‘What’s that comming over the Hill……?’

Datchet 254 for 8 off 45 overs (Jackson 81, Williams 62, Furness 53*) (Hill 13/1/5/50)

Windsor 214 all out (Junaid 64, Smith 40) ( Jacobs 7/0/3/32)

Due to poor availabilities, Windsor 2nd XI fielded a side with no less than 7 changes from the team that beat Egham the week before. This was to be the first game on the main square this season, and Hill was keen to see how the pitch played, and having set a good total the week before, wanted to test Windsor’s ability to chase a total. The sun was shining again, and Windsor set about warming up well after a few key players were under ‘the arches’ till the early hours, and Datchet turned up looking a little peeky after their annual dinner! Datchet and Windsor ‘agreed’ on the toss and Windsor put Datchet in to bat first. (12 year old district player Kristen Baumgartner was brought in, son of 1st XI wicket keeper Rick, to fill a last min drop out!)

Veteran Hill opened the bowling from the river end and got a wicket in the first over, a feat repeated from last week. Hill made another break through in the second over reducing Datchet to 3 for 14 off 3! Young Holmes improving with every over from the castle end, was bowling good pace and lines and was regularly missing the outside edge in his superb 9 over spell. New recruits this season, Paul Howard, Chris George and Pete Jones all were very committed in the field along with Lewis. However despite heroics in the field Jackson and Williams decided there was no point in this becoming a slow innings and decided to get about the windsor bowling changes. Paul Howard, that unbeknown to Hill hadn’t bowled in 5 years, was given 10 overs straight away on the trot (welcome to Windsor)! Paul rose to the challenge and bowled tight lines. Junaid, a Sun 2nd XI wicket keeper was also experimented with, and was brought on to try and mix things up with his spin bowling. Some huge 4’s and sixes were dealt out by Datchet and one six cleared the nets and landed in the road at the back of the pavilion! Datchet had started to run away with the innings and windsor started to go flat in the feild after a few drop catches and some big shots. Hill brought himself and back on from the castle end and Holmes from the river end to try and break the partnership and slow the run rate. Hill pinched 3 more wickets in this second spell to end on figures of 13 overs, 1 M, 5 wk for 50 runs. Holmes also bowled tightly at the end but Datchet had set an impressive 254 off their 45 after a very poor start.

Windsor started the run chase in the form of George and Junaid, both playing their first Saturday games this season for Windsor. Ignoring the captains advice of playing themselves in and not rushing the run chase, George and Junaid went after the Datchet bowling from the word go! Any poor delivery was punished to the boundary. Windsor were 31 off 6 overs! George played some lovely shots and Junaid’s ‘unique’ batting style frustrated the bowlers. After George departed, Howard came in to bat and partnered Junaid who ended up on a very deserving debut 64. Weston, playing some good looking shots again showed signs of the class to come this season. Smith also played some lovely shots, and hitting some huge boundaries. Windsor had a mini collapse in the lower middle order losing 5 wickets for 16 runs with Hill being caught for a dismal duck. Baumgartner, bravely faced the Datchet paceman, who upon getting the youngster out made a huge a huge celebration (he must have really enjoyed bowling full pace at a 12 year old!) Holmes bravely pushed the ball about, with last wicket support from lewis, but with Windsor needing 40 runs of the last 2 overs, the total was out of reach, and Holmes lost his wicket.

Windsor have taken a lot of positives from this game, based on the massive unavailability issue this weekend. New recruits and batting being plus points so far. Places in the 1st and 2nd XI’s are going to be highly fought over for the first league game. A lot of players are becoming available, new recruits are performing well with the bat, and Uni students are still yet to come back! Windsor, happy with the batting ability in the team, need more in their bowling attack this weekend against Enfield CC in the last pre-season friendly, as windsor look to hone their strategy for the rest of the season with the 1st League game in 2 weeks time…..