Saturday’s Giants – Adam Afzal, Alex Humphreys, James Furness, Aayush Patel (c), Rory Watson, Oller Furness, Tom Stevens, Jacob Kalnins (wkt), Ben Young Nick Main and Ben Bauman

"Saturday 23rd April saw one of our earliest starts to a season, with the Holmbury St Mary fixture, moved away from its traditional August Bank Holiday window. Bright sun, a beautiful ground with picturesque views all around, and a 'not quite fully fit XI' - the summer of village cricket was back. Injuries included club ‘biffer’ Rory W, nursing some sort of leg/foot injury, and Ben B suffering from a very concerning 'inflamed spine' meaning that is left hand was incapacitated. We checked the Laws - sadly we couldn't bring in another 0.5 players.

New captain Aayush, with Tom W, on the injury bench (again), won the toss and elected to bowl on a lovely rock solid pitch with not a cloud in sight. Village cricket moment of the season came very early with Nick stepping over the boundary whilst throwing the ball back in. Not the ideal start, however, Tom S, with his second ball, brought an edge from Holmbury's ringer, brought in by Tom W. There was then a bizarre run-out, with a very loud 'NO' call, resulting in the batsman jogging through anyway, Adam and Ben Y doing the work. Ben was so excited by the run-out that he eviscerated his little finger when removing the bails. Tom S and Ben Y bowled well in tandem for the first 8 overs, with the score set at 37-2. Nick removed the new batsman, caught by Ben Y, placed in a highly unusual fielding position of not quite short third-man, not quite backward point, and then removed the other set opener, caught well by Jacob behind the stumps, with the score now at 91-4. Wickets were starting to fall quickly, with James and Oller picking up their first of the season. However, the 7th wicket partnership started to build alarmingly first, with a few lofted drives into the trees. 101-6, became 192-7, a huge partnership, with the outgoing bat only picking up 7 runs, before being bowled by Ben Y, returning from the top end. Nevertheless, Pienaar, Holmbury's captain anchoring the innings at #7, was well set and expertly kept the strike. Nick eventually picked up two more wickets, one a stunning grab at short cover by Adam. With the score at 232-9, Pienaar brought up a quite magnificent century from 55 balls, before being bowled by Nick to close-up the innings, Nick finishing with 5-39 and was complaining about having to find £20 to purchase an honours cap before he even reached the boundary rope! A decent performance in the field, with some great ground fielding and catching by Adam and Jacob, and a very tidy spell from Tom S (1-26), and the Giants required 233 to win from their 35 overs.

It looked ominous straight away, with Alex bowled from a high full toss, but Adam and James built a very solid partnership, and capitalised on some wayward bowling. There was classy stroke-making all round, which looked even more beautiful with James donning a lovely cable-knit jumper, and the club GM bat. Things we love to see. James was unlucky to fall for a well-made 25 before Rory took the stage. As Tom W noted, "Rory is amazing as both teams react in disbelief at all the shots he plays," and this was proven straight away, with some powerful slaps through the leg side and a huge 6 into the forest. Progress was quick, until Adam left an inswinger for a classy 46 and Rory fell almost instantly after for a typically brutal 47. Captain Aayush and Oller steadied the ship, opting for the cautious approach and just getting bat on ball, but this approach did not work for too long, with Aayush bowled by the off spinner.

Wickets continued to fall at regular intervals, as they often do when the Giants come under any sort of pressure, and it looked bleak with the score at 199-9 with 3.2 overs to come and a ‘one handed’ Ben B walking to the crease. However, Ben Y was still in, and was looking in red hot form, always looking to take quick singles and punish any poor bowling. It came to 17 off the final over, but Holmbury had a bowling issue. A new bowler was required to bowl the last. A couple of no balls later, and thanks to some canny hitting, the Giants needed 1 off 1, with both Ben's speeding through to win off the final ball, by a wicket. Credit to both, and especially to Ben B, batting with pure bottom hand and no real control - exactly the type of fighting spirit that often finds itself lacking when the Giants are chasing. But it was Ben Y who got us over the line, with a fantastic match-winning knock of 30* off 19".

So, a nerve gangling win in the end, by 1 wicket off the final ball. Not quite as close as last year's Super Over on Chiddingfold's FrogBox, but the Giants never like doing things easy do they? Roll on next Sunday and new opponents at Oxted & Limpsfield".

Flemish Giants win by 1 wicket (0 balls remaining)
Player of the match - Ben Young. 1-51 and 30* (19). 1 catch.

Nick Main – April 2022