Chesterfords hosted Epping Foresters in their first home game of the league season, knowing that Epping were also strong contenders for promotion after being relegated last season. Chesterfords won the toss and decided to bat on a pitch that would deteriorate the longer the game went on.

Chesterfords opening pair came up against probably the best opening spell of bowling that they have faced in the League to date.  R. Petchey bowled with genuine pace and intelligence and was getting the ball to jag both in and out which virtually made him unplayable. Both batsmen struggled to deal with the movement and pace of the ball but in the end it was a careless run out that cost Phillips his wicket. Chesterfords middle order could quite simply not cope with the sheer class of Petchey who took another 3 wickets without Chesterfords scoring a single run. J. Lipscombe rode his luck at times but managed to shore up an end as wickets were tumbling. Chesterfords soon found that they were 14 for 5 off of only 10 overs and were in line for a very heavy defeat. Steven Squares joined Lipscombe at the crease who was just looking to try and give his bowlers something to fight for. Squares was looking very comfortable and played some superb shots and was looking well set before he was clean bowled by T. Rees for 10 and the score limped onto 38 for 6. Lipscombe was in the middle of a real battle of wills with the bowling attack of Epping Foresters and was very conscience that if he lost his wicket, the match would be over as a contest.

Lipscombe needed a partner that could stay at the crease and also score when the ball needed to be put away. Tim Lewis strolled to the crease in his first game of the season under immense pressure to salvage something from the dire situation which Chesterfords found themselves in. Lewis started off confidently hitting 6 fours in his first 8 scoring shots and with Lipscombe at the other end beginning to score a little more freely the score board began to look a little more healthy as it quickly began to pass 50 then 75, then 100 , with Lewis reaching his 50 first and Lipscombe shortly afterwards. Lewis finally went for 61after a potential match winning innings and Lipscombe was then helped by A. Miles who scored a quick fire 22 to help Chesterfords reach a defendable total of 189 with Lipscombe being caught behind in the penultimate over for a gritty 63.

189 gave Chesterfords bowlers something to aim at and very nearly proved to be enough. Unfortunately for Chesterfords the class of Pletchey with ball was not to be outdone with the hard hitting of Pletchey with the bat. Thinking that they had seen enough of the young man Pletchey opened the batting and stared to dispatch the Chesterfords opening attack to all parts of the ground and soon raced his way to 95 with some splendid hitting before Adam Miles uprooted his off stump. Chesterfords then once again managed to fight their way back into contention thanks to the accurate bowling of Alan Stokeley who finished with 4 wickets for just 24 runs which meant that Chesterfords took the next six wickets for only 50 runs. Try as they might Chesterfords could not get passed the rear guard action of Epping Foresters who finally reached the required total with 3 wickets remaining. Although Chesterfords lost the game they proved that they have the fighting spirit which I’m sure they will need to call upon as the season reaches its climax.