Traditional cricketing wisdom dictates that the first five to 10 overs of an innings are the most difficult time to bat.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The bowlers are at their freshest, the pitch is at its greenest, and the ball still has its shine - all ingredients for a batter's nightmare.
But, on Saturday, Souths captain Chris Skilton found that the opposite was true.
After Bective East won the toss and elected to bat first, Skilton and his teammates realised that the No. 1 Oval wicket, in tandem with the hardness of a new ball, was easiest to play on early in their T20 clash.
"You can see that with Jye [Paterson, who made 41 at the top of the order] scoring runs at the start," Skilton said.
"And then, as the ball got softer and older, it was definitely harder to get away."
Once the Bective top three were dismissed, no other batter made it into double figures for the remainder of the first innings.
Nathan Mann (4-16) and George Wilson (2-11) were the most miserly of Souths' bowlers, and key factors in Bective's first-innings total of 97.
Though he had seen firsthand how tricky the wicket was, Skilton was "pretty confident" that Souths were in the box seat.
His faith was vindicated when Josh Richards, batting at number three, strode to the wicket.
"Josh batted fantastically for us," Skilton said.
"He played some shots to manipulate the field. He played some sweep shots off their quicks and some laps to their spinners."
Richards' 70 accounted for almost three quarters of Souths' total which, historically speaking, is extremely rare in cricket.
Regardless, the run chase came down to the final over as the South African was the only batter in the second innings to score at a strike rate of over 100.
"Throughout our innings, we probably faced too many dot balls," Skilton said.
"We weren't proactive enough to try and ensure that we were ticking the score over consistently, particularly early on."
There was "absolutely" some tension on the sidelines as Souths watched Richards score at over a run a ball in the final four overs.
But when he hit Forbes Boydell for four straight down the ground to win the game, his teammates cheered vociferously and it ensured the side will go forward in the T20 competition with confidence.
"Knowing that we're training really well and doing the right things ... are only going to help us," Skilton said.
"We're going to be looking to improve for the next game."
