Windsor 2’s ‘Rock on’ through Aldershot 1^st XI

Windsor 2^nd’s, realizing what they had done wrong in their 1^st league match, made amends by turning up on time, doing admin and practicing their catching properly prior to the game! Aldershot too turned up early and practiced what can only be described as a ‘Towsey Drill’ with multi colored cones and 26 balls! This meant Windsor went into the game with no journey in them and in the right frame of mind. The covers had leaked overnight on what looked to be a very good wicket on Friday afternoon, and Windsor decided to bat first, choosing to get the best out of the two paced wicket. Whilst the game started on time after only a few overs the rain came down and the covers went on. After much deliberation and after intervention by the umpire’s the game finally got underway with a maximum of 70 overs being allowed, Windsor getting 37 to set a total.

Aldershot bowled and fielded very tightly early on and Windsor tried to move the game along but didn’t get too many shots off the square. Huggins and new recruit Shafi opened and the pitch looked to be very hard underneath which provided their bowlers with pace and bounce in some areas, Huggins wearing a few during his innings. In other areas the ball kept low! Again wickets fell regularly and Windsor were reduced to 60 for 6 wickets off 21 overs. This was looking like another poor batting performance as per the previous week. Calling and running between the wickets is still rusty and needs work, and coupled with this the tight bowling displayed by Bailey (13 overs, 2 for 22) and Summers came away with 5 for 68. R Noble top scored for Windsor with 29, but Windsor had only 121-9 on the board after their allotted overs.

Windsor went out to field in front of a large balcony crowd, some already in party mode for the evenings entertainment! Noble commented that the total would not be easy to chase and also the weather was gloomy after a very very late tea (Jane has confirmed it was the latest ever!) Aldershot only had 33 overs in which to reach Windsor’s total. Veteran Hill and young Birch opened up and found early movement and some pace from the now drier wicket and regularly missed the edge of both the right and left handers. Windsor were sharp throughout the innings in the field but a few loose deliveries were concerning as the outfield was pretty quick. After restricting Aldershot to 66 for 3 off 24 overs Windsor continued to tempt the batsmen with Sawyer and Smith heading up the attack and continued to turn the screw. Sawyer’s accurate medium pace perfectly suited the wicket and Abe Smith got the middle order to drive and play shots. Windsor took their catches this week, R Noble took a stumping, a fantastic catch in the dark on the boundary by Birch and things were looking brighter for the determined Windsor side. More wickets fell and Aldershot slumped to 105 all out after 31.4 overs with Sawyer returning figures of 6 overs-3 for 23, and Smith got a 6 for 34! When the last wicket fell Windsor were justifiably exuberant, and with the aid of Rob Spence playing live, celebrated the victory in style.

As the saying goes… ‘catches win matches’
Report by Alex Hill