Day 3 saw BPCC take on the Army in what is always a feisty fixture that neither team wants to lose. Winning the toss and electing to bowl looked like the wrong choice when opening bat Liam Fletcher let loose from his 3rd ball and got the Army up to 41 before he knicked one to keeper Lewis Staniforth for 32. Manthorpe then got his opening partner, Varun Bali, in the 7th over, caught by Hayden Tice off the bowling of Dominic Manthorpe for 8. Tice struck in the next over, beating the defence of K. Lesporis and rattling the stumps for 1. Manthorpe got his third in the 9th over, having Aidan Hawkesworth caught by Craig Grimley for 4. Captain Jay Boynton struck a few quick boundaries but feathered one through to Staniforth in the 12th over, out for 14. Ross Dearden quickly followed back to the dugout when he was pinned in front by Tice in the 16th for 5. Denson Narayan got a start, smashing boundaries before Tice got one to rear up and catch up with Narayan’s leave on its way through to Staniforth, out for 26. Tice completed his maiden 5-for in his last over, clean bowling Nicholas Schofield for 10. Tice ended on 10 overs, 5 for 48.
At this stage, the Army were 114 for 8 and looked like being bowled out for less than 150, until Jake Benson and Ben Golds started attacking and putting pressure on the BPCC bowlers, putting together a 72 run partnership which only ended when Benson holed out to Manthorpe off the bowling of Mitchell Harris for 46. The innings ended in the next over with Stuart Drakeley only needing 4 balls of his spell to trap Sam Blackburn in front for a duck, leaving Golds not out on 19 and the Army all out for 187.
In reply, BPCC never really got going. Stuart Drakeley and Will Evans got off to a sprightly start but it wasn’t to last when Evans was out LBW for 15 in the 4th over to the bowling of Ross Dearden. Drakeley wasn’t far behind when he was caught by Golds off the bowling of Schofield for 15 in the 9th over with Gary Knight falling to the same combination 2 balls later for a duck. Joe Flatt did his best to up the tempo and put pressure back on the Army bowlers, smashing two flat sixes in two balls in the 12th over but in going for the third, was bowled by Benson’s quicker, fuller ball and was out for 24. Tom Knight and Micky Martin settled in to keep things moving but Martin was given LBW in the 21st over, out for 9. Knight kept pushing and after back to back boundaries in the 26th over, went to try again and chopped onto the stumps, bowled off the bowling of Golds for 36. Lewis Staniforth was next to depart in the 28th over, run out by the barest of margins by a direct hit, fielded by Narayan, for 2. It was the beginning of the end when Dominic Manthorpe was bowled by Hawkesworth in the 29th over and Craig Grimley was caught by Lesporis off the bowling of Boynton in the 32nd over. Mitch Harris and Hayden Tice hung around for a while but the result was inevitable – Harris bowled by Boynton in the 36th over. BPCC all out for 142 meaning the Army won by 45 runs.
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