After a shock T20 cup exit to Div 1 Lindow including a late venue change, the 1s were fighting to turn around a bad start to the month. Bowdon have had problems with their drainage all season, only playing their first home game this season on 8th June. With some wet weather around, even with an early starting time of 11 due to the Cheshire game on Sunday, a long delay was inevitable, with water coming up when stepping on areas of the outfield. Two and a half hours later, we had a game. It would be an important toss to win, with the game reduced to 36 overs a side, and probably the worst pitch of the season so far. A green tinge held together what was essentially mud, and overhead clouds promised good bowling conditions. So predictably Nick lost the toss, and we were put in.

The pitch misbehaved from ball one, really stopping when bowled back of a length, and with cutters getting some real grip. Tim was dropped in the first over, smashing one at short cover, only offering a chance because the ball popped off a length. He soon nicked off to Rob Lord (fresh off the back of a first professional contract), trying to guide one down to third man but got done by the stopping nature of the pitch. Steve and Tom stuck around for a while, rotating the strike well, even if boundaries were hard to come by. They added 42 for the second wicket in 11 overs before Steve fell to Matthew Tully. Rob followed first ball to an absolute doom seed, pitching middle-and-leg, nipping away outside off stump to just catch his outside edge. The slow nature of the pitch was emphasised with Nick's dismissal, caught at gully, flashing at a full wide one that normally would have flown over cover, or at the very least over third man for four.

It took until drinks for the spin of Xander Selby to come on, and it was immediately unclear why Bowdon had waited so long. Selby was turning it square, bowling Tom through the gate for a well-made 31. After Charlie was undone by a Tully cutter, Dids were struggling at 72-6 off 22. Sam and James led a counterattack, hitting Selby for some lovely sweep shots, including Sam hitting the longest 2 of the season, the ball plugging about a metre short of the rope. When both had fallen in quick succession to Selby, Liam and Jonty came together in the 28th over, purely looking to bat the overs. They batted really sensibly and added 44, including taking us above a second batting point. However, it was also a sign that the pitch was perhaps starting to get better for batting, with nowhere near as much seam movement later on in the innings. 133-9 off the 36 overs really wasn't a terrible score given the conditions but was only going to be defendable with early wickets, and only if the pitch began to deteriorate again. Some more rain would help, given there had been persistent heavy drizzle almost the entire Dids innings, helping to spice up the pitch.

Unfortunately for Dids, it didn't quite happen. The sun came out over the tea interval, and the heavy roller had pushed any moisture firmly back into the pitch. Nick started with spin from the off, Will opening up with Liam. Knowing exactly how many they needed, Bowdon's openers started off slowly, not needing to take any risk. Dids struggled for a breakthrough, Will picking up the first LBW with the score at 43-1. However, Bowdon continued to nudge themselves towards the target, skipper Jack Tipton taking 62 balls for his 27 before he chipped it back to Will. This brought in their Aussie keeper, John Sanders, who set about winning the game by himself. His 44 off 31 all but finished the game off, with some clean hitting that just wasn't possible in the first innings. Most notably he hit a four over cover, almost identical to those attempted by Nick and Tim, but both of which ended in dismissal chances in our innings. Much more consistent bounce also allowed him to play across the line without worrying about one popping off a length. James got some reward after some really good bowling performances in recent weeks, bowling Sanders and a perfect yorker getting Ross Zelem, who had just ticked over in support of Sanders. The four wickets taken gave Dids an extra bonus point, but 4 points against a newly promoted team isn't really going to cut it.

It is a shame that the toss of a coin really can decide a game of cricket but losing probably the 4 most important tosses of the year so far, and getting put in each time, has really dug us into a bit of a hole at the start of July. Fortunately, Chester was abandoned, and Hyde lost (both 6 points), so the points difference hasn't increased significantly, but we are fast approaching must-win-every-game territory if we are to win the league this season.