Headley 287-5 dec (Moss 126, Midmer 45, Pickering 38*) drew with Old Freemens 237-6 (Mason 3-27, Chew 2-12)

Headley put the Old Freemens to the sword on Sunday, amassing 287-5 declared in just 29 overs, on the back of a showstopping hundred from retuning batting talisman James Moss. Sadly it was only enough for a draw, as Headley failed to make any early inroads with the ball, enabling the Old Frees to chase gallantly for around 40 overs, before battening down the hatches to leave the honours even.

With hot sunshine, a flat deck and some tiny boundaries there was only really one choice for both captains at the toss, and as the 10p coin flashed in the sun, the OF's skipper Henry Jones' call of heads was an important one. Unfortunately for the visitors the coin came down a tail , it was Headley who got to bat first, and Jones' subsequent air of weary resignation indicated he probably had a good idea of what was coming. The sight of Headley opening pair Mitch Pickering and James Moss strolling out would have confirmed his fears. Whilst the pair might look more at home in the front row of a scrum, both know their way to the boundary around the Heath. 

Pickering Jr got the innings off to a flyer with 28 from just 7 balls before departing to a fairly tame caught and bowled. James Moss had been initially sedate, but with Pickering Jr's cameo at an end, the big man now decided it was now time to kick on. What followed in the next hour was little short of a massacre, as Moss took the game away from the Old Free's with a stunning display of brutal hitting. Moss crashed boundary after boundary, hitting some scorching drives through extra cover, whilst anything short disappeared over either midwicket or wide long on. As the Heath echoed to the sound of his 4 pound blade, the big man marched to a score 80 with the aid of just seven walked singles. Once past 80 ,he decided to give the singles up altogether, and simply kept swinging through the line, smashing some towering straight maximums into the bracken jungle and over the car park. At the other end, James Midmer was mostly content to hand the strike over to Moss, although he too crashed the ball around on occasion, including one huge hook shot that was last seen bouncing down the lane to the Heath farm. Between them, Moss and Midmer put on 163 in 11 overs and 55 minutes, before both departed in quick succession to leave the score at 230-3. 

There was, however, to be little respite for the Old Frees in the remainder of the innings as Gary Mason, Derek Smith and Andy Pickering kept up the assault with some clean striking, although there were some highlights for the visitors: an intelligent spell by first change seamer Fleming (who took 4 of the 5 wickets to fall) and a stunning catch on the boundary by Tom Ripon, who made ground to his left before pulling off a superb diving effort high to his left that would have graced a Test match. For Headley, Pickering senior looked in particularly good touch crashing a cameo 38* before the innings was declared after 29 overs. 

Even with a lot of overs to chase, 288 was a mammoth ask for the Old Frees, but to their infinite credit they had a good go from the start. Helped by some aggressive field placings they were soon careering along, led by Ben O'Connor whose innings of 54 included some flamboyant hits of his own all around the ground. The other OF's opener was slightly less orthodox but his range of sweep and cut shots kept the OF's score moving along, and in almost no time both openers had reached 50, the score was 110-0 and an unlikely chase looked on. With several options tried already, the Headley skipper was in need of a partnership breaker and threw the ball to the debutant Alex Chew.  Chew did not disappoint as after a few balls of surprisingly straight bustling seam, he bowled O'Connor to get the breakthrough in his first over. Chew took a further wicket, and had a chance dropped at slip, in a monumental spell of three overs before he retired for a well earned cigarette. He had, however, opened the door for Gary Mason, whose deceptively quick medium pace from the Box Hill end soon bowled the other opener and then two further middle order batsmen. With time running out, Mitch Pickering then got in on the act with, as some well flighted leg spin saw the OF no.7 Tim O'Connor stumped by Midmer. Unfortunately for Headley, the Old Freemans number 4 Mike Ripon was proving harder to shift, and he eventually saw off the Headley revival with a calm knock of 40*. The OF's closed with both Ripon brothers at the crease at 237-6.