“Boxgrove’s first home game of the new season saw them taking on Parham Park and although the forecasted rain held off it was once again cold and overcast.

The opposition were relieved that James wasn’t playing as he has been a thorn in their sides on the last two occasions that we have played them, both resulting in wins for us by 9 wickets. However they would have been surprised to see that the vice captain standing in for James was none other that TVs celebrity chef, Hester Blomenthal, although on close inspection they would have seen that it was actually the ex Arsenal defender Pascal Cygan or was it Paul Mant? Either way, the clever ploy was enough as Manty won his second successive toss and decided to insert Parham Park into bat on what looked an interesting pitch.

The Boxgrove bowlers were on top from the start and aided by some excellent fielding it took 4 overs for Parham Park to score the first run of the day. Kevin McGeough and Paul Mant beat the bat time and time again but luck was not on their side. The breakthrough finally came when McGeough got one to keep straighter (nobody was more surprised that him!) and was rewarded with the glorious sight of the bails coming off for the first time at home in 2010. However the Parham Park batsmen then started to get on top and some lusty blows from their skipper started to get the scoreboard moving. That said they were still well behind the run rate that they might have expected but that was due to good bowling from Mant (12-3-37-0) and McGeough (8-3-28-1).

The pitch was playing well, which is credit to the Gordon and Matt who have worked hard on it in recent weeks, and it was Matt who came on to bowl next from the School End. Almost straight away he was in to the swing of things and after the disappointment of a drop at slip Clubber soon dismissed the Parham Park skipper for 30. Lewis Donnovan (5-0-37-0) replaced Manty at the Halnaker End and whether he was dreaming of Kylie or not we will never know but it took him a few balls to get his line and length. When he did though he showed promise but it went unrewarded. Parham Park by this time were picking up the pace and even a second wicket for the impressive Matt Langton (14-3-62-2) couldn’t stop them. Maybe the skipper thought was time to build a defensive brick wall so the arrival of Jez “Lego” Abbott (5-0-31-1) to bowl from the Halnaker End replacing Donnovan was no surprise. He took a bit of punishment initially but when he got his range he did take the prize wicket of Parham’s top scorer as their innings ended on 204-4.

In response Mark Holl and Tom Vinnicombe strode purposefully to the wicket looking for a big partnership but, after seeing out a couple of overs, Sparky was soon striding purposefully back again adjudged caught behind without scoring. The lure of listening to England winning the cricket world cup had evidently proved too strong! Abbott helped steady the ship and when he was out for 10 Vinnicombe was looking in great form. He found an excellent foil in Kevin McGeough who by supporting Vinnicombe helped get Boxgrove ahead of the required run rate. Vinnicombe soon passed 50 and an unlikely win looked on the cards as he hit the ball harder and harder but that hope was extinguished when he was bowled for an impressive 75. McGeough and Donnovan followed soon after for 16 and 3 respectively and when Barrett was LBW to the returning opening bowler for 3 Boxgrove suddenly looked very vulnerable. However Langton (0 not out) and Mant (1 not out) rode their luck and stayed resolute to see out the remaining couple of overs and Boxgrove had secured a respectable draw and maintained their unbeaten start to 2010.

Parham Park 204-4 (Langton 2-62, McGeough 1-28, Abbott 1-31)

Boxgrove 128-6 (Vinnicombe 75, McGeough 16)”