Chorleywood v Rickmansworth (Friendly) Ricky win by 8 wickets

Rickmansworth kicked off their season in style with a first win over local rivals Chorleywood since 1997. And it was more of a lesson in Cricket for their local rivals this time. After a very tight opening spell from Tony Norton (2-24) and Cookie Chorleywood were struggling to hit the ball off the square. When Shammi produced a sharp leg side catch to dismiss the Wood Captain and marshy snaffled no. 3 for a duck, The run rate was less than 3 an over. Simon Dare dropped anchor and 61 for 3 after 24 overs was not the place to be. 

Ian Almond produced awonder catch to dismiss another batsman and Cookie snaffled a worthy 3-25 bowling with pace and venom. Razor (2-31) took wickets but was also the victim of some last smash and grab tactics by young Jamie Smithson (not the first time a 'Jamie' has climbed into the fella!) whilst Curly was his usual miserly self with 2-17.  61 for 3 subsided to 103 for 9 and only a spirited 24 by Jamie Smithson enabled the Wood to reach 127 all out. By halfway through the innings even the Chorleywood cameraman had given up.

It was never going to be enough. Once Shammi Hussein (28) had smacked the bowlers back where they came from  and Sohail Bashir (24) had shaken off some early nerves to start playing some shots, the ball was rolling. Andy 'Swampy' Marsh came in and despite playing a missing a couple of times, pulled a few nice shots out of the bag and never lost his nerve to finish on a comfortable 48 not out. Ibby looked graceful for his 10* and Ricky coasted to 128 for 2 with 20 overs still in the bag. A chase of 250 would have been a worthy target, but the bowlers and fielders had done too much damage early on. 
 
Bring on the season