Barnes 153 all out (40.3 overs) Southgate 49 all out ( 19.1 overs)
A very disappointing batting performance saw Southgate’s recent winning run come crashing to an end.
A very rainy week, unsurprisingly, led to a wicket which was not easy for batting, and Barnes proved it as they were soon 5-2, and then 15-3.
Included within that spell was a truly magnificent leg side stumping by Phil Dunnett off Darragh Edwards, and also an excellent run out from mid on, as the batsman under-estimated the skill of Tom Edrich, who threw the wickets down.
Scoring was slow against the Southgate medium pacers, Darragh (3-45) and ‘back from University’, James Dangerfield, but wickets continued to fall steadily and five were down with the score at 54, at which point the Barnes number 7, on just 3 at the time, Dunnett was unfortunate to be denied another leg side stumping, this time off Mike Stevens, with the batter making a useful 40 and steering his team to a reasonable score of 155.
Swings and Roundabouts !
At tea, hopes were high, but it needed at least one of the top five batsmen to score fifty.
It didn’t happen as the Barnes overseas player William Sist, an outstanding bowler at this level, took 4-29 in 10 overs, to retain his place at the top of the Middlesex County League bowling statistics for this season.
Less acceptable was the fact that Barnes’ first change bowler, took 4-0 with rather gentle medium pacers, which appear to be his first wickets of the season, as Southgate collapsed to their lowest total for some years.
Disappointment for long distance railway travellers, Geoff Burton and Terry Palmer, who travelled all that way to support their team.
Peter Jouning