By the way they swarmed the pitch before the match, all caps and matching shirts and running through well-grooved fielding routines it was obvious Chippenham were going to pose a formidable challenge for Coton's first cup game. Not only do they turn out smart, they have hardened county players and every boy turned up with their game face on.

Coton opted to bat first and immediately came under the pressure from Chippenham's impressive bowlers with the loss of Axel's wicket cheaply via a rare edge. Monty was also unfortunate to be out first ball from an amazing low catch off what was a healthy on-drive (his wicket one of the hattrick that Chippenham's Toby took). A mid-order collapse in the space of 3 balls. Fortunately Sam Romans and Kyle dug in and gave our innings much needed stability. Kyle is by nature an attacking batter, but given orders by the coaches to protect his wicket he played a disciplined innings, leaning on his bat in trademark style between balls and eschewing the risky opportunities on straight balls he normally smashes. With Sam and Kyle ultimately bowled by the relentless Toby, it fell to Mathis, then Blake Carver, George Pullan and Harry Dixon to take us to 92-8 under pressure from the Chippenham attack, with both George and Harry not out.

At the turn there was a definite sense that 92 was a little light to defend against this slick Chippenham team but Coton's captain Axel had other ideas. Coton set about the higher Chippenham order with ruthless intensity, with Axel and Monty sharing the opening 7 overs. Coton's fielders were super sharp, denying Chippenham runs. Wicketkeeper Blake deserves heroic mention here - with Monty and Axel raining down stingers Blake stood his ground and denied Chippenham the byes lesser keepers would have let through - despite having to remove his gloves a couple of times to nurse his bruised hands. This spell effectively broke Chippenham's finest with Monty and Axel sharing 6 wickets between them in an awesome display of accurate fast seam bowling. In successive balls Axel whacked the stumps with the bails almost flying to the boundary. Kyle, Mathis and Arthur Leckie cleaned up the tail to bowl out Chippenham in just 17 overs.