All good things come to an end and so it was on June 1 st at Compton Park as the seconds winning streak finally came to an end at the hands of Brixworth III`s. Looking for their eleventh straight win skipper Ryan Knight had no hesitation in putting the visitors in after winning the toss. Brixworth made steady if unspectacular progress against the solid Cooks attack and were to some degree architects of their own downfall as three of their number ran themselves out. But a late rally saw them reach a respectable 165-5. The Cogenhoe reply saw both openers go early but a typically aggressive 35 from Matt Morrissey kept the hosts in the hunt. But the fall of 4 wickets saw Cogenhoe reduced to 60-6 and prospects not looking good . But Mark Bird had other ideas and at 93-7 was joined at the crease by Keith Parsons and slowly but surely they edged their way towards an improbable win. But when Mark fell for 48 , followed by Keith for 26 the Cogenhoe innings finally came to an end at 153 and defeat by 9 runs.
You can tell the character of a side by how they react to a defeat and the following week we got our answer as the seconds travelled to Bugbrooke to play St Michaels 74 II`s . Cogenhoe were put in and got off to a decent start thanks to the new opening partnership of Russ Coleman and Adam Lee-Brown. When they went it was Matt and Ryan who pushed the score on before Ryan went for 28.Matt continued to anchor the innings whist those around him tried to force the pace as the seconds chased maximum batting points. But when Matt was dismissed for an excellent 75 the rest soon followed and the Cooks were bowled out for 198. That total would always be challenging against a very decent Cogenhoe bowling attack and so it proved as Tony Bird 13-3-26-4 and Syd Mason 9-3-33-2 stifled the St Michaels reply with Mark Bird 3-41 and Adam 1-11 finishing the job off as the hosts were eventually bowled out for 116.
On June 15 th , Obelisk II`s were the visitors to Compton Park and on a damp, cloudy but warm day Ryan had no hesitation in putting them in after winning the toss. Once again Tony and Syd were on top form with Syd 13–7-17-4 plus a run out and Tony 13-6-23-1 ensuring that the Obelisk innings never got out of first gear. Making his Compton Park debut James Goodwin chipped in with impressive figures of 9-2-28-3 as Obelisk managed to post 105-9 from their 45 overs. There was a brief wobble as Russ and Matt went early but Ryan with 30 soon got the scoreboard moving along with the calm and patient style of Dave Patrick. When Ryan departed Dave was joined by Jack Quennell and together they guided the seconds to a comfortable 7 wicket win with Dave finishing on 17 and Jack 27. This win left the seconds right in the mix for the promotion places in Division 12 just behind leaders Medbourne with Brixworth III`s close behind in third, but the gap to fourth place keeps getting wider and the prospects with almost half the season gone are looking very promising.