16th May 2010
Hall & Jones blast 1st XI to victory
Sway 313-1, North Baddesley 194-8. Sway won by 199 runs
The first eleven traveled to fellow promoted side North Baddesley. Sway won the toss and elected to bat first on what appeared to be a decent track. Opener Adam Clark mis-timed a drive and was caught for 9 bringing number 3 Barry Jones to the crease to join opener Alex Hall. The pair were soon cracking along at a decent rate - reaching 75 off the first 15 overs, and 103 at the half way point. The pair then moved into top gear, scoring an astonishing further 208 runs off the remaining 21 overs - a rate of almost 10 an over. The home side were having no luck in the field with any balls in the air going wide of the fielders, and when Alex Hall did pop up a straightforward catch, a mix up between a fielder and the keeper led to a sickening clash of bodies, that luckily did not appear to result in serious injury. Whilst Hall raced through 100 and then 150, Jones at the other end was keeping up with ease. The powerful Marine recorded a chanceless innings littered with big hits - not least a huge six over mid wicket to bring up his ton. By the the end of the innings, the pair had recorded a club record partnership of 291. In the process Hall racked up his maiden league century - a club record 168 not out, and Jones recorded the second highest ever score of 128 not out. The total of 313-1 was also a club record and the total was also the highest ever at North Baddesley's ground.
North Baddesley have a pretty darn good batting line up themselves led by the artful surgeon, Amjad Parvaiz who seemed undaunted by the size of the target. From the outset Parvaiz launched into the Sway bowling with some excellent shots including a glorious cover drive of John Grasham. With the required rate creeping up, however, Parvaiz was forced to take one chance too many and holed out to Nilantha Atapattu on the boundary. North Baddesley had one further big hitter capable of scoring runs at the required rate in the form of Aaron Williams. Williams continued to keep his side in the game on the way to a quite literally rasping 58, but when he too found Atapattu in the deep, the game was effectively won. It remained to be seen if Sway could then bowl North Baddesley out for maximum points.
Alex Hall & Barry Jones - 291 run unbeaten partnership
With the home side likely to only bat 10 players due to an injury, Sway only needed 9 wickets. Terry Patch was the pick of the Sway bowlers picking up 4-35 as Sway closed in on victory. Whilst Atapattu completed a hatrick of excellent catches in the deep, Sway finished 1 wicket short. Going into the final over North Baddesley needed 6 runs to record an additional batting point, however for some mysterious reason the two remaining batsmen showed no inclination to go for it. Two games, two wins and only one wicket loss - the unexpected problem for skipper John Grasham being that most of his team have not had any batting practice!
