Penn Street vs Rivets

Penn Street 105-10 (P. Jupp 28) lost to Rivets 109-2 (C. Sempill 2-12) by 8 wickets

In a disappointing match, Rivets did the double over Penn Street with an impressive bowling display that never allowed any Penn Street player to truly settle.

Openers Matt Reavey and Peter Jupp battled hard to put on 39 for the opening stand in around 13 overs of stubborn resistance. Juppy, looking on for a big score, made the mistake of picking out the wrong man at mid on. A reasonably well hit on drive looked set for the boundary when the fielder flung out his left hand speculatively and the catch stuck!!

This breakthrough triggered a collapse with runs becoming harder to come by as Rivets took control. Matt was next to pop a catch back to the same fielder who claimed a third stonker before the afternoon was over!!

For this game, we welcomed into the fold 2 debutants - brothers Andrew and Richard Crofts. Sadly Richard suffered back troubles and had to pull out at the halfway stage, but Andrew impressed at the crease with some sweetly timed drives and deft strokeplay off his legs to push our score up nearer to respectable! However, only Tyler Armiger remained not out at the close - again!!!!

A final score of 105 was clearly way below par and left much work to be done by our bowlers.

After tea, skipper Rob Sutherland fired us up for battle and the effect was noticeable early on as Calum Sempill ran in for a superb opening spell of 2 for 12 in 5 excellent overs. Briefly thoughts drifted towards an unlikely win, but they didn't linger long as Rivets regained control. On the way, Juppy attempted to reinstate his once held allrounder status with some pacey seamers, but only succeeded in leaving Matt a nervous wreck behind the stumps and announcing his retirement from the position for a second time this season!!!! A decision no-one questioned after he dropped a regulation chance that might just have redeemed the red-faced bowler in question!!!!

Unsurprisingly, despite the good early work by the team and especially Calum, Rivets romped home in style. A disappointing day against a top bunch of lads both on and off the pitch.

NOTABLE PERFORMANCES:

• P JUPP - 28
• R CROFTS - 19
• C SEMPILL - 2 FOR 12
• R GREENSTREET - 0 FOR 10