Captain guides Mullion 2s home

Following the heavy rain of the previous 24 hours, it was a miracle that the match took place at all, but take place it did, and despite gale force winds, his fleece and three pullovers, Mullion 2s skipper Mark Johnson made the correct call at the toss and not surprisingly asked the home side to bat.

On a difficult pitch Chacewater made a slow start to their innings, Phil Harding struck twice in two balls for Mullion in the eighth over to reduce the home side to 6 for 2. Any ideas the visitors may have had of bowling the home side out easily soon evaporated as Armstrong and Worsdall dug in for the next 18 overs, taking the home side up to 42 before young Ben Tremayne took a spectacular catch off the bowling of his father, the irrepressible Gary Tremayne, to dismiss Armstrong and make the breakthrough.

The euphoria generated by the fall of the wicket didn't last long though as new batsman Richard Styles overcame a shaky start and started to put bat firmly to ball. 47 runs ensued from the next 10 overs before Mullion struck again, when Bruce Jordan managed to confuse Worsdall by bowling a straight one which the batsman had the decency to play onto his stumps.

Gary Tremayne quickly removed the new batsman, thanks to a fine catch in the deep by Jacob Rae. With three overs to go Styles finally succumbed to a well judged catch by Ian Laity off the bowling of Mark Johnson for a deserved 57. The home side's tail failed to wag and their innings closed at 123 for 7.

After a magnificent tea, Mullion took the field aware that there was still a great deal of hard work to win a fourth consecutive match. But the home side hadn't read the script - Mullion soon found themselves struggling at 7 for 2 after four overs with Rod Lister picking up both wickets.

Mullion's Bruce Jordan and Simon Meridew scratched around for the next eight overs putting on 16 to take the score to 23 before Jordan played on to Holmes. This brought Ben Tremayne to the crease where his father joined him 11 overs and 14 runs later. The family firm added 20 in the next 10 overs, before Gary, knowing that his son was already late for his football club end of season dinner gave him some fatherly advice that he should start to hit out. Ever the dutiful son, Ben immediately produced a lusty blow for a single following which his father gently guided the ball into the hand of Worsdall at silly mid on.

It was 57 for 5 and Mullion knew that victory, if it should come, would be hard-earned. Ben Tremayne fell scoring 19 valuable runs. Ian Laity chipped in with 12 and then wicketkeeper Joe Stutley and opening bowler Phil Harding steered Mullion to 104 before Stutley finally holed out to give the home side hope once more - 104 for 8 with just four overs left. This brought skipper Johnson to the crease, he had a close look at the first ball then cautiously stroked the next ball for four, followed by a gentle caress over square leg for six. The end came soon as Johnson pulled another four - Mullion 2s win by two wickets.