Bears 269-5 45 overs
Churches 40-1 11.1 overs
Match abandoned due to rain
Unexpected, but persistent rain left the Bears frustrated on Saturday after an excellent batting display had put them firmly in the driving seat against Swindon United Churches at The Glasshouse.
The frustration must have been so much greater for Ashwin Agrawal after the in-form batsman had registered his maiden Bear Flat century; a sublime 120 the most significant contribution to the home side’s formidable 269-5. Ashwin once again found support in the shape of the mercurial Sam Vesey (68); another Bear batter in a rich vein of form currently, who clearly benefitted from a promotion to number four thanks to the psychology of stand-in skipper, Ross Newman. And if only these Millennials would run the first one hard they could improve their career averages by 10… Ross himself was the other member of the top order to pass the half century mark; a typically fluent 56.
Despite the skill the batsmen exhibited, the Church Men will have been disappointed to have dropped half a dozen catches, which would have changed their ultimate points accrual, if not the result of the match given how the weather was to play out.
After another fine tea was enjoyed by players and supporters alike (the loss of Georgia’s cup cakes negated by the addition of the ‘accidental sausage tart’) the Bears took to the field in the gathering gloom. Paul Wood and Ross got proceedings underway and the visitors had reached 40-1 (Woody claiming the wicket – a gloved chance snaffled behind the stumps by Sam) before the light rain that had begun to fall became sufficiently heavy to necessitate a retreat to the pavilion, though not before 11 players and Dave Morris showed those assembled how not to put on a protective rain sheet…
Sadly, the rain, thought by some to be nothing more than a passing shower, did not relent and at 6.45 the match was officially abandoned.
