On winning the toss skipper Chris Britz asked the hosts to bat first. Harefield found runs hard to come by in the early stages but their progress was assisted by three dropped catches in the first 17 overs. It was only in the 20th over that the first wicket fell with Liam Bulteel securing a catch with just 38 runs on the board. By nine overs later two more wickets had fallen. Firstly their Kiwi Gareth Severin fell to a fine catch by Greg Smith off Chris Britz. Then at 62 spinner Eddie Campion had his first wicket, so in 29 overs it was three down.

But then the tempo increased as Daniel Ogden played fluently to see the score to 145 with his contribution a very well made 70. He then fell to a really fine catch near the boundary by Greg Smith so a score of 145 – 4 in 49 overs. The tempo continued mainly by Tom McLeod who saw the score to 197 in 60 overs before being caught for 51. Then Lewis Sharp clean bowled two batsmen with the first two balls of the last over to see Harefield close on 221 – 8 in 64 overs. Spinner Eddie Campion took 4 – 61 in his 16 overs and Lewis 2 – 33.

Finches were given 56 overs to bat. They also started slowly against the pace of Jordan McLeod and the tight medium of Charlie Dale. By the 16th over there were just 37 runs scored. But Greg Smith and James Isbell had both fallen caught. Trying to increase the pace proved difficult against the nagging accuracy of Charlie Dale. By the 28th over four more wickets had fallen attempting to improve the score but with just 68 on the board. Dale had taken four of the six wickets to fall as Finches now faced defeat with 28 overs and only four wickets remaining.

Then two sound partnerships paved the way for safety. Eddie Campion had joined Ben Salter the pair taking the score to 110 when Eddie fell lbw. After Lewis Sharp fell with the score then 128 – 8 bold strokes by Ben and Samm Daniel saw respectability and the draw at 185 – 8. Ben ended on a fine 62 not out and Samm 25 not out. For Harefield Charlie Dale remarkably bowled 20 successive overs returning 4 – 33 in his impressive length and line bowling.

So Finches in drawing the match gained 8 points and are in second place in the league after a third of the matches now played.

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