OTs & Romsey III

v Idlers

THE Idlers continued their recent run of good results with yet another win away to OT's and Romsey thirds.

Idlers skipper Andy Harms made the controversial decision to bat first on a damp grassy wicket, thinking the game would not pass the hour mark due to the poor weather conditions.

The visitors made a rather slow start, losing both openers early on. This brought Simeon Douse to the crease with Dave Harms and it wasn't long before these two settled in.

However, the rain halted play for 15 minutes but did no favours for Harms who grew ever impatient and having hit a few boundaries he duly top edged one high in the air only to be caught by the opposing captain.

Douse meanwhile, played some beautiful shots and made it look as though he was playing on a true batsmen's wicket.

But another shower forced an early tea.

The Idlers then continued their innings with Douse ably supported by Ed Cima who scored a quick fire 36. Will Kay joined in to score a much needed 30 including some well timed back foot drives through the covers.

Douse ended his innings on 53 and late efforts of 10 and 14 from Aiken and Lawrence respectively saw the Idlers all out for 197 after 41.1 overs, just three runs short of maximum batting points.

Due to the rain delays OT's were set a reduced target of 151 off 32 overs.

Romsey's openers caused havoc in the early stages of the innings scoring a brash 40 before some tight bowling from Nick Lawrence saw the destruction of the top order.

Aiken bowled a mixed bag and was unfortunate not to take any wickets. The ball was then handed to Douse who cleaned up with 4-10 off 4.3 overs, cementing his man of the match award.

But a final spell of rain brought the game to an end.

However, as Romsey, 87-7, had exceeded 20 overs a result was available.

The Idlers won their sixth successive game by having a higher run rate, but missed out on maximum points which would have lifted them to third.