Day 2 involved a match against the Philadelphia Cricket Club. These guys are the nicest group of cricketers you could play against, who give 100% despite not having much of a cricket background. It was a good chance for us to make sure that all of the guys in our squad would have a chance to get a bat and/or bowl for the festival. We basically turned our order around and let our bowlers show us what they could do with the bat and went from there. A steady flow of runs on a very tricky pitch kept things moving and a nice innings from Richard at the end to bump up the scoring rate gave us a good total. I came out to bat with 4 balls left at the non strikers end. In the end I faced two balls, a two out to extra cover and an all-run 4 to fine leg. 160 runs was enough.
They began their chase effectively with a couple of bigger hitters in their top order but a steady flow of wickets ensured our total was never in danger. Keith, our opening bat/keeper, took 5 wickets including a hat trick, so he certainly enjoyed the afternoon. We had them out for about 90 and recorded a comfortable win.
In the evening, we had the festival dinner where Jonty Rhodes spoke. He gave a very nice talk, very much from the heart, and I thought he was one of the better speakers we have had at the festival. Afterwards, back to the hotel bar until they kicked us out at 2:00. Saturday afternoon brings us our game against a team with Jonty so we are all quite looking forward to that.
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