A bright and sunny evening in Winchester was the setting for The Blades opening fixture of the year. 16 overs were decided upon and The Blades batted first.
It wasn’t the best start as Farmer was clean bowled in the first over, but Richardson and Hamer were soon scoring steadily and finding the boundary. When Richardson was caught leg before for 13, Hunter took to the crease and enjoyed some fine stroke play, helping himself to three fours in the 10th over as St Giles used… let’s say their second string bowlers. The 11th saw a record-breaking seven wides help the score along, and when Hunter and Hamer were both bowled in the teens, Lowe and Galpin brought the innings home to a defendable but vulnerable 89 for 5
St Giles showed that they were already a couple of weeks into their season as the scored freely from the start against the Blades attack. Afzal’s miserly bowling – three of his four overs went for a total of just five runs – offered some resistance, but the two openers both retiring by the 9th over tells a story. Richardson almost took a stumping in the 8th over before a breakthrough finally came with the opening wicket in the 11th over. By then though, St Giles were already up to 78-1 though in their chase, and it took just one more over for them to rattle off the required runs and bring the match home with a total of 91 for 1
RESULT: St Giles WIN by 9 wickets
Champagne moment contenders:
Hamer hits the opening boundary of the season
Hunter takes three fours in one over
Richardson’s catch behind from Meering
The Blades CC 
Quick work sir
You’re very kind. If I’d been able to remember how I created the scorecard pdf, and if Id brought my laptop to write on the train, it would have been even quicker