Burton stars on debut as Sway III win

Clayhill 91-5, Sway 92-2 (10 overs)

Sway III finished with a win that secured them a very creditable 4th place berth with a 4 and 3 record - and more importantly 2 places above the seconds.

Clayhill batted first and got off to a slow start. Whilst not unduly troubled by the Sway bowling attack, the opening pair failed to use the walls to push runs and often hit the ball too hard to the extent that it bounced off the side walls back to the bowler. The slow scoring added pressure and Matthew Burton on his Sway debut took a sharp caught and bowled to dismiss a Clayhill opener for a duck with just his second ball and then struck again next ball to finish his two over spell with 2 wickets for just twelve runs. 

Clayhill's running problems were laid bare in the third over of the innings next over when a Clayhill batsman drove the ball hard back to the bowler Steve Drayton who deflected the ball onto the stumps. If the non-striking batsmen had been doing his job of backing up properly, he would have no chance of making his ground - just a bit of bad luck. Instead there was no run-out.

After some somewhat indifferent spells from Tony Owen (1-0-12-0) and Dan Stevenson (3-0-33-0), Sway turned the screw through the most unlikely of bowling heroes - Andy Glasspool. Whilst the Clayhill stroke play was rather suspect, Glasspool took full advantage to produce record bowling figures of 3 wicket for just 8 runs off his 3 overs. Two wickets were clean bowled and the third caught by Steve Drayton, who rather surprisingly finishes the season as the top catcher with five.

Some wayward bowling towards the end of the innings allowed Clayhill to push on to 91-5 with Matt Proctor 36* but it seemed unlikely to be enough.

The Sway innings got off to an inauspicious start with some tight bowling from Steve Thompson and Mike Proctor building the pressure. Two wickets were lost early doors - firstly Dan Stevenson appeared to play down the wrong line and was bowled  for 4 and strike-bowling ace Andy Glasspool was run out for 3. Tony Owen batted sensibly before retiring on 27 not out. At the other end, in an innings that will have grabbed the attention of the Saturday skippers, Burton displayed good technique and aggressive intent in his 26 not out that brought Sway within reach of victory. It was left to Steve Drayton (9*) and Steve Keen (3*) to bring home the victory with two overs to spare. The match ending in an anti-climax with the winning runs come from a wide which, true to form, skipper Keeno deciding to leave the not-so-wide delivery rather than clubbing it for four, given 12 balls and 4 wickets in hand!

An excellent season for the thirds, not only justifying the decision to enter three teams but also proving that there in no substitute for experience in cricket, with the indoor version being no different.