| Pilgrims won
the toss and elected to bat on a damp wicket. The two openers Nicky Birt
and
Matt Hollier struggled for the first few overs trying to cope with the uneven
bounce of the ball, but soon got in their stride. In the first hour the
score was 80 for no wicket. Matty reached his 50 first soon followed by
Nick without both of them giving any real chances. The score then
started to race along with runs flowing freely from the bat. Lawrence
came out to umpire and said to both openers that it was time to become a
bit selfish and that he would like to see to see both of them get their
hundreds. This was done soon after with Nick reaching his 100( 1st for
the Pilgrims) first and Matty reaching his 100 a few overs later. Next
we realized that the Club record partnership of 216 was there for the
taking. This was passed and eventually the first wicket was lost, Matty
(115) with 241 runs posted on the board. Nick(110)
followed soon after and Paul (8no) and Lawrence (23no)pushed the score
up to 274-2 at the end of the innings. Pilgrims bowling was very tight
and Hythe batsmen never looked like taking the run chase on. Sean Damen
bowling for the first time this season bowled very well and ended up
with figures of 3-23 off 9 overs, whilst up the other end club Stalwart
Dave Sandham who was brought out of retirement done one better than an
Ian Botham test comeback taking not only a wicket with his first ball
but another two balls later to end with figures of 2-10 off 4
overs.Hythe finally finished on 112-7 and I do apologies for bowling the
last ball of the day under arm. This was done out pure frustration after
the good spirit of the pilgrims in the last few overs tossing the
ball up offering the Hythe batsmen runs only to see there batsmen dead
bat full tosses away.
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