Hales v Drayton 19th May 2007

Hales 256-9 Drayton 70 A weakened first team visited Hales Green to face the top of the table side on Saturday and came out second best to an exceptionally well drilled and gifted Hales team. Under the temporary stewardship of Phil Soanes, the Drayton side performed well in the field and there were several positives to come from the performance. Hales batted first and were reduced to 20-2 thanks to two wickets in two balls from the ever probing Michael Mario-Ghae. Lacking regular first team bowlers in support, breakthroughs thereafter came at sporadic intervals through the innings as P. Squire (29), A. Jones (43), J. Vale (23), M. Cornish (61), S. Rowe (29) all contributed for the home side. Mario-Ghae with 4-40 was the pick of the Drayton bowlers - captain Soanes chipped in with three wickets whilst regular 'A' team opening bowler Jamie Scarff bowled an impressive second spell of seven overs.

When Drayton batted it soon became clear that bad balls were going to be few and far between. Where the previous week at Halvergate, the batsman had got themselves out one by one, this week they were removed by accurate and demanding bowling. For Hales, young left armer R. Andersen (10-3-9-3) and M. Lovick (9-3-17-6) were the pick of the bowlers. Hopefully for next weeks home game with Bungay, some more players will be available giving the captains more selection options. It's been a tough start to the season no doubt however if the team spirit of Saturday remains the first win can surely be only just round the corner.