After an excellent opening victory for the Cowdrey 2s they travelled to newly demoted Upchurch. Thomas lost his 2nd toss in a row and Upchuch chose to bat on a dry but windy day. The setting was picturesque and the facilities top quality.

Cowdrey opened with Rooney '6fer' Marsh but he didn't have the same effect on this dry wicket with the wind not helping his cause. The Upchurch openers looked solid and after the first 11 overs they had raced to 55 without loss. From the other end Scotty was tight but as ineffective and Cowdrey brought spin on from both ends. Nicholson replaced Marsh and almost immediately made the differeence, removing Danton caught behind. Yaqub came to the crease and looked nervous as Cowdrey started to put pressure on. Cowdrey thought they had Yaqub caught behind off Smithy but the umpire turned down their requests and Upchurch started to play their shots. Then a break through, Appys taking an excellent low catch off Nicholson, Pearson went for a well crafted 72. Chances were spurned against Yaqub, one off Nicholson and one off smithy as Cowdrey tried to take the innitiative but the pressure was never on for long enough as Yaqub and young Jamie Parker played their shots.

After 10 overs for 36 from Smithy Marsh returned to the attack from the other end and straight away caused a few problems. The lack of depth in Cowdrey's bowling was proved with Jon 'Inzy' Owen came on to finish the innings from the other end. He did get the scalp of Yaqub run out by keeper Hood but eventually finished with figures 1-49 off 5!

Marsh took the wickets of Parker and Taylor but Upchurch had got to an impressive score of 244-5 when the innings closed. This was going to be a big ask for the Cowdrey team and a completely different challenge to the week before when they only had to chance 90.

Cowdrey opened with Smithy and Thomas and after 4 overs they were 12 without loss (no runs off the bat) Smithy played his shots before Thomas was out bowled by Strudwick. Hoody was promoted to 3 after showing signs of good form pre-season and he was left at the non strikers end to watch first Smithy go caught gully and Harbour bowled for a quack. Cowdrey 3 down for less than 40.

The experienced Appys came in next, who had already hit a 50 this season in his only game. He and Hoody steadied the ship and put on 35 before he was caught and bowled skying a cover drive high in the air. AB was next but he didn't last long, bowled for 2 and when Jason Carver was out for 4, Cowdrey were once again in trouble, 6 down for 78.

Jon 'Inzy' Owen was in next and played well for 15 before he was caught and that brought Scotty to the crease. He had confidently said "watch me get a 13 ball 50" and he started in that manner, hitting his first 3 balls for 4 and he quickly smashed his way to 24, all in boundaries. This counter attack gave Cowdrey hope of getting batting points and they quickly passed their first and second targets, up to 150-6. Hoody played the anchor role at the other end, watching Scotty dispatch the bowling to all corners of the ground. Scotty had now overtaken Hoody and raced passed 50, taking slightly longer than his estimated 13 balls. Cowdrey now had all 4 batting points in their sights but Scotty eventually lost his luck, caught and bowled by Kollis for an excellent and entertaining 60, putting on 83 for the 8th wicket. This left Cowdrey a couple of overs to get passed 200 but they just failed, ending on 195-8, Hoody unbeaten on 38.

Cowdrey had looked like getting beaten through most of this game but a diligent unbeaten 38 from Hoody and a rapid 60 from Scotty salvaged the game and meant that they walked away with 5 points, more than they probably deserved.

ST