Firsts slip up again
For the fourth match running, the Firsts found themselves in a tense finish, despite holding a dominant position at one stage, and for the third time they let the game slip away. Luton Town and Indians needed 13 runs from the final over and top scorer, Jeetan Patel smashed two boundaries and a maximum with one ball left. This was after Reed bossed the majority of the match. Will Heslam set the tone with a speedy 58 until he was brilliantly caught over his shoulder by mid-on running back. There followed a procession of batters getting set, but not pushing on for a big score: Kallum Ward (24), Matt Sampson (37), Zac McGuigan (28), Rob Lankester (27) and James Heslam (24) . This left Reed with a total of 246 all out, but at last they made use of all 60 allotted overs. On a hard, fast pitch and outfield, the opposition were confident of overhauling that score, but their first 30 overs seemed to suggest otherwise. Toby Fynn started remarkably with 8 consecutive maidens and a wicket, leaving Luton 20 for 2 from 16 overs. At 85 for 5 from 30 a draw was probably their best outcome, but then the game changed dramatically. Kevin Whitehall joined Patel and made a half century in just 18 balls (9 fours and 2 sixes). After 9 balls he was scoring at a rate of 333%! Even when he skyed a catch to Sean Tidey behind the wicket, the tail enders joined in with the fun maintaining a rate of of 6 an over in tandem with Patel who finished on 79 not out. As chances went down, even Tom Greaves could not staunch the flow as [...]
