Burghley Park made a return to our country house cousins on Saturday, Chatsworth House. 46 hours prior to arriving, the pitch had been underwater and so it was quite remarkable that the game even went ahead. Certainly three cheers to Billy and the team for getting the game on. Losing the toss, captain David Popple was asked to bat on a pitch that despite the dampness and green, behaved pretty well throughout. Regular openers Bradly Hurn and Andy Briault got things off to a good start with a 95 run partnership with the latter bringing up his 50 before a compulsory retirement. Ben 'weapon' Parker joined Hurn however the partnership was short lived with Parker being bowled by Jackson for 5. Much expectation was on Joe Youngs however uncharacteristically Youngs only got to 9 before falling to the dreaded figure of Dave Ford. Keen to keep up the scoring, Popple strode to the crease however he was bowled within 4 balls for a duck. A repair was needed and this came in the form of firstly Matt Roberts and and Simon Sherwin (with the former having his wicket taken by Lord Cavendish) and then Nick Fisher joining the latter to put on 68 runs with Sherwin ending his 52* with a glorious straight 6 over the thatched pavilion. Ella Briault joined Fisher but sadly fell quickly (sorry Dad!) and debutant Josh Slade also felt the death rattle with a first baller. Ford joined Fisher and the score ended up on a decent 206-7.

In reply, Jackson batted well for a steady 51 and Gray offered some initial resistance for 13 before being bowled by the (at times) unplayable deliveries of Fisher and Slade (for all your conveyancing needs...). Fisher ended on 6-1-10-1 and Slade a very respectable 7-1-26-1. Popple turned the screw and brought on the very accurate bowling of Ella Briault who extracted turn and bounce which meant the batters never got going and the cult like Ford, with the latter picking up Stasi for 13. Popple brought himself on and soon had Powell and Briault (keeping) in knots with deliveries that spun sharply, returning figures of 3-23 off 6. Sherwin came on to tie an end up and went for 5 runs off his three overs including a wicket which had the batsman all ends up. The self proclaimed weapon, Ben Parker then had an over and picked up Lord Cavendish for 11. Roberts bowled the final over and Chatsworth ended up on 144-8. A note to say that James 'Lord' Cavendish had an excellent game, bowling well and batting with maturity. The club is in safe hands for years to come with the heir apparent to Chatsworth enjoying his cricket. Much fun was had after the game at the Cavendish Club with the club looking forward to hosting Chatsworth next season.

This match was sponsored by King West.