Penn Street vs Twyford and Ruscombe

Twyford and Ruscombe 174-7 (Woodman 73; D. Ribaudo 3-28) drew with Penn Street 145-8 (M. Reavey 53, C. Fletcher 49)

An injury-ravaged Penn Street side travelled to Twyford following late withdrawals by some key players.

On a blisteringly hot day, further stress was caused by skipper Matt Reavey continuing his 100% record of getting the convoy lost en route to an away game!!

Once at the ground, Twyford's skipper kindly agreed to donate a couple of spare players and we took to the field first in this rare time game format.

Twyford made good progress through their openers until Cliffy Culbert, coming on 1st change, provided us with the much needed breakthrough. Backed by some excellent support from Fletch, Grant Henry, Damian Ribaudo, Simon Dale and Calum Sempill, we made slow progress through the middle order while one opener held firm throughout. Damian came back on at the death, almost secured a famous hat-trick, and should've grabbed 4 wickets in total had keeper Matt Reavey not looked skywards to claim a sitter and instead discovered a slightly larger golden ball in the way of the match one!!

Twyford ended on 174 for 7 after a great effort by all in such testing conditions.

In reply, Matt and Fletch walked out to open knowing a solid start was essential if we were to threaten the Twyford total going into the final overs.

We got just that thanks mainly to Fletch, promoted to opening for the day (and maybe to stay??!!) as he combined assured defence and measured glances, with blazing stroke play. In contrast, Matt, suffering from a combination of heat exhaustion and general lack of fitness, was content to offer quiet support as the run rate was up near the 5 an over mark.

With approximately 15 minutes left til the 20 over cut off point, disaster struck as Fletch finally fell tragically 1 short of a deserved 50 that had looked like a possible ton with the momentum he'd built up.

Next in was Simon Dale, up the order following some decent runs v Penn & Tylers the previous week. Sadly, it wasn't to be his day as one lifted on him and he was caught at slip off the shoulder of the bat. This brought Mickey Sanford (Stevie to those in the know) to the crease. At a vital point in the match, and with not much experience batting up the order before this, Mickey was a revelation! Matt had jolted to life with the 20 over mark being reached and proceeded with Mickey's watchful support, to set his sights on the Twyford total. Together the pair put on approximately 60 valuable runs and by the time Mickey eventually fell, the win was most definitely on. Matt arrived at his half century and found a situation needing 50 from the final 8 overs. As he eyed a big hit straight down the ground off the Twyford spinner, the bowler dropped in a quicker straight one and Matt was bowled following a tired stroke.

A mini-collapse ensued as the win became an uphill struggle balanced against the option in this time game of hanging on for a draw.

The lads down the order battled hard. Damian Ribaudo and Grant Henry offered stubborn resistance in defence whilst still being content to seek out runs wherever possible. When Damo fell with 3 balls remaining of the innings, it was left to young Calum Sempill, our last man, to survive and take us through to a well deserved and hard fought draw. This he duly did, holding his nerve brilliantly as the Twyford collective surrounded the bat looking for anything in the air!

A great team effort in the end to nearly clinch the win and to then hold out for a share of the spoils. Thanks must go to Twyford & Ruscombe and their skipper Nic for being great sports in lending us the 2 players and also to Alex and Tom for being such enthusiastic teammates!

The end of a positive weekend for The Street then, and further signs of progress as our season begins to turn a corner.

Notable performances:

• Damian Ribaudo - 3 for 28
• Cliff Culbert - 2 for 33
• Matt Reavey - 53
• Chris Fletcher - 49