First 1st XI league game – 4th May 2013

Preston 1st XI v Northchurch Saracens Herts League Div 2
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Preston started their Division 2 campaign in disappointing fashion going down by 6 wickets against a well drilled Northchurch side.

On winning the toss and electing to bat first Preston found themselves in all manor of problems reaching the 10 over mark at 23 for 3, against what was some excellent controlled seam bowling. Preston got themselves back in the game thanks to a stubborn 90 run 5th wicket partnership between the ever reliable Dave Fleckney (50 in 123 balls) and Ben Hill (44 in 93 balls). Although it was slow going Preston managed to up the tempo in the final 10 overs, thanks largely to Ashley Catlin (34* in 41 balls) and Max Anderson (23* in 24 balls) as they closed their innings on 174 for 5. The score was probably 30 till 40 runs short of par total, on what seemed a great batting surface.

Despite a depleted attack, Preston’s bowlers set about their task in great fashion as they managed to reduced their hosts to 17 for 2 after 4 overs, with Henry Morecroft and Warren Hearne picking up the wickets to fall. However from that point onwards the home side made batting look easy, scoring at 5 runs an over as Preston struggled to contain a powerful batting line up. The introduction of the impressive young off spinner Tom Murrell (11-1-40-2) saw Preston pick up a couple more wickets but this proved in vain as Northchurch coasted home in the 39th over with 6 wickets in hand.