Windsor 4’s roll on!

Eversley 4’s 214 for 9; 52 Overs (T. Hartridge 5 for 19)
Windsor 4’s 215 for 4; 32 Overs (D Brown 72)

Windsor’s fourth eleven travelled to the beautiful grounds of Wellington College on Saturday, looking for a win that would keep them second and well and truly in the promotion hunt. Missing several key players, skipper Griffiths won the toss and elected to bowl first, fearing that he would not have the firepower to bowl the opposition out if Windsor went for a 25 pointer.

Griffiths’ concern about lack of firepower seemed justified at first, as the Eversley openers got off to a flyer. Both Ahmed and Mohammed bowled some testing deliveries but too often strayed in both line and length and presented the openers with scoring opportunities. Eversley, steam rolling at almost 6 runs per over, looked odds on for posting a big score and Griffiths was ruing his decision to bowl. However, the introduction of Hartridge and Bhullar, swung the game back in Windsor’s favour, with Hartridge swinging the ball in at a good pace, and Bhullar bowling booming outswing. Wickets began to fall at regular intervals, and Windsor’s young seamers were backed up by the tidy off spin of Benawra and Saunders, and the whole team benefited from the impressive outfielding of Brown and Mohammed. As the Eversley innings came to an end, Ahmed and Hartridge returned to mop up the tail with some devastating yorkers, with Hartridge picking up career best figures of 5-19 (please note, Tom has promised to buy his jug next week and Ricky Saunders still owes one for his fifty last week). Eversley finished on 214-9 which was somewhat bolstered by the 54 extras that Windsor gifted them.

A fine al-fresco tea was taken and then Windsor began their run chase. What could have proved to be a tricky run chase seemed to be a mere formality after just a few overs. Both Saunders and Brown took the attack to the erratic Eversley bowlers, with Saunders unleashing some booming drives, and Brown punishing anything slightly short. Windsor reached the fifty in no time before Saunders was done by some extra bounce and fended away to gully. A team huddle from the Eversley fielders showed that they thought they were back in the game. How wrong they could have been. Out strode Bradbury who wasted no time in putting bat to ball and gave a masterclass in cut, drive, and thwack. Brown continued to play his shots and the Eversley skipper had no answers: it was just a case of which batsmen got himself out first. Eventually, Bradbury played one cut shot too many and was caught at point. Ben Lewis, playing solely as a batsman, also looked to be positive and played some elegant drives before top edging a pull. This brought Houghton to the crease, who in typical fashion, played his shots and was not afraid to hit over the infield. Brown and Houghton made a handsome partnership, and in the process Brown passed fifty. With just one run to win, a careless run out gifted Eversley Brown’s wicket and another point. However, Griffiths hit his first ball for the required single and Windsor celebrated an excellent team performance, with all of the players demonstrating that they are capable of playing a better standard. The only down side of the day was the league points structure. Despite comprehensively defeating Eversley, Windsor only picked up eight more points than them.