Southgate vs Hertford - 1st Round - ECB National Knock Out

Southgate took to the field at Hertford for our 1st round National KO Cup game with our strongest team of the season so far and keen to start picking up some wins before the League season gets underway. Earlier, Hertford had failed to provide a scorer (against the rules of the competition) and offered to concede the game and play a friendly, rather than play with 10. Luckily our skipper has mellowed with age, and wanted to play a fair competitive game - Hertford won the toss and we were in the field.

Daragh and our new Aussie recruit Nick Varney were outstanding with the new ball, reducing Hertford to 36-5 with swing and control and 4 nicks to the stand-in keeper. Mikey (Dazza) backed them up beautifully in his own special way with an economical spell and 1 wicket, before a Hertford lower order rearguard came which eventually got them up to 184-9 off their 40 overs despite some useful bowling from James and Shaun. The fielding and catching in general was fantastic, and while 184 was more than we'd hoped to be chasing at one point - it was still significantly below par on what's an extremely fast scoring ground.

I opened up with Matt Stratten (welcome back) and we ticked over fairly comfortably at 5 an over, reaching 100-0 at the midway stage without taking too many risks and getting full value for anything that beat the infield. After drinks, I decided to hit a long hop to square leg, but Matt batted through for a well compiled 73 not out, helped by some lusty blows from Luke and classy finesse from Michael. We got over the line with 5 overs to spare and 8 wickets in hand.

2nd round is at home to Hoddesdon on Sunday 12th May #cuprun #7winsfromlords