Winning the toss and choosing to bat, Ashby Carington made the most of local conditions, which included a tree within the boundary (that was partly formed by a picket fence, a safety measure to prevent fielders running headfirst into the babbling brook that lies hidden, behind some trees at one end of the ground), short straight boundaries and areas of the outfield that undulate in a way not dissimilar to a golf course (with a bit of rough thrown in for good measure).

Making his debut for Burghley, Andrew Baker delivered a disciplined opening spell, bowling with accuracy and extravagant movement off the pitch, but with little luck. He maintained tight lines and economy (3.38), applying pressure and earning a key breakthrough. He finished with figures of 1 wicket for 27 runs from his 8 overs, but on another day could have had a few more scalps.

Alex Marshall provided a wicket-taking option at the other end, striking twice in his 4 overs, claiming 2 wickets for 31 runs, with Ella Briault taking a comfortable catch at mid-wicket and Jim McIntosh a less comfortable but more painful catch at mid-off, with the ball struck powerfully, it hit him in the chest and lobbed up behind him to complete what was in the end, a simple catch.

Despite the three early wickets, the Ashby middle order consolidated with a mix of patience and aggression.

Ella Briault replaced Marshall, and bowled a full quota of 8 overs, getting the wicket of the dangerous Nick Winterton for 40, a sharp chance taken behind the stumps by Briault Senior, standing up to the off-spin of daughter, Ella (aka “The Better Briault”). She kept her line and length consistent, despite the batters attacking intent, conceding only 1 wide in her spell.

Aman Dinesh and Robbie McIntosh continued the all off-spin attack and might have had identical figures of 2 – 40 from their 8 overs, if McIntosh Senior had been more focused on catching the ball at long-off and less worried about falling over the picket fence and into the babbling brook. Aman finished with figures of 1/40 and Robbie with 2 – 40, both young bowlers showing persistence and control, each finishing with a respectable economy of 5.00.

Jim McIntosh introduced himself for a short spell to complete the innings, delivering 4 overs for a costly 36 runs, taking the wickets of Jamie Wilson (90) and Rob Woods (40), but with a far less respectable economy of 9.00 it was too little, too late to make an impact on the total.

The standout performance for Ashby was undoubtedly Jamie Wilson, who played a fluent and commanding knock of 90 from 102 balls. He found good support from Rob Woods (40 off 43) and Adam Buckby (35 off 30), taking the home side to a challenging 237 for 8 in their allotted 40 overs.

Burghley’s response began with the experienced pair of Andy Briault and Jim McIntosh opening the batting. Both were looking to keep the scoreboard ticking over with a few early boundaries, but Briault was dismissed for 12 runs off 23 balls, bowled by an absolute Jaffer from Yousuf Shaikh.

At the other end, Jim McIntosh, was trying to anchor the innings while keeping the scoreboard moving along, taking whatever singles were on offer and hitting some (but sadly not all) of the bad balls for 4.

Kavin Viswanathan came in at number three and approached the task at hand with his usual gusto. Alas, he was unable to make an impact, scoring just 2 runs from 4 deliveries before being bowled by the excellent left arm opener, Yousuf Shaikh.

Robbie McIntosh, batting in the middle order, showed some intent with a boundary in his 6-run innings but was bowled by the wily Adam Buckby after facing 14 balls.

Andrew Baker added useful runs in the middle, contributing 13 off 20 balls, with a pair of boundaries, before also falling to Buckby.

A special shout out to Alex Marshall, who played a bright and breezy innings of 31 runs off just 25 balls, striking 5 fours at an impressive strike rate of 124. In making his highest score for Burghley, he provided some much-needed impetus before being dismissed by seasoned campaigner, Nigel Hubbard.

Ella Briault and Aman Dinesh struggled to build any kind of momentum, scoring 1 and 4 respectively. Overbalancing, Aman was smartly stumped by Nigel Lewis off the bowling of Thorpe, who completed a three-wicket haul.

Mark Laud was in for a good time, not a long time, scoring 2 runs from 4 balls, bowled by Nick Winterton.

McIntosh Senior attempted to hold the innings together while wickets fell around him, ending up with a slightly turgid but nonetheless valuable knock of 68 runs from 87 balls (including 8 boundaries). His was eventually the last wicket to fall, playing an ugly swipe across the line to Sean Thorpe in a fruitless attempt to get closer to the victory target, that only succeeded in going in a vertical trajectory, with mid wicket taking the simplest of catches.

George Cheney remained unbeaten at the end with 0 not out from 1 ball, as the innings came to a close.

Despite the loss, there were plenty of encouraging signs for the Sunday 2’s. Taking the field with 10 players is always a challenge, especially with some unfamiliar local conditions to contend with, against a team of experienced and wily campaigners in Ashby Carington who exploited their local knowledge to the maximum (we fished the ball out of the babbling brook at regular intervals). Although we lost, we were grateful to secure 8 points in defeat, and learned some valuable lessons that we can take forward with us to next week’s fixture at Croxton Kerrial.

This match was sponsored by Bishopsgate Corporate Finance