Fielding first, Houghton found runs hard to come by as Jack Chopping used pace and bounce to
rattle the Houghton openers, whilst Mark Bolar bowled to a tight line and length, giving away
very few scoring opportunities. However the first wicket didn’t fall till the 13th over when first
change bowler Paul Eaton trapped T. Wells LBW for 26 – Houghton’s umpire waited a long time
before giving the decision. One wicket became two very quickly as superb reactions from Albert
Luck helped to run out S. Patel for a duck.

But it all changed soon after as first opener C. Griggs and then D. Cader reached their 50s in
emphatic style - Both Will Chudley and Peter Short were on the receiving end of some hard
hitting blows.
The match turned again as D. Cader tried one shot too many against the bowling of Mark Bolar
and was clean bowled for 57, and the Houghton innings capitulated. From a strong position of
167 for 2 from 31 overs, Houghton could only put on 23 more runs with their remaining 8
wickets - Kalvin Lodder doing most of the damage, 3 – 1 – 3 – 3. Mark Bolar also claimed
another two wickets to end with healthy figures of 8 – 2 – 23 – 3

In reply Isham’s innings never got going. Losing Kalvin Lodder in the second over rocked the
Isham team and any chance of scoring runs vanished as Derrick Lambert and Dave Andrews
struggled to gain runs. After 20 overs, Isham had scored a meagre 48 runs. Derrick lost his
wicket soon after drinks trying to up the run rate, which allowed for Isham’s big hitters to come
in an reek havoc - that was the plan anyway. However it never came off as Will Chudley and Jack
Chopping failed to get going, Will caught at slip for 9 and Jack forcing a catch at mid-on for 10. By
then the run-rate was too high and despite the efforts and George Chudley and Mark Bolar,
Isham were never going to win the game. Cameo appearances from Albert Luck and Peter Short
at the end showed how easy scoring was, and left the team wondering what could have been.

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