Henley 4s made it back to back wins on Saturday in a hard fought low scoring match at Knowl Hill.

On a dry and used wicket run scoring was always going to be a challenge. Losing the toss and being asked to bowl first in the heat Henley needed early inroads. Jakob Albiston duly responded with an excellent spell of pace bowling removing opener Morgan 4th ball. A fine catch taken by WK Jethro Kock substituting in for Laurie Tate who suffered a head injury in the warm up.

In Jakob's second over Duffy's stumps were sent flying as he shouldered arms to a straight one!. 12-2 with Henley on top as Albistion and Aakansh Naik were both bowling beautiful opening spells. Naik picking up a wicket following a leading edge caught in the gully by Adam Mills. However, Knowl Hill opener Stoker read the game well and started to play his shots.

Riding his luck with several plays n misses, knicks over the slips, a few lusty blows to the boundary followed by dropped catches and some close LBW shouts the score began to rise. The next wicket didn't fall until the score had reached 63. Albiston again re-arranging the stumps of batsman Najibi.

Andy Chinn and Harry Monahan joined the bowling attack. Chinn picking up a wicket following a fine catch by captain, Chris Ellison. Monahan bagged 2 wickets including another smart catch by Naik at square leg. From 116-4 Knowl Hill crumbled (much like the wicket was doing) to 133 all out. Brothers Joshua and Harry Ellison claimed 3 wickets between them which included a wonderful catch in the covers by Rosie Mills to remove opener Stoker for a superb 76 off 74 balls. Ellison H taking the final catch much to the delight of his brother Ellison J to wrap up the innings.

Chasing 134 to win on a deteriorating wicket was not going to be easy against an all adult bowling attack.

Losing Albiston, Oliver Ward and Adam Mills for a combined score of 3 runs was not in the game plan. But captain, Ellison and Jethro Kock (in at 5) set about rebuilding the innings. At 63-3 Henley were in control. However, two soft dismissals shifted the momentum back to Knowl Hill. Time for skillful batting and cool heads. Enter Aakansh Naik and Joshua Ellison with a superb partnership of 34 just when it was needed. 100-6 became 125-6 with Harry Monahan adding a more than useful 18 runs off just 12 balls including 2 x boundaries.

With just 9 runs needed Monahan fell bringing Rosie Mills to the crease. Ellison J seized the moment with two well struck boundaries to finish on 20 not out. Rosie rotating the strike and running between the wickets well to help get Henley over the line. Brilliant to watch a 15 and 14 year old partner up to see Henley over the finish line. A really satisfying win for a young side to battle through the heat to claim the points and retain our 3rd place standing in the league. We welcome Boyne Hill 4ths to Nettlebed next Saturday hoping to make it 3 in a row. Thanks parents for your support and Parag for scoring.

Also, a mention for Team Ward’s effort and Oliver Ward for stepping in to help in our hour of need when Laurie suffered his head injury. Awesome. Thank you. Ellison H also suffered a blow early in the fielding session wearing one on his shoulder to stop a certain boundary. At one point we were down to 9 fit players!!