A fantastic spell of bowling from Carlo Carenza & James Hands almost conjured up a remarkable victory for Broadway 2nd XI, despite being bowled all out for 70. However the defeat all but ends the chances of Promotion for the 2nd XI.

Regular 2nd XI players Rich Pedley & Luke McDonagh were called up for 1st XI duty and were replaced by Bernie & Sam Donoghue. Will Jelfs & Danilo Mendoza also returned in place of Alex Robinson & Tom Willett from the side that beat champions elect Long Itchington.

Broadway were invited to bat first on a green wicket, and lost last weeks batting hero Kevin Holmes in the fifth over when he was caught at mid wicket. Steve Wheeler joined Frank Carenza in the middle and the score advanced to 25 to 1 off 11 overs when Wheeler mis-timed a drive to Point.

Despite seeing off the opening bowlers, there was no let up against an impressive bowling attack. In-form batsman Hands was beaten by a deceptive slower ball. Frank Carenza had dug-in well for a top score of 13 before being caught in the covers.

Shot making was proving hard, but club chairman Bernie Donoghue smacked a couple of boundaries before being dismissed by Mytton. The last of the recogninsed batsmen, Marston, fell soon after to leave Broadway in big trouble. The slow bowling pair of Mytton & Sudlow then quickly went through the Broadway lower order, but not before the shot of the day from Danilo Mendoza - not known for his batting - who drove opening bowling Shorthouse over extra cover.

The innings ended following a mix up between Sam Donoghue and Mendoza, which left the youngster run out. Broadway were 70 all out.

In reply Broadway knew that early wickets were required. Carenza picked up a wicket in his 1st over, having Prudden taken at slip by Wheeler after the ball looped off his glove. Hands dismissed Stokes in his 1st over with a low full toss & Broadway were right in the contest.

Hands dismissed Sheppard in the 4th over - caught behind - & Carenza bowled easily his best spell of the season. Carenza had Dixon well caught at mid on by Sam Donoghue (after he had spilled a chance in the previous over) and then clean bowled Goldby with a fantastic delivery that clipped the top of off stump (a delivery that would've dismissed a lot of batsmen !), Hands bowled Mytton & Carenza had Shorthouse caught behind, to leave Fladbury still requiring around 20 runs with only 3 wickets left.

Visiting skipper Edwards 'chanced his arm' and hit a few valuable boundaries. He survived a confident LBW appeal by Hands in his last over & unfortunately for Broadway the new ball pair had bowled their 10 over allocation each.

Edwards & Sudlow knocked off the remaining runs against the spin of Ross and the medium pace of Marston, despite suffering a few more scares.

The result all but certainly means Broadway 2nds will be playing Division 5 cricket again next season, whilst the visitors look strong contenders for Promotion with just 2 games remaining.

http://broadway.play-cricket.com/scoreboard/scorecard.asp?id=11371421