A light at the end of the tunnel?

Cove 163 all out (Cooper 62, Marsh 51. Hodgson 4 for 37, Kellard 4 for 63)

lost to

Windsor 167 for 5 (Davis 84)

After the shambles of the batting performance last week, Windsor went into the game against Cove wanting to bat first to try and get points on the board, and try, with their re-shuffled bowling attack to try and bowl a side out. Hill lost the toss but the outcome of the game was a good one for relegation faced Windsor.

Windsor, without Edge or Condon, opened with Hill and wily Hodgson. The later proving his place by bowling tight and miserly lines to restrict Coves batsmen. Hill made the first breakthrough which had their opener out on a duck. After 7 overs from the river end, Hill turned to 2st XI batsman Davies to help with the bowling duties. Davis, ‘the best net bowler at WCC‘ hit his line and length straight away. Hodgson toiled away at the castle end, and a superb run out from Malik dislodged Marsh for a well earned 51. This was the action that started to change the game and Cove were starting to look comfortable. Hodsgon then removed batsmen 4,5,6 and 7 returning bowling figures of 20 overs 9 maidens, 4 for 37! Davis was replaced with young spinner Kellard who bowled some good lines, but struggled with his length a little. However he tempted the Cove batsmen and removed the opener Rhodes on 62. The Cove tail succumbed to Kellards spin and were all out in the 52nd over. Kellard ended on 16.3 overs, 1 maiden, 4 for 63.

Having bowled a side out again, Hill hoped his batsmen would be able to chase down this total with relative ease, but the 07 season has been anything but easy. With a re-jigged batting line up, Davies opened with Noble, and both looked comfortable from the word go, Davis especially looking good and finding the boundary quickly. Tight opening bowler Finney and Tomsett were replaced but couldn’t seem to dislodge either of the Windsor openers. Regan in the 30th over got a ball to nip away off the seam and Noble was removed on 30. Richies and Weston were removed in the space of 4 balls and Windsor looked like they were going to have a familiar collapse. Patel steadied the ship with Davis and hit some effortless shots. Tomsett got Davis out for a fantastic 84 in the 40th over, and Malik follwed him back to the pavillion shortly afterwards! Doye came to the crease and played sensibily to help steer Windsor home with Patel not out on 32.

A much better performance this week. This is how Windsor used to play. Good fielding, good bowling and fairly solid batting. This is the glimmer of hope Windsor need to go into the last few matches to try and avoid relegation……….