Penn Street vs Bamville

Penn Street 104-10 (D. Munday 61*) lost to Bamville 106-5 (P. Goodchild 2-12) by 5 wickets

A new star is shining in the Penn Street firmament. Dean Munday, in his first match of the season, carried his bat for a flawless 61no in Saturday’s match against Bamville, whilst steady, accurate bowling on a slow but placid pitch wreaked carnage at the other end. It was unfortunate that Dean ran out of partners – he never looked in any trouble as he stretched out his long front foot and punished anything overpitched.

Meanwhile, Martin Hallam was unlucky to be stumped off the wicketkeeper’s pads, but the rest of the team capitulated in a flurry of dubious shot-selection. There are many collective nouns for ducks – flock, raft, team and flush, for example – so the reader can choose his favourite to describe the six batsmen who failed to trouble the scorers. That the final score was only 104 only emphasised the excellence of Dean’s innings.

It was a different story after tea, however. Paul Goodchild and Grant Henry bowled with control and aggression and, combined with fine support in the field(Matt Bannister taking one remarkable catch diving for a ball lobbed over his shoulder), returned figures of 2-12 and 1-19 off their eight overs respectively. They were well supported by Calum Sempill, Matt Bannister and Cliff Culbert who, in particular, had no luck whatsoever. If some difficult chances had stuck it may have been a different story, but, in the end, 104 was never likely to be enough and Penn Street finally succumbed by 5 wickets.

NOTABLE PERFORMANCES:

• D MUNDAY 61*
• M BANNISTER 16
• P GOODCHILD 2 FOR 12
• G HENRY 1 FOR 19