Birch plundered 73 as Windsor knock offBirch 73
Defeated
COVE 186 All Out
Nichols 5/69
Windsor where lucky to keep their winning run going with an entertaining 15 run win against Cove on the weekend.
With rain falling heavily in the morning, and the outlook for the rest of the day far from promising, Windsor won the toss and batted, hoping to score as quick as possible. Nichols (43) and a brilliant Birch (73) put on 107 for the first wicket and were scoring at 5 an over. The 16 year old Gould (27) and Huggins (37*) managed to keep the flow continuing and San Jose (19) managed to provide the cherry on top with 3 big sixes to push the total over 200 in the 38th over.
A gutsy declaration was then called, giving Cove another 14 overs to chase a more than gettable target. The skipper was mindful of not only the time remaining in the game with inclement weather fast approaching, but keeping Cove interested in chasing down their first win of the season, as not to allow them to “shut up shop”.
After a few overs the first stop to the game was called as rain tumbled down. The wet ball and dark skies played havoc with Windsor behind the wicket as 5 chances went down. Luckily Nichols (5/69) managed to hit the stumps.
After the 2nd rain stoppage, Randall (66) launched a fine rear guard action until Birch took a magnificent catch as mid on diving to his left, to swing the game back in Windsor’s favour. Another brilliant snare by Malloch at short leg, again off Mohindru (2/23) meant Windsor needed 2 more wickets. Tom “Action Man” Hartridge (3/29) duly completed the job, handing Windsor its third win on the trot with 15 runs to spare.
Windsor play host to Marlow next week whose ability defies their position on the ladder. Windsor need to field considerably better if they are to knock over this very good side.