The 2nd XI match against St Mary Redcliffe swung more times than one of Jimmy Anderson’s bowling spells with the result looking like it was going one way and then the other.
Mark Gracey won the toss and decided once again to make the most of the new ball and put St Mary Redcliffe into bat. A decision which looked like it was a good decision with Frank Forge bowling the one of the openers off his pads with his third ball.
Swung in favour of Barrow
St Mary Redcliffe then accelerated the scoring and off about 10 overs were on around 70.
Swung in Favour of St Mary Redcliffe
Ed Jones then threw a ball in from the boundary and (keeper) Bernie Forge successfully completed the run out of the other St Mary Redcliffe opener for 7. Dan Jones bowled the quick scoring Yandell in his 40’s while Mike Lilley and Dan kept the scoring in check and picked up a wicket a piece.
Swung in favour of Barrow.
Ellie Holdaway then bowled with her usual good line and picked up 4 wickets of the St Mary Redcliffe tail ably supported by Kieran Owen who after a shaky start hit his rhythm and bowled with good pace and picked up the final wicket of the last ball of the innings – St Mary Redcliffe 156 all out and maximum bowling points.
After a good tea by the Sykes family Barrow started what might have thought would be a relatively comfortable run chase.
Pete Holdaway returning to the team after a while away was beaten by a straight ball before Mark Gracey and Jordan Allen put on a 30 run partnership before the skipper was caught behind off a thin edge. Jordan carried on the scoring and with Barrow 74/3 off about 15 overs it was looking like Barrow were going to chase down their target comfortably, however Barrow then lost the wickets of Jordan (37) and Jonny Sykes, Ed Jones and Ellie very cheaply. Ellie was caught by a very athletic slip catch with the fielder at full stretch to his high right.
Swung back in the favour of St Mary Redcliffe with Barrow 89/7.
Then it was time for the Kieran and Bernie show, they both blocked the St Mary Redcliffe bowlers determined to bat the overs, but always punished the bad balls. Both Bernie and Kieran batted with great maturity and guided Barrow home with unbeaten scores of 30 and 28 respectively with 2 balls remaining.
The highlights of the match other then watching Bernie and Kieran guide Barrow home was Ellie’s bowling, finishing with figures of 4 wickets off 6 overs for 6 runs.