In a rare 40 over match, Park took the field against a slightly understrength and undermanned HSBC on a damp and sticky wicket down at Beckenham. With the Park fielding first (familiar territory there then) and opening the bowling with Christian O'Mahoney and skipper Dave Partridge. Early success had O'Mahoney snaring the HSBC no.2 first ball to a catch by Gannon. HSBC found the runs hard to come by due to some fine bowling and sharp fielding. the 5th and 6th overs saw a wicket a-piece from the openers, O'Mahoney with a clean bowled and Partridge with a nicley taken catch in the slips by Al Whaley. With HSBC struggling at 3 for not many, Dave Partridge really turned the screw taking a further 3 wickets, Pritchard and Thompson making no mistakes with the catching, and registering a superb Michelle (Five-for). Dave was only to let himself down later in the bar by mysteriously failing to get a jug in for this extraordinary feat, words will have to be had with Partridge Senior. With the openers carving up most of the HSBC batting between them (O'Mahoney 2-11, Partrdige 5-19) it was down to local heroes Shannon and Russell to mop up the HSBC innings, Shannon bowling 2 excellent overs and dispatching the remaining opener with 1 for 5 and Russell bowling 3 balls that could only be described (by himself) as perfect, finishing with 1 - 0. HSBC boweld out for a paltry 36.
Park opened with regulars Dave Fletcher and Alan Horton facing something of a hiding to nothing requiring 37 for victory. Fletch was soon into his stride with a couple of smart fours but he was taking the odd chance trying to finish the game early, and eventually top edged one to be out for 13. In the meantime Al Horton was placing the ball around for ones and twos and looking for a nice little n.o. Gannon came in and soon departed in a similar fashion to Fletcher, after hitting one 4 then looking to get off early for a bit of tea, skying another to extra cover. Luckily the experience of Jim Flood came to the wicket and saw the Park to an easy victory with some assured batting, Jim finishing 8 n.o. and Alan with 10 no.o. to see Park home by 8 wickets in less than 14 overs.
In such a low scoring game, outstanding performances are hard to come by, but one stood head and shoulders above the rest, that of skipper Dave Partridges. 5 wickets for 19 runs off 8 overs were certainly enough to win him the MOM. Unfortunately Dave's superb performance on the field was overshadowed by his lack of performance in the HSBC Club bar, the skipper seriously under-representing himself in the buying a jug for the lads stakes !!
After tea, a beer match ensued, with Prospect park fielding a reverse order batting and bowling side that fared much better than the original side, scoring 70 off their alloted 15 overs, despite some negative batting by the middle order, and restricting HSBC to a mere 63 off their spell. So a rare double win for the Park, and one can only hope they can carry this over into tomorrows match against Bexley Hospital.