Hawkley vs Ascot Aardvarks

Played at Hawkley on Sunday, 24th May 2009.

A hot, sunny May bank holiday afternoon and a generous pitch-side barbecue provided by the visitors made for a carnival atmosphere as Hawkley hosted a touring side from Ascot.

Batting first, Hawkley’s opening batsmen took full advantage of conditions and the innings stepped up a gear when Henry Batten arrived at the crease at the fall of the second wicket. Unleashing a range of shots, he proved unstoppable as the Aardvark attack was despatched to all parts of the ground. As Batten passed his half century he was joined by skipper Rich Humphreys and both batsmen accelerated the scoring rate.   Batten reached his century with a boundary, and promptly retired to let stylish left-hander John Dinnis join the carnage. Humpreys and Dinnis scored a rapid 36 and 30 respectively and the lower order batsmen added further runs to take Hawkley to a formidable 248 at the close of their innings.

The Aardvark openers  began the chase in positive fashion before Nick Davis removed the captain Charlie Butcher. Thereafter Randall and Hunter continued to score freely, adding nearly a hundred before Randall fell to Nick Todd for 57. All the Aardvark batsmen made useful scores, and with five overs to go the visitors had passed two hundred and had victory in their sight. Hawkley stalwart Nick Todd however kept the pressure on and finished with a hard-earned 4 for 39 as the Aardvark innings  finished on 229, leaving Hawkley the victors.