Band of Brothers Over 40s

In what was the inaugural Band of Brothers over 40s match, the Martlets welcomed them to the geographically convenient East Grinstead CC. Reading their website we offered an 80 over declaration game but they declined in favour of a T35 match.
Fielding first, with 12 off the first over , the Martlets looked set for a long afternoon but both openers departed quickly , one to a fine diving catch by Shiv at square leg, leaving BB in 18-2. This just paved the way for a well constructed partnership of 68 and with any ball missing the infield essentially becoming 4 , the afternoon did indeed lengthen! The next partnership built in this in quick time and things were looking ominous. However the Martlets managed to drag it back to 189-7 in the 29th over. This was helped in no small way by a hat trick of catches from our ex-Man in Mumbai, Willy Boulter, the third of which was a true diving champagne moment!
Some quick runs towards the end meant BB reached 257 off their allotted overs, Adam Lungley the pick of the Martlets bowlers with 3-35.
In reply, needing around 8 runs per over, the Martlets kept up with the pace initially but lost the top four batsmen for a total of 33 runs. There was a recovery through a partnership of 66 between Dave Christmas(33) and debutant Sam Collyer(34) but aside from an entertaining 22* from Adam Lungley the innings ended rather lamely on 173 all out in the last over.
Thanks to East Grinstead for hosting and the match officials: Richard Holden , Dick Ellis and Martin Montgomery. We look forward to the return in Kent in 2023.

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