Dartmouth

Arms 153-6,

Ship in Dock

Inn 92 all out

The second weekend of matches started with the DA taking on last year's beaten finalists, the Ship in Dock. The DA won the toss and elected to bat; a fine decision as the weather was due to deteriorate later on.

DA openers started off solidly in the face of a determined and competent bowling attack, but were initially restricted in their run rate.

Dan Jackson was the first to fall (again!) with a fine delivery from Shumon Ahmed, fast and swinging in, hitting the top of leg stump.

The run rate increased with Jamie Bayley coming in to partner Andy Jessop, who went on to score 26 not out for the second match in a row.

Andrew Jarrold kept up the good work, scoring steadily and frustrating the Ship in Dock's bowlers with excellent rotation of the strike.

Ross Donnely and Simon Geen came in late on and kept up the pressure on the Ship in Dock with some excellent stroke play, with Simon Geen especially lively between the wickets.

An uncharacteristically poor performance in the field from last year's finalists, and an unacceptably high number of wide deliveries, helped the DA to reach 153 with only six wickets down after their 20 overs. 

The Ship in Dock, therefore, had a mountain to climb even before the weather and the DA's excellent pace attack combined to stifle their batsmen.

Nonetheless, they must have had hope with the talented MCC batsman Harry Moores opening the innings, and a few other fine batsmen to come afterwards.

Hope faded fast as Moores was bowled by Saif Rahman for a duck in the first over; the ball passing Moores' outside edge to take the off bail. 

Bayley kept up the pressure from the other end, with some excellent line and length bowling.

Ed Rahman took out fellow countryman Shumon Ahmed when he tried to play over the top to the long-off boundary, but mistimed it and gave a simple catch to Grayham Bayley at short extra cover.

Ed Noss-Ward came in next to try to stop the rot, and played some fine cricket strokes before succumbing to a superb in-swinging delivery from Andy Jessop that moved off the seam to take out middle stump.

The Ship's fortunes were heading the way of the worsening weather, and at this point the Ship in Dock must have been praying for the game to be abandoned.

However, the rain eased and in came local celebrity Monty Halls who, having displayed competence with the ball, was keen to show off his prowess with the bat too. He played some excellent shots, reaching his 25 without too much trouble, apart from pulling off a great escape after being dropped on six by wicket keeper Pete Foster, who otherwise had an excellent game.

All around him, the wickets were falling, and in the 19th over their innings came to an end with two wickets from two balls from Dan Jackson; we'll see next week whether or not he'll complete his hat-trick when the DA take on Royal Mail.

The Ship in Dock finished on 92 all out, meaning the DA triumphed by a sizeable 61 runs.

The second match of the weekend, Royal Mail vs The Dolphin, was called off due to a waterlogged pitch.