HERRIARD I vs. ALTON III (H)
It was a batting performance to forget for the 1s as two of the four top scorers were batting 10 and 11. The team restricted a youthful Alton 3s to 181-10, usually a below par score on the Herriard Green pitch. However, Herriard didn't capitolise on this with the bat, only scoring 135 and not using 15 or so overs that were remaining.
Some excellent bowling performances from Sunil Sharma (3-13) and Shashank Agrawal (2-20) and a well played 29 from Stuart Down. The group will look to move on and put in a better performance next week.
HERRIARD II vs. OLD BASING III (A)
The second team had a fantastic result at Old Basing 3s, quickly dismantling them for just 70, and then knocking this off in 10 overs.
Abhishek Singh stole the show, with 6-9, earning himself a place on the honours board! Sandeep Shahane and Abhishek Pandey also chipped in the two a piece to clean up.
Sandeep Shrikhande and Mani Singh quickly got to chasing the total down, scoring 35* and 29 respectively.
The second team will look to replicate this next weekend, and show that they're in business this season.
HERRIARD HAWKS vs. DOGMERSFIELD (H)
The Hawks got off to an absolute blinder in the first group fixture of this year's Hampshire Slam competition. Expectations were minimal going up against last years champions, who can sure slam the ball after watching the ball sail over the rope on many occasion in the fixture last season. However, the Hawks showed what they can really do and convincingly won the fixture by 61 runs.
The Hawks batted first and after some confident T20 batting, reached a competitive total of 166-7 with Nishin Haris and Shashank Agrawal scoring impactful 38 and 37 runs respectively.
Dogmersfield's response started off poorly, with effective bowling from Sowmi Srini and Rakesh Manikettykunnu along with a runout reducing them to 7-3! Following this, throughout the innings, the bowlers and fielding unit seemed up for the fight, and kept chipping away at the wickets column. Malcolm Rogers, Shashank Agrawal and Izzy Apperley shared two wickets a piece to confirm the win for the Herriard Hawks, who after this performance against the reigning champions, must be setting their sights on the trophy!
HERRIARD vs. ROTHERWICK (H)
The second midweek fixture of the week saw the midweek XI involved in a tense finish at Herriard Green.
Rotherwick batted first and got to a good score of 135-7 after some big hitting from N. Gay. Some good figures from the reliable David Wilson and returning player after a few years out, Malcolm Rogers, both picking up two. 136 to win wasn't going to be an easy target on a used pitch, but it was always going to be tight.
Herriard made stready progress towards the target with Amol Attarde, Lokendra Tomar and Rakesh Manikettykunnu all scoring in the 30s, but they always looked just shy of the run rate. This left 17 needed off the final over to win, a tall order for any. However, cometh the hour, cometh the man, and Rakesh Manikettykunnu came to the rescue, taking just four balls in the last over to score these runs. A fantastic end to a fantatic game!
HERRIARD vs. OLD BASING (N)
In the final of three midweek games this week, there was a trip to May's Bounty in Basingstoke for a Cyril Thompson Trophy clash against Old Basing. Herriard were optimistic but don't have a great history in recent years in this competition.
Old Basing batted first and it was clear early on that this was a pitch for running ones and twos rather than scoring boundaries. Nevertheless, there were some fantastic bowling performances with Rakesh Manikettykunnu, Shashank Agrawal, Dijin Narikoden and Jagadeesan Marappan all collecting two a piece, restricting Old Basing to 92-9 from their 16 overs.
Herriard set off slowly having learned from the wicket, opting to work the ball around for ones and twos from the off rather than go for big hitting. Eventually when herriard were slightly behind the rate half way through, they decided to get a move on, and started being a bit more forceful, hitting a few boundaries to put them into the driving seat and finish the game off with three balls to spare. An excellent partnership of 54 between Andrew Butler and James Down solidified the innings; Andrew Butler with a well played 47.
Herriard are in the hat for the next round, where they will take on East Woodhay.