On a bright summer afternoon, the 2s returned to the Wood to take on title contenders Frimley in what was considered a tough match. The 2s welcomed back Cal McIntyre, Harry Hedges and George Beeley, who all added depth and attacking intent to the side that beat Harting the week before.

The day didn’t get off to the best of starts with George being stranded in London due to an ‘incident’ on the line #village, leaving David Main giving him a lift, thus leaving both 30 minutes late for their respective matches (sorry Tim). However, despite the absentees, Max made his way to the middle and proceeded to lose the toss and Grayswood were put into bat on what looked to be a belter of a wicket.

Tom and Andrew; both fresh from their efforts as part of a heroic rearguard against Guildford for the 3s last week, made their way to the middle to begin the Grayswood innings, with skipper Max hoping their scoring rates would be a little quicker on the swift outfield. Both batters started positively, with Andrew and Tom finding gaps in the field to move the score along, with the 3rd man and cover regions proving to be a fruitful area as Frimley’s captain decided against employing a boundary rider - much to the amusement of seasoned campaigners in the Grayswood dugout. After 12 overs the score was 34-0 when Andrew was run out by a superb direct hit from square leg as he and Tom attempted to accelerate the rate. Tom followed soon after which left Cal and Harry H to continue building the Grayswood total. Both played positive shots all around the wicket, using the pace on offer from the Frimley bowlers to bring the score to 134-2 at the turn of the 24th over. However, Frimley stuck to their tasks well, fielding brilliantly to stop boundaries and build pressure, resulting in the wickets of Cal (46), Max (5), George (1) and Harry (32), to leave the Wood teetering on 160-6 after 29. With the pressure on, Noah came to the crease and struck a couple of lusty blows down the ground, letting his skipper know “that's how you hit one on your stumps” - yes, thank you Noah, I know I missed a straight one. However, despite his efforts, Noah was soon dismissed, leaving the Nittur combo of Chettan and Rohan to get the Wood to a competitive total. Here, once again, both proved their worth, manipulating the field and striking key boundaries to move the 2s beyond the 4th batting point, finishing on a strong total of 212-8.

Despite the good batting performance, with the quick outfield, the 2s were aware of the risk of losing control of the game quickly and thus needed a tight and disciplined start to have a chance of a win. Noah and Harry opened up and bowled some good lines and lengths, with Noah using his pace to hurry both openers and Harry swinging the ball consistently to keep the run rate low. However, both were unable to find the breakthrough so Max rang the changes, bringing on George and himself to offer something different. Fielding was difficult with the sun causing catching to be difficult, with chances going down off both bowlers and with drinks around the corner, Frimley sat pretty at 90-0. However, on the stroke of drinks, Frimley’s opener miss-timed a strike down the ground, ending up in the safe hands of Cal Mac to give Grayswood their first wicket. Here, Grayswood squeezed the scoring rate, and George bowled some great lines to the Frimley opener who, despite reaching a good half-century, continued to play and miss until he eventually edged to Rohan in the gully which opened the floodgates as George took a further 2 wickets in his last over to end with strong figures of 3-27 off his 9 overs. Josh Flenly, who until now had been instrumental in saving runs on the boundary line, was now brought into the attack and had an instant impact, cleaning up Frimley’s number 4 to give Grayswood a chance at an unlikely victory.

However, despite a spirited effort and some funky fields being set by Max, Graswood were unable to prize out any further wickets, with Frimley blocking out for a draw, giving Grayswood a prized 19 points for their better run rate throughout the game.

Another team performance with great batting from Harry, Cal and Chetan being backed up by a disciplined bowling effort which only included a handful of extras. The 2s are on the road to Farncombe next week, hoping to climb further up the table!