Mugboat onslaught leads middle order revival
As per usual, rain was again expected during Windsor’s round 7 clash with Cookham Dean. Cookham Dean won the toss and elected to bowl just as the heavens opened and the already damp ground received another drenching.
With little prospect of play, the Windsor boys turned their thoughts to an early pub visit, Cookham and their grounds man however had other ideas and they were out on the field with an array of tools in attempt to get the ground into a playable state. Their persistent, hard work and after an early tea was taken the game was given the go ahead though it was reduced to 70 overs (37 for Windsor / 33 for Cookham).
Nichols was once again very lucky not to be out off the 3rd ball of the innings without scoring as he was put down in the gully by Cookham’s captain. However, unlike previous weeks he did not make them pay and was out caught at point for 16. Weston followed him pack to the pavilion shortly after with the score at 29/2. It was then over to the underperforming middle order to do the job for Windsor.
Huggins and Gould and then Huggins and Banner pushed on at a reasonable rate as they took the score past 100, Huggins was the major contributor in the partnerships as he smashed a number of balls over the long on fence which are unlikely to ever be seen again. When Malik came to the crease Windsor were in a great position at 110/4 with 10 overs to go. Huggins brought up his 50 by working the ball around square of the wicket and then he and Malik swung from the hips in the final overs to take the score past 175 and bring Windsor 8 batting points!. Huggins required 7 runs from the final over to reach his second league century of the season, unfortunately he was run out for 97 off the penultimate ball trying to retain the strike.
Windsor finished their innings with an imposing 184/5 of their allotted 37 overs and went to the innings break with 8 points already in the bag, 1 more than a washout would have given them with a view that any additional bowling points would be a nice bonus.
Malik and Mohindru again opened the bowling for Windsor and Malik looked a yard sharper too with a good breeze at his back as he removed both Cookham openers early on. Mohindru then enticed a lofted shot from Cookham’s overseas player which was well held at long off by Chris Kellard’s moobs. On the back of fruitful partnership from the Cookham no 3 and 5 bats, Nichols and Kellard were introduced into the attack with almost immediate effect. Nichols had the no 3 caught behind and Kellard, playing his first game in the 1s in 2013, repaid his captains faith in him by removing batters 6, 7 & 8.
This gave Windsor a real shot at the maximum 25 points as they required 3 more wickets from the final 10 overs.
However, it wasn’t to be for Windsor as Cookham managed to hold on for a draw with their score at 155/9. Windsor were quite happy by taking home 13 points, especially given that 7 looked an almost certainty at one stage, however they may look back at this game later in the season with some regret at not taking the maximum points on offer given the position that they managed to get themselves in.
With Marlow managing to take 25 points against Finch, Windsor falls to 2nd place with the stage set up for a massive top of the table clash with Marlow at home park in round 8.
Match Highlights
Huggins 97, Malik 25 not out
Kellard 6/0/36/3, Nichols 10/2/34/2, Malik 10/1/28/2