Sloppy Hungerford pay the price for dropped catches
A SUPERB 61 from Ollie Carrier was the highlight of a tricky opening fixture for Hungerford in the Hampshire Cricket League Division 3 North.
After winning the toss and opting to bat, Hungerford had a shaky start against Colden Common, falling to 35-3.
When this trend continued into the middle order, it was Carrier who dug in to salvage a competitive score, knocking 61 off 78 balls, including nine fours, before being caught. A classy 31 from wicketkeeper
James McDowell late in the innings helped the side to a total of 194.
Hungerford’s bowlers then faced a challenging afternoon.
Jasper Rich took 2-22, with Carrier also taking the wicket of Colden Will Major, who had scored 76.
A series of dropped catches followed, letting Colden off the hook, and they took advantage as they eased to a comfortable four-wicket win. Hungerford 2nd were also in action, facing Collingbourne 2nd in Division 6 North West.
With a strong side on paper, captain Freddie Tulloch chose to bat, but it was tough going with just 15 runs from the first 10 overs.
And that was compounded by former Hungerford player Tom Pike returning to haunt them, taking 3-28. The rest of the innings was much the same, with a total of 117 all out proving not enough as Collingbourne chased down the runs to win by five wickets.
In Division 1 there was opening-day success for East Woodhay, who beat Portsmouth 2nd on the South Coast. Great performances from top order batsman Tom Flack and captain Adam Barnes helped them to a total of 190-7 at the end of their 45 overs. Barnes’ bowlers then got to work and were able to make steady progress through their top and middle order.
A spectacular catch from Barnes behind the stumps helped to finish off the tailenders as Woodhay won by 31 runs.
East Woodhay 2nd also made a winning start after beating Steep 2nd by six wickets.
Ben Lawrance (3-14), Simon Rutt (214), Kheeyan Shariff (2-26) and Gregor Arlington (2-33) skittled Steep out for just 114.
Then Scott Whelan and Luke Broadhurst top-scored with 27 each as Woodhay reached 118-4 in the 26th over.