After a weekend lost to rain, Hyde were desperate to get back to winning ways. It was a perishing cold day at Toft, and it is a ground where you typically want to be chasing, and after losing the toss, Hyde were made to bat first.

Fitzsimmons and Partridge were once again the opening pair for Hyde, and they both looked to make use of some loose bowling in the early going. Dunkerley was dispatched to the fence several times, before he struck, with Fitzsimmons guiding a short wide one to Scott in the covers in the 4th over. 4 balls later, Dunkerley struck again, with another shorter ball, which Balderson top edged high into the sky and was well held by Sehmi. Duffy didn’t stay with Partridge for long, with another short ball being miscued from Scott, and being swallowed up by Stubbs, leaving Hyde in a spot of bother at 24/3. It nearly got worse for Hyde when Young snicked off with his 4th ball, only to be put down in the slips by Drummond. Partridge and Young started to build a partnership, but this was abruptly stopped when Partridge was bowled by Scott. Fisher attempted to stop a collapse but could do nothing when Jackson sent an absolute Jaffa his way, clipping the top of off stump, and leaving Hyde 67/5. Humphreys joined Young, and like Young, he earned an early reprieve when a dolly was dropped at mid on. Unlike Young though, he didn’t make full use of his second chance and an edge from him flew skyward, and when it came down, Lomas was under it. Cranmer never got a chance to get going, and fell victim to another Jaffa from Jackson and by now, Hyde were staring down the barrel of an early finish at 82/7. Luckily for Hyde, Whittaker managed to hang around with Young. The pair added 37 for the 8th Wicket, scoring at a consistent rate, and managed to turn Hyde’s thinking from survival to target setting. After a series of nice shots, Young finally departed for an excellent 39. Turner joined Whittaker, and the pair continued where Young had left off, with patient innings, looking to punish the bad ball. The pair added 46 for the 9th wicket, which included a massive 6 from Turner, but were finally prized apart by Turner being bowled by Scott for 26. Hannah came to the crease for his first innings for Hyde, departing with a second ball duck after being yorked by Scott. Hyde finished 165 all out, with Whittaker ending up with a brilliant unbeaten 37. Hyde finished 30-40 runs short of what they would have wanted, but 40-50 runs ahead of what we looked like getting at one point.

If Hyde were to have any chance of pulling off a win, early wickets were required. And early wickets were what they got, with Whittaker uprooting Lomas’ off stick in the 4th over, breaking it in two. Hannah assisted his opening partner in tying down the top order, getting them to play and miss, and drying up the run rate. Hannah was rewarded for this, when he found Sehmi’s outside edge, and it was caught by stand-in keeper Duffy. Forster was clearly feeling tied down as well, and he departed in the same fahion, once again with Hannah the bowler and Duffy the catcher. Toft were 24/3 and were in a precarious situation. Cranmer came on to bowl, and started out with 3 consecutive maidens, being rewarded for his miserly bowling by trapping Hughes LBW. Cranmer opened his spell with 28 consecutive dot balls, before the SPINNER ruined it with a front foot no-ball. Turner also came into the attack, and was into the wickets immediately, removing the patient Williams, who snicked through to Duffy. Turner struck in his 2nd over as well, when he was skied by Scott and well caught by Young. Toft were wobbling at 64/6. Drummond was joined by Jackson, who, I was told, didn’t have a defensive bone in his body. It proved true, as he began to dispatch the ball to the fence regularly. Drummond’s 85 ball resistance came to an end when Turner got the ball to jag back in, hitting him on the pad right in front, for an LBW that could have been given from anywhere on the ground. Jackson continued to be the danger man for Toft, dispatching Cranmer for a pair of massive 6’s on his way to a rapid 35, before a big shot drew a big nick through to Duffy off Turner. Toft were 111/8 and in serious trouble. This only got worse for Toft when Turner completed his 5fer with a Yorker which removed Muirhead without scoring. The game was finished with Turner’s 6th wicket when he bowled Stubbs through the gate, leaving Toft 114 all out.

Elsewhere on Saturday, the 2nd XI played host to Toft. Hyde lost the toss and batted, scoring 219/7 off their 50, including a brilliant 132 from Luke Young. However, his effort was in vain as Toft chased down the score in 42.2 overs, ending on 220/3, including an unbeaten 106 by David Blackburn.

This was one of the most resilient performances I have seen by Hyde. We were down and out at 82/7, but the tail wagged and helped set a target to bowl at, and the bowlers worked in a pack to get wickets and defend the total. Cole’s performance, in his Hyde league debut, was phenomenal, with bat and ball. If our top order batsmen can perform, then I back us to beat anybody in this league. We play host to Widnes next week, a team who were promoted with us, but they also dealt us our first defeat last year, so will be a difficult game.

James Howe