Wood Street VillageWood Street Village vs Frimley Green Cricket ClubFGCC

10-man FGCC finally managed to break their 2015 duck after a confident display with both bat and ball against new opposition in the shape of Wood Street Village in this rain-reduced 35-over per side game.

Winning the toss on a damp surface, FGCC started in perfect fashion by taking a wicket in the very first over, with Nick Gates getting opener Tony Ewins to edge behind to stand-in keeper Mark Russell, Ewins very sportingly walking after the umpire didn't hear a noise. Mark obviously was in the mood to get involved in the game from the get-go, with the first 3 wickets all being caught behind the stumps. After Nick's miserly spell of 7-3-10-3 and with Rich, Kev and Nug bowling tightly, skipper Jim tossed the ball to FGCC's wicket-taking machine Rus Edmonds, Despite being erroneously introduced to the scorers an over early (perhaps a good omen for future matches), Rus obliged with an excellent spell, taking the valuable wickets of the promising Jack Mallet and left-hander Stone, who had decided to take Jim's bowling on much to his chagrin. Rus ended by mopping up the tail to take his second 5-fer for the club, in spite of Nug 'doing a Greavsie' and dropping a relatively straightforward catch when Rus already had four in the bag.

After a cracking tea and chasing down a modest 116 for victory, Rich and Mark set to work in chipping away at the runs despite a very hostile spell of bowling by Stone. Putting on 65 for the first wicket with Mark (as well as surviving a drop), Rich hit his sixth successive FGCC half-century, the picks of the hits being a huge six over square leg and into the cow field which lost Rus the match ball he'd already ordered a display cabinet off eBay to hold. Although Ants and Graeme fell without troubling the scorers, the returning Mike Parry joined Rich in a typically belligerent mood, with his more than a-run-a-ball cameo helping to take FGCC over the line for their first victory in over a year.