Royston CC 211-3 Barley CC 186-9 (40 overs) Royston won by 25 runs

ROYSTON Cricket Club kicked off their summer in style on Saturday with a pre-season friendly win against Barley.

On a glorious day, Royston won the toss and decided to have a bat, hoping to use the heat to their advantage by subjecting to it the stiff early season limbs of the Barley fielders. Paul Leary and Mick Miller opened the batting and looked comfortable from the off. They batted solidly to the halfway stage, at which point the score was 86-0, and they then pressed on until Mick Miller was finally dismissed for a well made 87 making the score at 173-1 from 34 overs.

The next two batsmen failed to make an impression, however Leary cruised on with a flamboyant array of strokes and Royston finished up on 211-3 from their 40 overs with Leary, 15 years old, ending on 106*, his maiden century.

After an excellent tea, Toby Fynn and newly appointed skipper Martin Leary led the bowling attack against the Barley openers, and bowled economically. Fynn struck first and then Leary followed suit as Barley struggled to find momentum.

John Harper and Sam Montague-Fuller were brought into the attack and still the runs seemed hard to come by for the Barley batsmen. The middle order fired however, Symes and Wilson putting on a large partnership until Wilson was dismissed for 29 and then Symes soon after for 69.

Fynn was brought back on and soon cleaned up the tail, finishing with figures of 6-44. Barley ended on 186-9 which awarded Royston their first victory of the season, winning solidly by 25 runs.

The friendly match was part of Royston CC’s start of season Open Day, and it followed on from a kit sale, a very popular barbecue and a youth match that had all taken place earlier in the day.

Off the back of Saturday’s performance Royston look set for a good season in the Junior 2 League, which gets underway this Saturday away at Saffron Walden IIIs.

As usual Royston CC is always looking for new players and members of all ages. If you are interested in playing or know of anyone who might be, then contact David May on 07801235814 for youth cricket, and Martin Leary on 01462 742115 for senior cricket.