3s Off The Mark Convincingly at Bradford-On-Avon

This weekend saw the 3s make the trip to the delightful Bradford-On-Avon. Captain Andy Mildenhall won the toss and elected to bat, which Jason McGinley didn’t thank him for as he lobbed his first ball straight back to the bowler to depart for a first ball duck.

Nathan White and Steve Laggett negated the new ball, Laggett playing some particularly fluent strokes, appearing untroubled by the lack of pace in the pitch (and the opening bowler!). White laboured to 4, off 24 balls, before promptly missing a straight one, which brought Adam Tribbick to the crease.

Laggett and Tribbick built the most substantial partnership of the innings, both showing patience and concentration before cashing in on the bad balls. Laggett was bowled for 38, from 51 balls, however Tribbick continued to play some aesthetically pleasing strokes, capitalising on some increasingly wayward bowling, before being dismissed for a 73 ball 75. Useful contributions from Christy Millar (18) and Sudhir Prabhu (17), put the 3s in a good position approaching the final 10 overs.

James Parkinson was run out for a duck and Mike Wilson made only three, and with 8 overs to go it looked as if the 3s might not use their full allocation of overs. However Tom Foreman and Nisag Nisar combined brilliantly to take Swindon 3s up to a total of 239-8 from their 45 overs. Foreman was particularly impressive striking 45 from 30 balls, whilst Nisar proved a more than capable number 10, scoring 25 from 24 balls.

Fresh from a mightily impressive tea, Mike Wilson and Tom Foreman took the new ball. Wilson struck in the 5th over, removing Pike for 8, as he was bowled playing a loose drive. Bradford’s batsmen were in no rush to accumulate runs, and after a sustained period of pressure, some excellent fielding from Nathan White resulted in Burrows being run out for 11.

This brought Bradford’s captain Harrington to the crease, and he, along with opener Beale, appeared content to safely negate the new ball pairing of Wilson and Foreman. Both bowled their allocation of 9 overs straight through, Foreman finishing with figures of 9-0-19-0, and Wilson with figures of 9-1-26-1.

The introduction of Nisag Nisar and Andy Mildenhall did nothing to increase the run rate, and at the half way mark Bradford were 53-2. After the drinks break (10/10, fantastic mix) the Bradford batsmen began to accelerate, Harrington playing some unorthodox shots, and with the wicket becoming increasingly lifeless, the scoring rate began to accelerate.

However the introduction of James Parkinson was to change the match. He had Harrington caught by Jason McGinley for 52, and bowled Chapman for a golden duck. In his next over he also bowled Green, this time for a paltry 2. By this point opener Beale was ‘preventing Swindon from scoring points’ and ensured the Bradford-On-Avon innings used the full 45 overs.

At the other end Jones at least played a few shots, before being dismissed in the final over for 27, giving the 3s an extra bowling point. Beale remained defiant for 71 not out from 134 balls, surely a shoe-in for the averages, even at this early stage, as Bradford-On-Avon came up 49 runs short on 190-6.

MOTM: Adam Tribbick, honourable mention to Tom Foreman.
DOTD: Jason McGinley, hour long drive to be out first ball, there’s always next week!
Tea Rating: 9.5 (lose a half for no pizza)
Shower Rating: 8 (hot, individual cubicles but a little dingey)