The 2nd XI started the day well winning the toss electing to field. Cublington got off to a strong start in the first 10 overs quickly moving to 48-0, however Downs were unlucky not to take early wickets with many aerial shots narrowly missing fielders. Downs then took 2 wickets through Cam Spilsbury and Steve Roberts but following this Cublington went on the attack putting on 200 runs for the next two wickets (both taken by Jak Soppett). This quick scoring was helped by short leg side and straight boundaries (as well as some short bowling) with one batsman scoring 146 before being caught out.
Cublington declared on 308-6 off 47 overs.
Despite facing a rather large total Downs were optimistic and went out to try take away as many points from the game as they could. Unfortunately, quick wickets during the opening spell saw Downs slump to 22-4 with all of the top 4 out cheaply. There was then a recovery from Downs and a 56 partnership between Ben Ling and Darryl Woods brought some stability to the innings, with Ben Ling doing well to put off the bowlers with some good attacking shots. Ben was finally caught on 41 and despite some strong resistance from the middle order (Darryl Woods 30, James Florey 24 and Jak Sopett 33) Downs could not hold on and were eventually bowled out for 185 which was an impressive total following the situation early in the innings.
Downs finished the match with 5 points which was just enough to see them rise to 8th in the table. Thanks to Chris Crouch for scoring and hopefully we can bounce back with a win next week against Great Brickhill 2 XI at home