The 2s entertained Four Oaks Saints on Bank Holiday Monday knowing a win was essential to keep us in touch with 2nd placed Thimblemill for promotion.

Four Oaks won the toss and decided to bat first on a hot, muggy day. Dave Evison and Neil Thorne opened up for Earls and from the off the batsmen played positively with Jandu in particular taking on the fielders with quick singles. We had to wait until the 12th over when Jandu played his one loose shot and hit it straight to Ed Clews at extra cover off Thorney (38-1). Dave was replaced by Elliot after an excellent spell and it was Weiry who got us the next wicket clean bowling Clarke for 17 (54-2 off 16).

New man Mehboob continued the positive cricket as Ian Hughes replaced Thorney from the Vicarage Road end. After a couple of overs though the skipper Chris Harrison switched Ian back to his "usual" end and brought Colby Snipe on from the Vicarage Road end. This soon brought results as Colby pinned Mehboob LBW for 23 and then clean bowled Higgins with his next ball. The hat-trick ball just avoided an edge but it had got Four Oaks rocking and the situation got worse for them in Colby's next over as he clean bowled Pegg for another duck. Ian then pinned Hill LBW in the next over and Earls had taken four wickets for just 9 runs (137-7 off 29).

Karl Moore meanwhile looked untroubled at the other end and was playing some very good shots and it soon became clear that he was to be the key wicket. We had a couple of close LBW shouts and unfortunately dropped him a couple of times off the unlucky Ateeb Shah as Moore kept pushing the score along. He was joined by the Captain Hashmi and the pair built a good 8th wicket partnership of 54 until Ed Clews finally removed Moore well caught by Elliot Weir.

Hasmi continued the attacking shots though and whilst riding his luck got up to 50 and despite a late runout by Elliot Weir Four Oaks set a very competitive 254-9.

Reevo and Tibby opened the batting and found it very difficult initially against some good bowling from Read in particular whose awkward looking run-up fooled the batsmen a number of times. The run rate required was creeping up as shots kept picking out fielders. At the first drinks break we had reached 41-0 off 17 overs. A change of tack after drinks saw both batsmen get after the bowling a little more and initially the new pressure paid dividends. However, Tibby was eventually caught by Moore off Pegg for 29 (85-1 off 24).

This brought Ed Clews to the crease fresh off a match-winning 81 not out at Corley on Saturday and he and Reevo again set about the bowling attack as the crowd built up with players returning from other games. Playing his third game in three days restricted Reevo a little and there were frequent breaks for drinks but the veteran kept going. Ed eventually fell for 35 from a partnership of 88 (172-2 off 37). 83 needed off 13 overs ... getting tight!

Joe McGovern joined Reevo in the middle who reached a well-deserved century six overs later a s the pair chased down the total. A flurry of boundaries from both players looked to be putting the game out of Four Oak's reach as the crowd cheered every run-scoring shot. However, there was still time for a little drama as Joe was bowled for 39 with five still needed! Another excellent partnership of 78 in just 10 overs (250-3 off 47). Bungle joined Reevo and smote a four off his first ball through extra cover ... just one needed. Reevo applied the finishing touch clipping a single off Moore and 24 more points in the bag with just two games left. A superb weekend for Reevo in particular who scored over 200 runs and finished this match 121 not out.