Two wins in a week! v Chilmark and Mere

FONTHILL'S BATTERY OF QUICKS PROVE TOO MUCH FOR CHILMARK

By Ewen Moore

Despite an under par batting performance, Fonthill's strong seam attack proved too hot for Chilmark to handle and FPCC celebrate a fine victory, on Sunday 21 May. After winning the toss and batting first, Sam Peters (20) and Ed Hobbs (45) provided us with a terrific platform and we were on a promising 63-0 off the first 9 overs with it seemingly inevitable that Hobbs would make at least a double century. Sadly, we let things slip from there and despite some classy strokeplay from debutant Archie Graham-Watson (12), a cameo from the skipper (29) and a thoughtful 17 from Charlie Nicoll, no one stayed put and we lost regular wickets from then on and were bowled out in the 31st over for just 153 - a good 50 or 60 below par on the small Chilmark ground. And with Max Allen, who has already had a hundred against us this season, in their ranks, at the tea break, a Fonthill victory seemed a long way off.

We needn’t have worried, as we went out to field with positive vibes and the strong Fonthill battery of intimidating seamers, plus Ash (no Major interventions this week!), never gave Chilmark a look in. Tidy bowling from Peter Catarinella (6-1-27-2) and explosive fast bowling, rarely, if ever, seen from a Fonthill player before, from George Townsend (5-2-7-3) put them firmly on the backfoot. After George blew away 3 of their top four, we still felt they were in with a good chance with Allen at the crease. Queue a strong contender for champagne moment for the season, Allen hitting Catarinella very high to long off, where Jonny Townsend raced in, well past where he needed to be, before lunging backwards with his left arm in the air and taking a quite astounding one-handed catch. From then on, we were on a real high and relentlessly accurate bowling from Charlie Nicoll (4-0-8-2, no chainsaw), Jonny Townsend (4-0-20-1) and Malick Kudmany (3-0-15-1) saw us home. The final wicket came as a run out, courtesy of a fabulous piece of fielding from Leigh Godfrey, a fitting way to cap off a stellar Fonthill performance. A very enjoyable afternoon, thank you to all who played and came down to support us, Molly for scoring (and babysitting!) and to Chilmark for a fine tea and the usual very friendly welcome. MOTM – George Townsend, who hopefully we can sign up for some more games very soon! Excitement reminiscent of when Jofra Archer burst onto the scene....

A MIDWEEK WIN v MERE ON A WARM SUNNY EVENING

By Ewen Moore

FPCC 116/10. Mere 96/10. Another victory for the park in a fast moving T20. Well done to all involved!

A disappointing batting performance where we lost wickets regularly was held together by Ed Hobbs (38) and then Tom Mitchell (15). But this was more than made up for by our terrific bowling performance. Wickets fell regularly with tight bowling from John Salisbury, Jonny Silver, Harry Walker, Tom Mitchell, Archie Graham-Watson and Ed Hobbs proving too much for the visitors.

Champagne moment - an incredibly composed boundary catch from Fergie May. He commandingly and confident called "Fergie's" to stop John Salisbury and Howard Smith sprinting in from 30 yards away to put him off.

MOTM - Tom Mitchell for invaluable runs and wickets. FPCC are now on a 5 match winning streak. Bring on the weekend! ❤️🏏