Nichols (7/29 & 33) with Huggins 79 combine to bring Huggins 79
defeated
MARLOW 80 All Out
Nichols 7/29
Windsor took a giant leap towards the TVL Division 2A title with a much needed win against Marlow at Home Park on Saturday.
In a gutsy move Nichols won the toss and decided to bat first, hoping to take advantage of the up/down surface bowling 2nd on the wet deck and to put pressure on a youthful Marlow outfit chasing a target.
It was expected to be extremely difficult batting first though, and this was highlighted by Birch falling 2nd ball of the day! From here Gould (11) defied his youth and managed to rebuild the innings and but when he departed, it was left to Nichols (33) and Huggins (79) to get a score of 120+ which was expected to be par.
Huggins was majestic and has come full circle in the space of 1 year. He is very close now to the finished article, and living up to the potential he has always had. His powers of concentration and maturity under pressure, the areas that where lacking in his game 1 year ago, where sublime, and the fact he more than doubled the next highest score on the day tells the story. It was the knock many have been waiting for him to play.
A score of 159, was probably 20 less than what was achievable, but Lee Atkinson (6/56) made life terribly hard to get any further.
Windsor went into the break pretty confident knowing the pitch still had a bit of life in it and the gamble of batting first would pay off, if Windsor could put enough balls in the right areas. That was certainly what happened as Nichols (7/29) and Harris (3/41) bowled unchanged to hand Windsor the 25 pts after 24 overs.
Windsor are now 68 pts clear at the top of the ladder and with 4 games in hand are favourites to clinch the title. Windsor travel to Beaconsfield next week in a quest to keep the run going to 5 in a row.