Windsor leave BA with middle order headaches
Windsor travelled to Hounslow to take on BA hopeful of retaining their position at the top of the league. Following some strong performances in the 2nd team, Will Banner forced his way into the line-up and Harry Jordan, released by his kidnappers, returned to the side as well.
With no team being able to win bowling second at the venue since BA came into the league, Windsor, upon winning the toss Windsor asked BA to bat first.
Adam Allen-Turner was given the new ball for the first time in 2013 and he picked up an early wicket to get Windsor off to a very good start. Nichols opened up from the other end and was unlucky not to have a couple of early wickets himself as the umpire turned down some raucous appeals from Windsor. Bukhari held the innings together for BA as Allen-Turner and Malik took wickets in the middle overs. Huggins put down a straight forward chance at gully that would have removed him just prior to drinks and he didn’t offer another one in composing a very well made 80. A superb piece of fielding by Gould gained Windsor another wicket and with Allen-Turner continuing to toil away into the strong wind, Mohindru was introduced in the 42nd over and picked up 3 wickets. The BA innings closed at 176/9 off their allocated 52 overs, Allen-Turner bowled all the way through and finished with 4/88 off 26 overs, a brilliant effort given the conditions. Windsor felt this to be a par score on a slow wicket that was surrounded by an even slower outfield.
Nichols and Weston opened up upon the resumption as BA opened up with 2 spinners and the old ball. It was slow going early on but the pair made it through to drinks with their wickets intact and the score on 70. Following drinks, they upped the scoring as Nichols brought up his 3rd consecutive 50 and Windsor’s first 100 partnership of the season.
Windsor were perfectly at 117/0 in the 31st over, needing just a further 60 at less than 4 runs per over wit all 10 wickets in hand. What followed was one of the worst batting performances in memory as Weston was dismissed 2 runs shy of his 50 and was followed back to the pavilion by Nichols just 3 balls later for 64. Gould (2) and Huggins (0) came and went quickly then Malik and Banner looked to have steadied the ship somewhat with a partnership of 40 before Malik (21) played an appalling slog and was cleaned bowled by Azizi. When Banner (17) fell shortly after to a brilliant diving catch at mid-on, Windsor needed 25 off the last 30 balls with 4 wickets in hand, some simple bat on ball singles would have got Windsor the win they needed but this did not happen as Windsor limped to 170/8 off their allotted 48 overs.
This was an immensely disappointing result for the side, they had worked very hard to set the game up and for 85 overs were the better team. At 117/0 Windsor should have won by 6-8 wickets but the middle order could not perform to the level required.
The draw see’s Windsor fall back to 4th in the league, they host newly promoted Wokingham next week as they look to return to the winners circle
Match Highlights
Allen-Turner 26/2/88/4, Mohindru 5/0/18/3
Nichols 64, Weston 48
Nichols-Weston 1st wkt partnership 117