Hensel and Burgess star in tense victory for Sunday side

Speaking of Red Bull, George Burgess took the first over and was bowling faster than Verstappen at the Canadian Grand Prix. Ollie “on the money” Hensel opened up with Burgess, and both bowled tightly, with Hensel picking up 2-18.

Gem Chatfield and Evan “Gooner” Symonds came on first to tighten the screws. Jonty Loveless ran out their explosive opener with a direct hit. Hursley found themselves 55-3 off the first 10. Chatfield bowled a superb line and length, just like his father, who went for just nine runs off his five overs. Symonds bowled a lengthy spell and can count himself unlucky, as a lot of edges occurred off his deliveries as the Hursley middle order rallied back.

Tom Mason and Kinglsley Maddison bowled well, and two very classy Hursley batsmen both got to 50. Upstep Tristan Maddison, who used flight and bounce to bowl their number 5 to finish with a thoroughly deserved 1-17 off his 6. Tristan’s bowling, for those who haven’t seen it, is very much like left-arm Kevin Gray’s; hopefully he’ll take over 780 wickets for Bram too!

Ritesh Ramachandra and Burgess finished the bowling innings well to restrict Hursley to 223-7. Credit goes to the Hursley youth; they batted very well.

The order was staggered to have juniors and the OAP’s (Tom Mason, the oldest player at 26) bat together. Ritesh “Stevie Wonder” Ramachandra opened up with K. Maddison, the two batted well to put on 20 odd for the first wicket before the latter was castled for 6.

London Loveless joined Stevie at the crease and the two quickly upped the rate before Loveless went back to one that kept low as he was bowled by their overseas with the team score at 55. This brought Hensel to the wicket as he and Ramachandra pushed the score along nicely. Ramachandra was eventually dislodged for a well-made 31 where he laid the foundations perfectly for the middle order to push on even though we were behind the 8 ball.

Max “Benson &” Hedges came in at 5 and smoked a few boundaries as Hensel really upped the run rate. Hedges landed a fair few punches on the Hursley bowling attack as the pair put on 50 before Hedges was run out for a top-class 29.

Bailey Loveless joined Hensel at the crease and spoke to the young lad about taking the game deep and leaving wickets in hand. Loveless was bowled for a golden duck as he had exhausted his runs for the weekend with a classy 2* for the ones the day before.

Tom “cheesedog” Mason hit a large six-over cow but was quickly back in the hutch. This brought Burgess to the crease with another 100 needed at a run a ball with just 4 wickets in hand. Hensel’s eye was well and truly in as he found the boundary at a constant rate, all while respecting the good balls. Hensel got to his maiden 50 by playing proper cricket shots before he was sold down the river by Burgess to be run out for a world-class 66 (11 boundaries).

Burgess had to take the lead role with the inexperienced youth (despite only being 15 himself) left at the tail as he was joined by Tristan Maddison. Burgess took the classic agricultural Bram approach that Joe Coombs would be proud of as he biffed some vital boundaries, including a large 6.

13 off 2 overs was the requirement. Gonner was twitching in his seat at the thought of having to come in and win this game for his side. However, Burgess and Maddison ran well, with two needed off the last five balls. Burgess went to his favourite cow corner to hit a 4 to not only win the game but to bring up a maiden 50 in a quality innings.

It was an incredible game to be involved in, and the future certainly looks bright for Bram! A big mention to Andy Nicholls who works tirelessly with the juniors and now we reap what he has sown in the adult sides. Credit to Hursley for playing Sundays like they should, with their youth also playing extremely well. Huge thanks to JB for scoring again; we love you!

See the full scorecard here –

https://bramshaw.play-cricket.com/website/results/6608238