On a day which looked like poor weather and bad planning (Stevie Thomas!) would prevent any play, most players were pleasantly surprised to arrive at Ightham on what turned out to be a relatively nice day.

Skip Rooney proceeded to lose the toss but surprisingly Cowdrey were inserted to bat! Steve Smith attempted a quick start (several vicious swipes accross the line) but after a huge strike, hitting 1 of the large oak trees 2 thirds the way up but only getting 4 runs, (local rules!) he holed out next ball for 14. The next few batsmen seemed more restrained but a combination of poor shot selection and bad timing on a slow wicket put Cowdrey under early pressure. Will Needham (13), Richard Marsh (11) and Barney Scott (0 from 3 balls) all failed to make an impact.

Positive contributions from Jack Mutch (18) and a good 9 from Ben Greehy amongst others helped to support the starring role of the innings. Mark Murray played a superb unbeaten innings of 82, showing both maturity and class with the lower order to help Cowdrey limp to a total of 170 all out. Canniford (3 for 26) and Brigden (2 for 31) were the effective bowlers for Ightham.

With pressure on the opening bowlers for Cowdrey, both young bowlers Ben Greehy (5 overs for 12) and Geoff Connolly put the pressure on straight away with Geoff returning with 4 well deserved wickets for only 16 runs.

The pressure was upheld by Rob Fenwick (5 overs for 15) and great bowling from George Apps,(4 overs 2 for 6) led to a convincing win with Ightham bowled all out for 73.

This week for his tremendous 3 ball duck, various expletives (especially during the bowler's run up) along with spectacularly poor fielding, Barney Scott was voted this weeks "Muppet of the Week!"

RM