Frettenham v Drayton 'A' 26th May 2007

Frettenham 176 Drayton A 123 Drayton fielded first, in drizzle, on a wet long outfield, which made the ball more difficult to control. Even so, 40 extras were a gift to Frettenham, giving them an additional 4 overs and extending the game on a day when the light was never great.

There was a fair bit of playing and missing, but Frettenham's first five batsmen survived to bring up 103 runs by the end of the twenty sixth over. Fuller anchored the innings with a splendidly patient 55, but Daz Flatt came back strongly in his second spell, finishing with 3-33. The other wickets were shared between Matt Bourne, who took three, James Reeve and Darren Clark, who finished with two each.

When Drayton started batting in murky light at 5.50, the rain had stopped. Frettenham's opening bowlers, Smith and Websdale, were their usual accurate selves, with Websdale, in particular, getting the ball to shape away. After an initial breakthrough, they bowled eight successive maidens, to leave Drayton 12-2 at the end of the thirteenth over.

Chris Coupland batted patiently before unveiling some elegant backfoot shots in his 29. Other batsmen got out trying to force the pace against some accurate bowling from all of the Frettenham bowlers, until Daz Flatt (29, with one enormous six) and James Reeve (23 n.o.) put together a stand of 46, with some excellent running between the wickets, which was an example to the rest of the team. For the second week running, Reeve showed good temperament, seeing Drayton to a third batting point.