On a day that promised to be blazing sunshine we had a slightly overcast but pleasant one none the less. Matching again won the toss and on a bizarrely dry pitch decided to bowl first.
Jason Green and James Roos opened the bowling and had no luck at all as the Theydon openers Tariq and Du Preez rode there luck and soon Theydon were 47-0 off 7 overs. Roos then bowled an out of character half tracker and Du Preez (21) kindly chipped it up for Charlie Bass to take an easy catch at cover. Green then bounced Tariq a couple of times before bowling him comprehensively for 25 and Matching were on the charge. Mayonage came to the wicket and was soon superbly run out by a direct throw from James Malyon ... no one looked more surprised than the fielder himself.
The quality Rob Bullivant was starting to fire when another half tracker from Roos saw him pop one up to Graeme Bowerman at deep mid wicket and he was gone for 14 …Bullivant (Bully) is always a prized scalp! Roos ended his 6 over spell with 2-30.
Shane Pienaar back from a nasty knee injury is a hard hitting left hander and Matching should have had him stumped early on, however they didn’t and he started a rear guard attack.
Paul Dawson was now in the attack and was being miserly, Green was still bowling well and had Davis lbw for 0 then Dawson had Jaz Ali lbw also for 0. Green then ended his spell having M. Park caught behind by Mark Keefe for 5, Green finishing with somewhat strange figures of 3-60 off his 10. It's very rare he goes for half that many.
Dawson nagged away and Poldark (sorry Bass) came on to bowl and was fiery. He bowled two and Dawson another so that Theydon were all out for 160 off just 32.3 overs. Dawson ending with 2-22 off his 10 overs and Bass 2-36. Pienaar unbeaten on 79 was an excellent knock given the circumstances.
160 never seemed enough and Malyon and Dan Sibley opened the batting. Malyon was out in the 4th over caught at mid off for 11 with the score already on 28. Sibley continued in aggressive fashion before succumbing to a snick off a very wide delivery from Bullivant for 22. The score now was 46 for 2 in the 7th over.
Green and Bowerman were now at the wicket and they both continued to show their respective good form with the bat putting on 89 in just 12 overs before Green was bowled for 65 by the youngster S. Park. Bowerman continued nicely and was 28 not out at the end sharing a 26 unbroken stand with Simon Hartnell who was 18 not out at the close.
Matching passed the required total with a staggering 24 overs to spare .
Four sides are unbeaten going in to week 3, Matching, Stansted, Nazeing Common and the new kids on the block Three Caps, with Matching travelling to Three Caps this week there can only be a maximum of three sides with maximum points at the end of week 3. It's beginning to hot up.