The 1s travelled to Leamington on Sunday and after a rain-delayed start were surprisingly asked to bowl by the hosts. Leamington had some strong batters in the line up from their first team including Hobart Hurricanes' Hamish Kingston.

Matt Edwards and Neil Thorne opened the bowling for Earls and we struck early as Thorney bowled Field off the first ball he faced. This brought Kingston to the crease and he soon showed we needed to be on our mettle as he effortlessly clipped Matt for four off his legs. However, we were having success with his partners and Matt Payne was next to go pinned LBW by Thorney. Matt soon got amongst them too bowling Couzens for 10 and then Treasure for a duck and Leamington were four down with just 10 overs gone.

Dogar strode to the crease confident after pretty much winning the game at Watery Lane on his own with a late quickfire 70. He started off with the same intent and so Ben set the field accordingly. He was a lucky boy taking on Martyn Dennison fielding at long on but just cleared his fingertips for a six. At the other end Kingston was batting patiently simply taking advantage of any loose ball. Lewis Smith replaced Matt and again Ben set the field for the attacking Dogar. Success came when he hoiked another to cow corner and David Smith took a good catch running around from mid-wicket.

The skipper Somra replaced Dogar and this partnership tested the bowling with both manoeuvering the ball well and ticking the score along. At drinks Matt replaced James Thorne behind the stumps. Colby replaced Thorney and bowled well changing his pace and hurrying both batsmen off a short run-up. However, both survived and kept going. Callum Hassett replaced Lewis but injured his knee in his first over and hobbled around for the rest of the innings. Ben brought himself on to replace him and it was Ben that got us our next wicket enticing Somra to come out of his crease and get stumped by Matt.

At the other end Tyla Davison had replaced Colby and her leg spin was causing some issues for the batsmen. She was very unlucky when Mitchell reached for one and the ball was given wide by the umpire. The batsman went on to admit he edged it but it had been dropped by Matt! The bowler wasn't pleased with umpire or keeper! She was causing problems though and when Colby swapped ends to replace Ben the scoring rate dropped. Colby eventually getting the success he deserved when Kingston miscued a pull and Denno took a good running catch at mid-wicket. The Aussie had made a very impressive and previously chanceless 88.

More success for Colby shortly afterwards as Mitchell was caught behind by Matt in the closing overs. Ben brought himself back on at the other end and the pair of them bowled excellently at the death as the last few overs went for only a few runs. Ben got a second wicket in the same fashion as Matt stumped Dixon. Leamington finished on 219-9 off their 40 overs.

Matt opened up with Denno in the Earls reply. The pair took apart Nick Payne's first over for 19; Denno hitting a three to get Matt on strike who then promptly clipped the bowler for 6 off his first ball into the gardens. A strong 4 and then another pulled 6 into the gardens for two lost balls in the first over! Dogar opened at the other end and his in-swing proved more troublesome. However, Matt was punishing anything Payne bowled at him and his first 3 overs went for 36 as Earls got off to a flyer with 43 off the first 5 overs.

Treasure replaced Payne but didn't fair much better as Matt took apart the bowling. His first three overs went for 40 and Matt soon passed 50 off just 23 balls. Dogar had kept plugging away and only some outstanding sportsmanship by the Leamington skipper Somra saved Denno who was adjudged LBW only to be brought back by the skipper who knew Denno had middled it. Denno eventually did fall to Dogra though caught for 17 (89-1 off 12).

Andrew Plimmer replaced Denno and did well simply running ones to get Matt on strike who carried on his attacking play against new bowler Couzens who also got smashed for 6 in his first over. He did eventually bag Plim's wicket though bowling him off one that kept a little low. (125-2 off 20). The injured Callum Hassett limped out to "stand and deliver". He hit a powerful 4 off Mitchell but was clearly having problems running and was dismissed by the same bowler soon after. (140-3 off 23).

Matt was going well at one end but we were having a bit of a wobble at the other as first Colby fell for 7 then Bung for 0 bringing the skipper to the crease. Matt, in the meantime had reached another ton and passed 1,000 runs for the season, the first Earl to do that since Leon Everett in 2009. At this rate he may even surpass Will Windeatt's record of 2,032 runs in 2003.

Ben batted sensibly with Matt although hit his trademark boundaries through the leg side. Matt just kept going though and had reached 148 when he pulled Payne to mid-wicket and Dogar took a good catch (211-6 off 34). A fabulous innings and a pleasure to watch. We needed just 9 more to win and Tyla joined Ben to bat sensibly and just take advantage of anything loose with overs in hand. The win came in the 36th over when Tyla split the field for a four through extra cover.

A good win that gets us up to 3rd in the table just six points behind the leaders with a game in hand. Next up sees the visit of Nuneaton.