1s fall agonisingly short.

The 1st XI made the trip west to Chester to face top of the league Barrow CC in a fixture that went right down to the wire.
Barrow skipper Alex Reid won the toss and promptly chose to bat first. Early showings proved this to be the right decision as Reid and fellow opener Iroshan De Silva piled on the runs with a succession of boundaries.

It wasn’t until 165 runs had been scored that the first wicket fell. AJ Hart turning to the sixth bowler of the day, slow left armed Kevin Carroll, who had Alex Reid caught by Tom Mitchell for 69.

Opening bowler Hart then removed De Silva for 101 to bring Brooklands right back into the game.
Carroll continued to remove Barrow batsman at will, skittling most of the top order via some good catching in the slips and from Wicket-Keeper Ali Buchan. Carroll, who finished on 5-37 off 6 was ably backed up by Caleb Jones (0-50 off 10) who continued to look dangerous throughout his spell.

Barrow saw out the rest of their 50 overs, losing 6 wickets and setting the visitors 229 for victory.

Brooklands response got off to a good start. Bowling hero Kevin Carroll opened with Christian Hart and the pair put on 71 before Carroll was bowled by De Silva (2-30 off 15) for 36. Ali Buchan made a start but was also bowled by De Silva for 22.

With Brooklands at 131-3, Dave Madden looked to get the innings back on track with Christian Hart but was also unable to convert his good start to a high score. Hart fell first for an excellent 86 with Madden (26) becoming the second of Phil Johnsons four wicket haul with Johnson eventually finishing on 4-60 off 9 overs.

The ratio of runs scored to wickets lost was fairly even though and going into the final over, Brooklands found themselves within sight of the target. Unfortunately, the tail were unable to hang on and The Bears fell just 3 runs short of victory.