The WCL 3s maintained their unbeaten start to the season with a ruthless win at Hampton-in-Arden against Lapworth 3s.

The modern cashless society caused an issue when skippers Neil Thorne and Sam Long went into the middle to do the toss and had to improvise as neither had a coin! Thorney picked the wrong hand that the key was held in and Lapworth stuck us in to bat.

It was a decision that came to haunt Lapworth as Earlswood's youthful top 3 of u15 Harry Empson, u14 Callum Graham and u17 Armaan Badesha piled on 249-1!

Callum opened with Harry and both looked in great nick taking advantage of quick singles as boundaries were hard to get without going airborne with the outfield a little long around the edges. As they both gained in confidence with the pitch though the pace picked up and they rattled along to the 100 partnership in just 17 overs which became 150 in the 25th.

Callum eventually succumbed to a short ball that just didn't get up and he was bowled by Ayaan for an excellent 78. Waseem Akram graciously slipped down the order which brought in-form Armaan to the crease and he did a great job manoeuvering the ball to get Harry on strike before pushing on himself. Harry completed a well-deserved maiden century in the 40th over ... despite being dropped by the keeper the previous ball! With the score on 254-2 we declared to give ourselves a little more time to bowl the opposition out following a frustrating first lesson by Dorridge in the opening game. Armaan finished on 39*and Jamie Edwards 1*.

Thorney opened the bowling with Armaan to a steady start from Long and Owen which we feared may be a sign of things to come. However, the breakthrough came in the 7th over as Callum caught Owen off Thorney. This brought Wickham to the crease and he was clearly not going to die wondering as he struck out with three lusty boundaries on one over from Armaan which prompted a change in the field. He had a swing too many in the 11th though and was bowled by Thorney. Silverman went for a first ball duck and the hosts were reduced to 29-3.

Rana and Long tried to consolidate and the next breakthrough didn't come until u13 debutant Daniel Graham replaced Armaan who bowled a very tidy spell showing no nerves and bowling both Rana and his replacement Ayaan leaving Lapworth on 51-1. Praise has to go to Tash Smitten who kept well on a difficult pitch that started to wear as the Lapworth innings carried on causing some variable bounce.

James Massey and Steve Shale replaced Thorney (3-9) and Dan (2-8) and both proved very difficult to get away as the home batters got bogged down. Murph was first to strike taking three wickets in quick succession, one clean bowled, one caught and bowled and the last one to Dan who took a good low catch at square leg reducing the score to 60-8.

It was left to Shaley and Richard Jackson to finish things off with the former taking a brace as Fell opened his arms but picked out Murph who took a good running catch at deep mid-wicket. The stubborn opener Long finally succumbed to an LBW from Shaley for 24 and an Earls win by 193 runs.

Player of the match was Harry Empson for an excellent century.

Scorecard

This week we have two games. On Thursday we have the rearranged match against Oakfield & Rowland on the main pitch at Watery Lane. Then, on Saturday, we travel to the Xcel Centre in Coventry to play table-topping Standard.

Division 9 South Central

Earlswood Cricket Club

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