Skipper Parkhouse was done a favour by the Whitchurch captain when he won the toss and elected to bat, which proved to be crucial in the evening's events.

Lodway welcomed back opening bowler Danny Gayford. It was a pleasure to see that Dan has not lost his enthusiasm every time the ball hit the pads, but Gaffer got the better of the two openers for Whitchurch, clean bowling both, leaving him with the figures of 2-14.
Joe Rowsell also returned to the Lodway Ranks, picking up two wickets (2-9), a good catch from Fiske on the boundary, supporting his bowler.
Imran Hassan continued his early-season form, picking up two wickets (2-15) as the Lodway bowlers and fielding unit never let the Whitchurch batters get away from them. After the rainstorm, the umpires decided the innings was over, and Lodway had 15 overs to chase 64 runs.

With the pending weather coming in, Skipper Parkhouse unleashed his big guns early, leaving veteran Wyatt down the order. However, Sam Shopland and Rowsell broke the back of the run chase early with some cheeky running between the stumps and some lusty blows, the pick of which was the Shoppers' reverse sweep! We all love but have the fear of dread when he gets it out of the bag. They managed a 43 partnership for the first wicket. Parkhouse strolled out at 3 with the look of positivity in his eyes, with the ever-blackening cloud looming. He proceeded to smash his first ball to Cow Corner. After another short rain break and Whitchurch picking up a couple of wickets, the panic was over when Lodway Legend Wyatt pinched a cheeky single to win the match in 9 overs for the loss of 4 wickets.

Let’s hope this win translates to the league on Saturday vs Stapleton, with stand-in skipper C Pearce at the helm.