BECC had cause for optimism as they were able to field a strong side on their debut at Old Camdenians against Uxbridge Casuals.
Although the pitch had a greenish tinge and was slightly damp, the extremely short straight boundaries suggested that runs would be difficult to contain. It was, therefore, no surprise that upon winning the toss, Uxbridge's skipper elected to bat.
BECC were forced to start with 10 in the field because regular opening bowler, Joe Saleh, was delayed on his way to the ground. Nevertheless, this actually proved to be a stroke of luck as fellow left-armer, Ben Tilley, stepped up to the plate instead and decimated Uxbridge's top order with three wickets within his first four overs to get Belmont off to a flyer.
Belmont were then buoyed by Saleh's arrival and he was introduced straight into the attack. He proved too quick for Davenport, the no. 5, as he bowled him with an inswinging delivery which crashed into the bottom of the stumps. Uxbridge were further hindered when no.6, Aziz, was run out by a direct hit by Tom Hart, running in from mid-off.
Despite the fact that wickets were tumbling, Uxbridge continued to play their shots, with no. 4, Zameer, and no. 7, Mansour, showing no intention of backing down. They struck some lusty blows in a brisk partnership and given this, pace off the ball seemed to be a sensible option. This paid rich dividends, as off-spinner Dan Frumar struck within his first over when he deceived Zameer with a beautifully flighted delivery and bowled him for 31.
This did not seem to deter Mansour at all and he continued to bat aggressively by hitting Frumar for two big sixes back over his head. However, David Kaplan solved this particular problem with a superb spell of 4-16 off 3.4 overs. After bowling the no.8 with a ball which jagged in, he snaffled the big wicket of Mansour by having him caught off a top edge, straight to the waiting Phil Mayer at fine leg. The very next ball he took a sharp caught and bowled opportunity to leave Uxbridge teetering at 86-9. Although he was unable to complete his hat-trick, there was inevitability about the fact that he would return to finish off the innings, which he duly did, to leave a decent batting line up all out for 87 after just 17.4 overs.
Given how short Uxbridge's innings was, the teams agreed to delay tea and Belmont went straight into bat. Elliott Mayer looked in good touch immediately and started the innings strongly by cracking the first ball for a four through the covers. However, his opening partner, Steven Altmann-Richer, found the going tougher and was soon bowled by a back of a length delivery which kept slightly low.
This brought Dan Frumar to the crease and he and Mayer steadily accumulated to bring BECC closer to their target. The second-wicket pair put on 30 before the partnership was brought to an abrupt ending when Mayer was run-out for 17 attempting a quick single.
Next batsman in, Jacobs, took a little time to play himself in, before taking advantage of the short boundaries by striking some crisp straight drives to the boundary. Frumar and Jacobs completed a straightforward chase in exactly 18 overs, as BECC triumphed by eight wickets.
