with Sandwell now in full sttrideand coupled with some erratic bowling from the rest of the attack and abelow par fielding performance, Westgate were able to complete their first victory over Frindsbury in 4 attempts.
