Having won the toss at the windswept Hambledon hill ground new captain Patrick Lewis bravely decided to bat first and was probably soon regretting the decision as Rhidian Chapman took 4 quick wickets to reduce the visitors to 45 for 5. Seventeen year old James Turner then joined 19 year old Patrick Holly at the crease to try and build some sort of workable total. Holly started cautiously with solid defence punctuated by occasional flashing drives to anything loose and Turner showed great maturity despite taking 30 balls to get off the mark as he worked the ball into gaps and ran hard between the wickets. Gradually Holly was able to expand his full repertoire of shots including several sumptuous square drives and eventually bringing up his maiden league century with a six and finished unbeaten on 125 from 131 balls with 14 fours. Turner was also unbeaten on 54 from 102 balls as the two added 171 for the 6th wicket as the innings closed on 216 for 5 from their 50 overs.
Patrick Holly – 125 runs and 2 wickets
With the momentum definitely in their favour the new Bashley opening attack of Sam Stroud and Sean Read started aggressively with the latter inducing an edge from Le Clercq with just 8 on the board. Skipper Bond and Glanfield took the total to 56 before Neil Taylor (3 for 26) bowled Bond and the game was evenly balanced with the home side on 87 for 4. Glanfield was playing fluently and had reached 76 when man of the match Holly (2 for 40) had him well caught by Stroud in the deep and then had Willoughby superbly caught by debutant George Wilson at extra cover next ball. Wilson (1 for 35) bowled tidily and then the returning Stroud ( 2 for 20) and Read (2 for 27) ripped out the tail to get the young Bashley side a hard fought 49 run victory.
