Newham won the toss and decided to bowl on a dubious looking pitch in windy conditions. The Lions knew the opposition relied heavily on pace bowlers so our top order batsmen had to weather the storm against some real pace and also variable bounce. We scored slowly throughout our innings because it was difficult to score runs but some solid batting performances from Henry Sewell (21), Louis (31n.o.) and Ethan (31n.o.) saw us post a decent total of 114 for 4 off 20 overs. Louis was the pick of our batsmen with a powerful demonstration of clean hitting and great stroke play.
When the Lions took the field to defend our total we made an early breakthrough in the second over when Ethan, who was bowling with some real heat, got both of their openers caught in the first 4 overs. The Lions quickly realised that if they applied the right amount of pressure and bowled and fielded tightly then Newham were going to find it difficult to chase down our total. Wickets continued to fall at regular intervals mainly due to some excellent spin bowling from Nathan, Henry E & Stan but Newham were never completely out of the game because they were actually scoring runs whilst losing wickets. We eventually bowled them out for 98 so it wasn't all plain sailing, the lions had to work hard to get the job done in the end.
It was great for the boys to win their first game in this competition which should go a long way to boost confidence. However, lots of hard work to be done in the batting, bowling & fielding departments if we are going to beat tougher opposition going forward.
Well done!!!
Paul.