Match Report

It is salutary from time to time to be well beaten by a side that is evidently better than us. Shipton set about us in good spirit and thrashed us without rubbing our noses in it.
Electing to bat first on a covered pitch and (initially at least) treacherous out field we battled valiantly but in vain and struggled to 57-5. True; Pablo was brilliantly caught at square leg from a sweetly clipped shot off his legs; true also; Tim got a harsh LBW well forward and across to a left arm round the wicket spinner; but true also; we struggled and the home side made light of the difficult fielding conditions kept close fielders in and made us work hard for
every run. Only Mike Pennington initially looked comfortable against a quicker than average opening attack and, at 5, Gary looked to have the spinners well sorted out, but the maintenance of good pressure told.
At a parlous 57-5, Shipton turned to their 5th and 6th bowlers and Richard Andrews began to mount a recovery with a display of controlled hitting that was to eventually take him to 89, by some distance the best score of the innings. I should add that while the bowling was easier at this stage, it was also not rubbish and Richard's effort was not matched by anyone else. He was well supported by Andrew Cunningham and Jonathan Turnbull, who found some fluency as the end neared. In the end 193 all out was a good if somewhat one-handed effort. It did however leave the home side a massive hour and three quarters and twenty overs to reach their target.
Shipton batted as they bowled and from early on it was clear that bad balls would be despatched and good ones kept out. Jonathan Dudding bowled a long spell with little to show for a good sustained effort and it was Pablo coming on early to replace Jonathan Turnbull who eventually induced a false shot from one of the openers and had the pleasure of knocking his middle stump out of the ground. 90 odd for one, however, was not the ideal launching pad for a collapse and it was not until Richard Andrews came on that a second wicket fell. By this stage, with 70 or so needed in plenty of time, one of their batsmen cut loose. Your correspondent had the dubious pleasure of two huge sixes hit straight down the ground in succession and the Pyrrhic victory of having him well caught by Andrew Cunningham an over later.
In the end they got home by 7 wickets and, despite a couple of dropped chances and two or three good shouts for LBW turned down, this was a match where Shipton were always ahead.

Champagne Moments: Despite Richard's fine display of hitting I'm sure he won't begrudge the opposing skipper's son (standing in, aged 12) getting it for the maiden he bowled when the opposition needed two to win.