Hingham Pirates v Drayton 20th May 2007

Drayton 245-0 Hingham Pirates 128 Drayton were greeted with an unusual looking pitch on the club's second visit to Hingham in three weeks. When Warren Kedge lost the toss, it was clear that the bounce of the pitch may be difficult to deal with. However, what soon became apparent was that the pitch was extremely low and slow, and when combined with the lush outfield shot playing may be tricky. Drayton's openers set about their task from ball one and the pair returned 40 overs later following a club record opening partnership of 245. Wright got into his stride quicker despite having been short of runs recently and eventually struck eight fours and a six in his unbeaten 103. Woods, opened his shoulders once he reached his half century, and made a Drayton best 92 not out including seven fours. All credit to the Hingham bowlers who plugged away until the end - left armer S. Guy and leg spinner T. Mees both being unlucky not to snaffle wickets.

In reply, Lee Cornfield picked up a wicket in his third over, after which some real fireworks came as left hander Guy struck the ball hard to reach 48 - Cornfield eventually picking up his wicket with a delightful slower ball in his ninth over. Despite Matt Bourne taking a wicket as a result of a smart Cornfield catch, wickets were proving hard to come by - after 29 overs Hingham had reached 112-3, with opener D. Edmonds digging a trench at one end and K. Taplin stonewalling at the other. Up to the plate stepped big Daz Flatt - after four overs his figures were 4-2-3-0, 25 balls later and he had figures of 8.1-4-7-7. Six of the batsman were clean bowled in an exceptional display of seam bowling - his last wicket taken with the patented "arm ball".

Skipper Kedge found time to give young Tom Barnes his first bowl for the club and he demonstrated exceptional promise with his performace, leaving his captain delighted as the picture shows!

Congratulations also to Phil Jolly who picked up the Hingham Pirates' prestigious "Walker of the Plank" Award for his wicketkeeping display - a more popular winner of the award there can rarely have been! Thanks also to our hosts who played the game in the spirit it is supposed to be played in and even purchased us a jug of lager!!!