Cricket- County Division Six (East)

Foxhole v Menheniot

On another hot summer's day Menheniot visited the China clay area to play Foxhole after doing a scenic tour to reach the ground.

The home team won toss and not surprisingly opted to bat. The home team's opening batsmen, Maycock and Branlund were very severe on anything loose particularly the left handed Maycock. At the first drinks break at 16 overs Foxhole were 80-0 but the first ball after the interval saw Maycock attempting to sweep Keith Goldsmith, caught to a terrific running catch by James Handley. More wickets tumbled when 'Daddy' Goldsmith showed his son Phillip how to bowl. From 80-0, Foxhole suddenly found themselves 104-5 but worse was to follow. Keith Goldsmith continued to nag away at Foxhole's batsmen, clean bowling one of them and having two of them caught to claim a brilliant hat-trick. J. Strand at silly point took an easy catch. Goldsmith had young Andrew "wing back" Keeble to thank as he later took three catches. From one drinks interval to another, Foxhole went from 80-0 to 113-9 and were eventually all out for 121. Keith Goldsmith finished off with bowling figures of 8-17 from 10.1 overs, five of them maidens! His youngest son Phillip took the other two wickets. Seven catches were taken by the Menheniot fielders.

The visiting team had a relaxed tea before commencing their innings but had Dave Wiltshire and 'Cinders' Harrison back in the hutch with only 12 on the board - the latter for a golden duck. Young Goldsmith joined Daniel Lee and took the score to 52 before the former was clean bowled for 30 off 11 scoring shots.

Menheniot's skipper Bill McLoughlin joined Lee at the crease and gave as much of the strike to his younger partner. A wise move as Lee scored 70 not out with nine 4's and three 6's taking the Menheniot's total past the home team with seven wickets to spare. They thoughly deserved their win with a solid all round performance, refusing to give up and taking their catches.

Scores- Menheniot 124-3 (D Lee 70 n.o., P. Goldsmith 30, W.McLoughlin 12 n.o.). Foxhole 121 (B. Maycock 42, P.Branlund 48; K. Goldsmith 8-17 incl hat-trick, P. Goldsmith 2-60).

Menheniot (20) bt Foxhole (4) by 7 wkts.