Making it two coin toss losses across the weekend, skipper James Biggs was asked to field on what was the hottest day of the year so far. It was an easy choice to bat for Long Sutton, as despite being a few games old, the strip lived up to Burghley’s reputation of a good batting deck.

For the second time this weekend, captain Biggs claimed a wicket in the first over of the match, with Ryan Gilmour taking a decent catch over his shoulder. However, this early breakthrough did not set the tone for the day. The Long Sutton duo of Dan Oldfield and Jack Baker got their heads down and put on a 100-run partnership. Chris Logan bowled with good aggression but was not able to take any wickets in either of his spells. Mo Azhar came on and bowled with his usual control, with Joe Youngs offering support from the other end. The decision was made to swap ends for Mo to bowl at the Diana End, to try inducing a mistake from the set batter Oldfield. Initially Azhar was dispatched over the fence, but the batter went for one big shot too many, skying a top edge and presenting an easy catch for the returning Lando Thain. However, a second 100-run partnership from Long Sutton, this time from Baker and Davico Kruger, moved the score past 200. Bowling changes saw Gilmour and James Laud come and go without claiming any wickets. It wasn’t until Will Portlock drew a false shot from Baker and a sharp stumping from Thain got the batter for 51 with Long Sutton on 206/3. However, this brought in Paul Edgeller, and between him and Kruger they tucked into some tired bowling in the final 5 overs, with some lusty blows over the boundary moving the score on to 282/3 from 45 overs.

With a considerable run chase on the cards, a quick start was required from the Bears – and that’s exactly what they got. In a change to the plan, Chris Logan opened the batting with previous centurion James Laud. Laud made the early inroads, crunching the ball to the boundary with some lovely cut shots. Logan soon got into the action, and what followed was something special. In what was probably some of the most destructive batting ever seen at The Park, the Kiwi sent the ball in all directions at a rate of knots. This scoring had caught the attention of those following along on the FrogBox stream, with members turning up to watch the action first had. Between them the openers had taken full advantage of the powerplay, scoring 100-0 after 10 overs, with Logan bringing up his 50 the 8th over from just 25 balls. He was eventually bowled by Jacob Gray having scored 90 from 44 balls, including 12 fours and 5 sixes at a monumental strike rate of 204. Logan’s dismissal sparked a mini-collapse from Burghley, with Gilmour (4), Thain (6) and Youngs (0) facing 23 balls between them. At the other end, though, Laud continued to push on and moved his score past 50, as Josh Gallimore joined him at the crease with the score on 165/4. Between them they added 73 before Gallimore fell for 28. Biggs joined Laud at the crease as the talented youngster brought up his second successive 100 in fine style and looked to put Burghley in touching distance of a great win. In a slight hiccup, Biggs was adjudged LBW for 4 and Laud was surprisingly bowled, both from the bowling of Paul Edgeller. This left Mo Azhar and Kavin Viswanathan to take the Bears home, with Viswanthan sweeping a 4 to win the game in the 43rd over, wrapping up a memorable 3 wicket victory.

A tough game up next for the Sunday 1st XI as they travel to Woodlands to face City CC.

This match was sponsored by Flawless Faces.