In a week that saw a number of players unavailable for the Bank Holiday weekend matches and some mindless vandalism at the club, a much-changed First XI travelled to Lye CC on Saturday 4th May. This was always going to be a tough match as Lye won the League last season, with Ross runners up. Lye batted first and after a few overs Matt Young had Iqbal (12) well caught by Ross' wicketkeeper, Ben Robbins. This brought Lye's captain Jat Dhadwal (23) to crease and after a few powerful strokes he chopped one on to his stumps off Stuart Tucker's bowling. Lye were 65 for 2. Lye's batsmen Ali and Riaz then started to set about the Ross bowling attack. They moved the score on to 278 before Riaz (94) was caught by Stuart Tucker off Matt Young's bowling. Shortly after this wicket, Ali passed his century and eventually carried his bat for 123 runs in a Lye total of 308 for 3.After the interval Ross got off to the worse possible start when they lost two quick wickets. James Tiffen and Stuart Mair started to rebuild the innings with careful short selection and plenty of patience. However both their wickets fell in quick succession Mair (13) and Tiffen (41). Stuart Tucker (19) and Ben Robbins (22) then took up the challenge and moved the score past 125. In the end Ross were all out for 130.

Pick of the Lye bowling attack were Azhar Naeem (10-4-19-3) and Mohammed Ishtiaq (15.1-3-51-4).

With a much changed First XI and seven players making their first team debut this was a learning experience for all concerned.

For more stories in full please see this week's Ross Gazette.