Taj Mahal 98-7 (20 overs), Football club 94-8 (20 overs)

With summer on its way, cricket has once again returned to Dartmouth with the start of the Dartmouth and District T20 league. The first game of the season was the much-anticipated clash between four-time champions the Football Club and the newly formed Taj Mahal.  The Football Club won the toss and on a slightly cloudy morning they elected to bowl. The Taj openers Andy Jessop and Ed Rahman found runs hard to come by, disciplined bowling and a slow pitch were hemming them in. Jessop was frustrated and he attempted to hook Gareth Knot, but only managed to find the fielder on the long leg boundary. The football club continued to bowl well, Neil Prettyjohns and Darren Goss being the pick of the bunch, with 13 overs gone they had managed to restrict the Taj to only 50 runs. When Ed Rahman was bowled by Dave Vicory, things were looking good for the Football Club, but Saif Rahman managed to pull the game back for the Taj. A classy 25 not out off 16 balls, along with some late hitting from Rezwan Ali and Shuman Ahmed got the score up to 98-7 after 20 overs. The run chase didn't get off to a good start for the Football Club as they lost both openers inside the first four overs. The sign of a good champion is how they bounce back and they did so with the flashing blade of Mark Pasty. With decisive running and some elegant stroke play, he quickly got the Football Club above the required run rate and with Gareth Knot providing solid support at the other end, they looked on course to get their season off with a win. The breakthrough came in the eleventh over for the Taj. Dan Jackson found the outside edge of Pasty's bat and he was caught behind for 15. Two balls later Neil Prettyjohns was also walking back, castled to a Jackson delivery that kept low. The Taj team now had a spring in their step, confidence was high and they had only tail-end batsman to bowl at. The wickets they were after didn't come immediately and Paul Pope managed to keep the score board ticking. Pope's late defiance saw the Football Club only need 18 runs to win off the final three overs. Dave Clark's superb bowling halted this late charge, his pace too much for Ian Carter and Gareth Knot, both of whom hurried attempted pull shots and were easily caught at short leg. With Pope stranded at the non-striker's end, the Football Club fell five runs short of their target, giving the Taj Mahal victory in their first match by four runs. Both teams would like to thank all the supporters who came out to watch, Brian Harriss and Chris Chase for donning the umpire coats and Pete Foster and Doug Hawkins for preparing the pitch. The Taj would also like to give special thanks to Steph Garnett for designing their team logo.