The Club cricket year 2024 did not get off to…

All of Nomansland’s unique elements come into play as threes secure third win of the season
Bramshaw 3rd XI v Winton Development XI – HCL Division 6SW, Match Report by Tom Mason
On a glorious day at Nomansland, the threes faced the Winton Development side, knowing that a win was needed to put last week’s disappointing defeat behind them.
Six changes were made for the visit of Winton with Joe Mcneilly, Harry Burnham, Ollie Hensel, and Ryan Dibben coming back in, while Toby Shefford and Stuart Stickland made their first third-team appearances of the season.
After losing the toss, we were asked to bat by our visitors.
Mcneilly (66) started like a train and got the side off to a flying start, reaching 34-0 inside four overs.
The runs continued to flow throughout the opening ten overs as we raced along to 60-0 after ten overs.
A couple of quieter overs ensued before Burnham (9) was out clean bowled to bring Stickland (28) to the crease.
The pair rebuilt well after the loss of the opener before Mcneilly was dismissed for a superb 66, his best score of the season to date.
The elements were needed soon after as the ball was smashed into the pond which ended up not being the only time this happened on the day.
This brought Ben Lindsay (33) to the crease, fresh from Southampton’s promotion after-party to the crease, and shared 55 with Stickland in just 9.4 overs to keep the scoreboard ticking over well.
Once both were dismissed in fairly quick succession, it was over to Chris Hewlins (16) and Allan Haworth (36*) to keep up the momentum as the side headed towards the 200 mark and max batting points.
Weirdly, it was becoming quite tough to get the ball away towards the end of the innings, but the experienced duo fought hard and put on 40 for the fifth wicket to take the team past 200.
Hewlins fell with a few balls remaining before Dibben (2*) faced the last few deliveries as we finished up on 211-5 from their 40 overs which we would have very much taken before a ball was bowled.
After the break, Hensel (3-24) and Lindsay (2-20) opened up and bowled magnificently.
The breakthrough came when their hard-hitting opener smashed the ball straight to the skipper Tom Mason at mid-on, who took a well-judged catch that was going at some pace, to give Hensel the perfect start.
The wickets continued to flow as the opening pair caused havoc with their away side’s top order.
They were soon reduced to 21-5 in just 7 overs to put the threes in a great position.
Some momentum built before Mason (2-24) took two quick wickets including a very sharp return catch off his bowling as the visitors struggled to keep the bowling out.
Winton’s number nine came in swinging and it paid off, however, he was very fortunate not to fall to Mason as he skied one in the air, where Toby Shefford was ready to take the simplest of catches, but the ground’s elements got in the way—hitting the leaves from an overhanging tree that was inside the boundary, making it very difficult for Shefford to complete the catch.
Moments later, the war memorial was in play with their number ten hitting the top when it looked destined to sail over the ropes for six.
You thought you’d seen it all at that point but no, the ball was back in the pond for the second time of the day. The beauty of village cricket.
Frustration grew as the away side continued to get nearer the target but it was never in danger as Hewlins (1-15) and Mcneilly (1-12) took the final two wickets to claim a brilliant victory.
Check out the full scorecard here – https://bramshaw.play-cricket.com/website/results/6123725
This continues a superb start to the season for the side, who have won three of their first four matches.