Report by Daniel Mortlock:
Darlingscott have never been our most challenging opposition - we'd lost just two of our ten previous fixtures against them - but today's (mis-)match was something else.
Batting first in what scorer Geoff Hales recorded as "fine" conditions, our third wicket pair of Ben Colman and Cliff Dare dominated the Darlingscott attack, putting together a partnership of 156 runs from just 137 balls (third highest ever for FAS). By the time Cliff was stumped for 68 Ben was nearing his century, which he duly completed with consecutive boundaries to start the 31st over, after which we immediately declared.
Darlingscott's chase was about as impotent as one could imagine: their biggest partnership was just 18, and this despite us sharing the bowling around. Joe White (1/10), Alex Stone (2/15), Andy Carnegie (1/7), Joss Dare (3/11, unlucky to be taken off when on a hat-trick) and Mike Harrop (2/8) all made breakthroughs, leaving only Tim Juckes (0/10) wicketless . . . albeit only because the number 11 ran himself out mid-way through Tim's second over. That meant we'd dismissed Darlingscott for just 65 and had won by a mammoth 140 runs, which would have been our third biggest victory ever . . .
. . . but the captains agreed to give Darlingscott a second innings, effectively enforcing the follow-on for the first time in club history. Coming back out to bowl with the job already done, things were a little anarchic initially, as the first half dozen overs included 8 wides, 2 no-balls and 4 byes . . . but also 4 wickets as Jim Streeter (3/18) and Joe (1/12) induced a collapse from 19/0 to 24/4. Darlingscott then had their best period of the day as they made it to 60 without further loss, before again collapsing to be all out for 94, as Joss (1/32), Stoney (3/16, making it a five-for across the two innings) and Andy (2/6) all harvested some cheap wickets.
The final result was that FAS recorded its first - and likely only - ever victory by an innings.