Looking to bounce back from defeat in the previous outing against Harpenden 3’s, Broxbourne skipper Pegg called for and intense warm up and focus on the 30 points. With no umpires present, the captains elected to forgo the walk to the middle and tossed on the boundary. Opponents Bayford & Hertford called incorrectly leading the skipper to elect to bat first and apply early scoreboard pressure …

The new opening pair of Kay & Fryer aimed for a flying start, however, Kay was caught at gully in the first over trying to dispatch Bayford’s premier slower bowler to the moon; Fryer injured himself attempting a single and after 1.2 overs, Broxbourne were 2 down. Following the Broxbourne trend of self-diagnosis, Fryer claimed a snapped Achilles and joined the ever-growing injury list in the 2’s. Eales shortly followed back to the pavilion leaving the tail to pad up and hoping Urwin & Goff could see Broxbourne to a competitive total.

Urwin known for his illustrious cover drives from any delivery rebuilt the innings with both him and Goff playing with patience and selective shots. Both reached their 50’s with the chance to take Broxbourne to 200 and the illustrious competitive score. Goff responded to shouts of “double it up” by scoring his first Badger century pulling together an excellent innings before eventually falling for 101 caught at deep square leg. He walked off with a huge smile on his face declaring he had triple captained himself anticipating impressive fantasy league points. Urwin followed shortly after for a well-made 79 in what proved a crucial knock.

The lower order with a platform set aimed to add quick runs, however the slow pitch and even slower bowling proved challenging resulting in quick dismissals. However Grover & Pegg managed some lusty blows to guide Broxbourne to 240/7 in 50 overs.

Chasing 241, Bayford also lost an early wicket with Miller producing a delivery which cut the Bayford skipper in half, clipping the top of middle stump. From there on in it was all Bayford, boundaries were hit on a regular basis and the pressure started to build on Broxbourne. Fielders heads were beginning to drop, compounded by Eales impaling himself with his own spike, leaving Broxbourne with cripple corner in the slips – Eales and Fryer discussing who was more injured for 30 overs.

Step forward the ever-impressive Gianluca Silenti to clean up the dangerman Hogg for 72 providing a much-needed confidence booster for Broxbourne. Without any spin bowling options Jack Tumbridge and Pegg stepped up aiming to replicate the slow bowling tactics from Bayford, with the decision paying off. Sausage ended up with 4/38 and Pegg 4/19 cleaning up batsman 4 down pretty quickly. The highlight of the innings was Gav Kay producing a fine piece of Northern stumping catching the Bayford overseas aimlessly walking around out of his crease, a dismissal to be proud of. Bayford’s innings ended 205 all out and another 30 points at home for the 2’s.

A much better fielding display this week and with the aim of winning their first on the road at Holtwhites in Gameweek 6.