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vs. Pirbright - May 10 A fine knock of 47 not out from Clive Bate spared Headley’s blushes, as they made hard work of defeating Pirbright by 4 wickets on a tricky surface at the Surrey club. A beautiful May day greeted the 2 teams, but the Pirbright pitch is a notoriously slow one, so Pirbright made a quiet start against some tidy Headley bowling. Clive Bate made a double breakthrough to dismiss Hailwood and Margree in the same over, but Jack then played some big shots before Gavin Arend struck with the first of 3 wickets. Headley continued to make good progress through the middle order, but Pirbright were able to post a competitive total after some agricultural blows from Ballam. The eventual total of 121 was probably 40 more than Headley were aiming for, but still a comfortable enough chase. Tight bowling from Oram and Jack meant that Headley’s start was never comfortable, but they made good progress until Armstrong was caught behind. Pirbright were exploiting the conditions well and from 46 for 1, Headley found themselves 73 for 5, with Wright taking 3 wickets. However, Bate played himself in and then began to assert control as he added 32 with Arend to take Headley to the brink of victory. Dave Cook then joined Bate and the remaining runs were knocked off without further alarms. |