With the hangover from Zach's 21st celebrations the night before slowly wearing off, the youthful 2s made their way to Roe Green for a challenging cup tie against a side 2 divisions higher. A real test of wherethis side are at lay in front of them.
After finally winning a toss for the first time this season - Clifton opted to bat - and sent out youngster Luke Jones (14yrs old) to accompany Ethan Kite (16yr old) to face the music of their opening quicks.
A solid start came to an end in the 7th over when Luke (9) snicked off after doing the hard work with Ethan to get 25 on the board for the first wicket stand. Dan (5) then came to the crease and really struggled to show his usual fluency, when not really timing anything and finding fielder after fielder, before chipping one back to the overseas spinner to leave the visitors 36/2. McManus (15) made his way out in an unusual no.4 spot but wascleaned up before he could really get going. Lewis Keogh (6) also fell early to a caught behind, before Sam (0) missed a straight one first ball to leave Clifton 84/5.
An outstanding partnership of 73 from Ethan and Dunny then put Clifton back into the contest, as they took on the Roe Green attack at every opportunity. Ethan's fist pump on reaching 50 let you know what it meant to him. Ethan's (66) superb innings finally came to an end when slicing one up to be caught at short third.
157/6 then became 158/8 as Oscar Thorpe (1) and Elliot Hogben (0) were both cleaned up in back-to-back balls from the returning opening bowler, Jacob Prill, leaving young Charlie Seddon to face the hat-trick ball. A solid forward defence took care of that one. Ollie Dunn's (40) great knock finally came to an end, but a late flurry of hitting from Charlie (7) and Tom Worthington (14*) put 181 on the board and gave the bowlers something to defend.
It took a flick to square leg from a full toss to pick up the first wicket, and that pretty much summed up the second innings, as it was the batsman giving away their wickets rather than the bowlers earning them. Tom (0-16 from 7) bowled with control up front, but the bowlers just weren't on it as a whole, with too many bad balls that gifted runs. It wasn't the Clifton bowling attack we've been used to with the second team this season. 24 wides tell its own story.
It was an encouraging performance to post 180 with the batwhen the side had some key players missing, with the usual run scorers having off days, against a strong bowling attack. But this side will have to bowl much better than that to have a chance of competing at a higher level in the coming years.