Two's Narrowly miss out against Welwyn

Hoddy 2's travelled to Welwyn on Saturday to look to regain their place above them in the league. Hoddesdon won the toss and elected to field first.

Hoddesdon opened the bowling with Shaun Brown who with the first ball of the innings dismissed Welwyn's opener for a diamond duck caught behind. With the early wicket Hoddy looked to put the pressure on the batsmen and with some tight bowling from Rocco Cuffaro, Davies found it incredibly hard to score. Brown was struggling a little to get the ball consistently in the right areas which led to Max Murray being brought on to bowl. After a good spell of 6 overs for just 9 runs off Cuffaro, Tom Fryers replaced him and immediately struck with the wicket of Davies.

Fryers was bowling very well and it wasnt long before the No 4 batsman Mercer chipped the ball to mid off where Cuffaro held on much to the surprise of his teammates (thanks for the confidence!). With Max Murray bowling accurate at the other end, Welwyn became frustrated and Fryers picked up his third wicket getting the other opener Leslie out. With the score 47-4 Hoddy looked to be in a great position. Ian Fitzgerald then came in at 6 and looked to score quickly with 3 boundaries and a six. However, Shaun Brown came back on and trapped him LBW to make it 84-5. Fryers then picked up his fourth wicket soon after and Welwyn were struggling at 84-6.

However, Brunel and Edwards came to the crease and batted sensibly. The pair frustrated Hoddesdon and put on a 92 partnership for the 7th wicket until Brunel was run out for 45. Cuffaro was then brought back on for the last few overs and picked up 2 wickets alongside Brown who picked up another one and eventually Welwyn were bowled out for 193 off 48.5 overs.

Hoddesdon needed to get off to a good start, with Tom Fryers playing some excellent shots to the early spinner who opened the bowling. However, captain Lee was bowled for just 2. With the score 16-1, Ross Angelini looked to build a partnership with Fryers.

They both batted aggressively but sensibly, however, Angelini was caught and bowled for 20. Hoddy were 83-2 with Fryers reaching his 50 at a strike rate of over 100. However, Fryers was soon caught out slicing the ball to cover leaving Hoddy 3 down. New signing Ashley Leat looked to be batting comfortably at the crease with Brown, but he was soon caught skying up high to long off.

James Achillea was next in but shortly after Brown was given out LBW to a terrible decision from the opposition team's umpire. Luke Murray was next in and alongside Achillea, batted well and Hoddy looked to be approaching their target with ease. L. Murray was then caught after the ball popped up and was unfortunate to have hit the back of his bat where first slip took an easy catch.

At 135-6 with plenty of overs left to get the runs, Hoddy needed to ensure that they didn't lose any more wickets. Achillea carried on batting cleverly, manipulating the ball in the gaps for easy runs. Cuffaro nudged it around, looking to give Achilllea the strike. However, opening bowler Ul-Islam came back on and struck for Welwyn leading to Achillea popping the ball straight to short leg. At 169-7, Pete Murray came in. However, shortly after Cuffaro was bowled by Ul-Islam and Hoddy were 8 down. Max Murray came in to bat next but was given out LBW first ball. Pete Murray was then bowled by Ul-Islam finishing off the innings. His death bowling had won Welwyn the game after Hoddesdon looked favourites throughout most of the game.

After another disappointing result for Hoddy, they will look to next Saturday for 30 points where they will be playing Luton Town and Indians.

Words by Rocco Cuffaro