Never got near

Dodgers - with only 9 players - suffered a second consecutive comprehensive defeat last night against English Heritage, leaving us with two wins and two losses for the season to date.

Rain and drizzle had threatened the game, but thankfully had given up as we took the field for a clash reduced to 18 overs. Losing the toss, openers Priest and Qureshi had to contend with a wet, skiddy pitch and plenty of movement in the air and off the deck. Things didn't start well as Tawhid attempted an ambitious pull from his second ball and popped a catch up to gully. Two overs later, Neil was bowled by a full swinging delivery for 8 and trouble was brewing.

Debutant Nick Harrison - another recruit from Warwick Castle - had played a couple of attractive shots before holing out to EH's trap at deep square for 10, quickly followed by Westhead for 3. Heritage's change bowler was twice as fast as the openers and moved the ball disconcertingly on occasions as the pressure mounted. Cap'n Carr looked assured at times, but eventually succumbed for 10 leaving Benn with a painfully slow 6*, Cooper (8) and Adey with a handy 10* to see the innings out at 66-6.

This looked a good 15 short of a vaguely competitive score and so it proved, though Cooper bowled even better than normal to return 2-9 courtesy of excellent catches from Cat and Harrison. The rest of the bowling was very mixed - Benn threatening little with 0-17 and Harrison luckless with 0-8 but Adey and Priest suffering from their lack of practice as EH cruised to victory without further loss. We simply had not been able to apply any real pressure defending such a low score and their batsman could take their time and run singles with impunity.

Back to the drawing board. MoM votes: Harrison 6, Cooper 3.

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