Hawkley v St James: THE VISITING St James side batted first and got off to a solid but unspectacular start against the accurate bowling of Rory Evans and Kevin Kinge on a pitch with low and unpredictable bounce.

The visitors’ opening batsman G West showed a willingness to attack when a rare loose ball was offered but generally the batsmen were content to survive rather than score quickly: 20 runs came from the first 10 overs and 32 off the first 20.

A change of bowling gave Hawkley a breakthrough when Sam Mullard bowled King and from the other end Nick Hudson bowled Louff and West, whose battling 38 was the mainstay of the St James innings. Hawkley skipper Hallam Brown produced an incisive spell to claim three wickets. Hudson also finished with three, Mullard two and Steve Clark one victim as the visitors just reached three figures at tea and finished on 100-9.

Hawkley’s record when chasing low scores did not inspire confidence, and the first wicket fell with the score on nine. The bowler was Derek Candy, who ran through the Hawkley upper order with a five-wicket haul, including a hat-trick, as Hawkley slumped to 30-7.

Evans and Hudson fought back and runs slowly mounted as St James juggled their bowlers in an effort to take the remaining wickets.

A steady drizzle hindered the bowlers and Hawkley got steadily closer to their target. Hudson fell to West with the score on 95 but Evans remained unbeaten on 30 as Hawkley got home without further loss.