Another beautiful day, and no hint of the disappointment to come as VISS is shovelled in to the car at the start of the journey to meet old friends and adversaries Hampshire. VISS had found himself called upon to field for a few moments for Heathcoat in the Premier Division the day before, and was paying the price, including a nasty graze caused when he slipped trying to avoid the ball. Having had no breakfast he was not in the best of humour.  Mrs A gallantly drove off to find sustenance for the suffering scorer, and normality was restored.

Farleigh School a delightful place to play, with the promise of plenty of runs in the wicket.  In the absence of coach Allen, Jack Moore volunteered to take the warm up, and expertly set up the stations and a lively warm up ensued. Thanks Jack.  The toss was lost, and as they did in Devon, Hampshire decided to bat first. A sneaky look at their warm up indicated they had been working on their running between the wickets. It showed in the middle.  Helped by some loose bowling , and generally tardiness in the field they got off to a quick start. Drinks after 14 overs saw the home side on 63-1. The one wicket being a run out as the calling broke down for the only time.

Clearly there needed to be more intensity in the field and it was time to turn to the spinners to exercise control. this worked to some extent, although the next 14 overs elicited 60 runs for 2 wickets. Importantly this included the impressive Middleton, who was well ct & bwld by Max Hancock.  The final 12 overs would determine who went in to tea happiest.  Anything less than 180 and Hampshire would be disappointed. The Manager went to use the facilities with the parting instruction for the side to take a wicket before he returned.  Ollie Pugsley obliged with what was described by all (not just his family), as an excellent catch.  Sorry I missed it. Sam Read was trusted, for the most part, to bowl at the death and rewarded the team with 2-7 from 4 overs.  His off spin has become an important part of the team's armoury. At the close of their innings Hampshire are 173-7, and the pendulum has swung back after  the disappointing first half of the innings.

This far in to the season we should all know what are plans are. They are briefly recounted, rotate the strike, hit the bad ball, keep the run rate up to 4 to put pressure on from the start.  We cannot expect later order batsmen to score at 6 plus an over if the top order score at less than 3. The best laid plans......... We lack urgency and the game drifts along against the medium pace Hampshire attack. They get in to a rhythm, field well are able to keep everyone up in the ring and starve us of singles.  Eventually Abraham Kopparambil is run out, after being sent back by his partner. After 14 overs we are 24-2 having lost Luke Medlock as well. It is a frustrated manager who takes the drinks out at the break. Clearly there needs to be a Plan B. We have to hit over the top and get the field back, so we can then run singles to put the opposition under pressure. We have only scored 4 singles in the first 14 overs. The run rate is already up to almost 6 an over.

Sam Read immediately shows some intent and with Ollie Hannam they put together a stand of 55 before Sam is caught for 35.  The rate has been 5 an over for 10 overs, keeping us (just) in the game. Sadly The Cardinal Sin is committed as Ollie, the set batsmen is caught in the same over for 25, meaning we have to start again with two new batters at the crease. Birthday boy James White and Tom Simmons share a breezy 18 stand before Tom is caught for 12 trying to keep the momentum going. James Horler joins James White and 38 come from 7 overs as the pair run fearlessly and the pressure begins to get to Hampshire. It is however frantic, and James H gets a little frustrated and tries to hit the ball too hard too often. Bat on ball and singles every ball will help more than swing and miss. James White eventually perishes for 26, and we need 33 from 3 overs.

There is a glimmer as 10 come from over 38, and 7 from the penultimate over. Ollie Pugsley has run well with James H (23*)buts gets out leaving Max Hancock to score 16 from the last over. 3 swings and misses seal our fate, and we end up 12 runs short.

We have got much closer than we could have expected, given our slow start. A real "if only" game.

Some straight talking during the debrief. We started badly in the field, and we started even worse when we batted. As we have said all season when games are tight it is the side that turns 1's into 0's, 2's into 1's and 3's into 2's when then field, and 0's into 1's, 1's into 2's and 2's into 3's when they bat that will be rewarded.

The positives - how well we chased when we had no choice. We scored at over 5 an over for last 26 overs. We get the chance to turn the tables at the Festival next week.