Chesham 2nd XI 184 for 9 52 overs (Saunders 48, Kellard 3 for 30)
Windsor 2nd XI 185 for 5 46.3 overs (Gould 43, Murray 38)
In their first home league game of the season, the Windsor 2nd team entertained Chesham 2nd team at The Home Park. After a number of days of heavy rain, the wicket and ground was somewhat wet still. But with good weather and a howling gale blowing over the castle, the ground was drying fast. With this in mind, upon winning the toss Windsor choose to bowl first.
Windsor again started with the combo of Edge and Condon who both found the conditions difficult for differing reasons. Edge bowled well considering he was bowling head long into a strong wind and looked tired when replaced by Davis in the 14th over. Condon contrast struggled to settle on the correct length with the wind behind him. When Hill replaced Condon in the 15th over, Chesham had made a strong start with skipper Bilbury and Saunders setting a good foundation until the former played around an inswinger off Davis and was out for 29. A period of consolidation followed, which also lead to a period of frustration for both sides. Chesham looked to kick on, whilst Windsor looked to take more wickets. Despite a few catches being dropped, Windsor was able to take more control and slowed the run rate down greatly as Chesham entered the final 15 overs. When Saunders finally fell to Davis for 48, Chesham seemed to lose all momentum and struggled along to the end of their 52 overs. The excellent control of Kellard tore a hole in the Chesham middle order and along with Hill and Davis, finished with 3 wickets each. Chesham finally posted 184 off their 52 overs.
The reply started in bad fashion for Windsor as Lines was out in just the second over to a fine inswinging delivery. With Scott bowling tight lines with his Left arm seamers, Huggins and Gould found runs hard to come by. Indeed, only the class of Gould provided much of the Windsor resistance for some time and he frustrated Chesham with some fine stroke play. When Huggins finally fell for 7, a 40 run partnership was broken and brought Mirza to the crease. Working the ball around with Gould, the run rate was maintained around 3 an over, but the target was still over 100 away when Gould fell for a fine 43. Murray and Mirza continued to push for runs, but the tight bowling of Rance was holding Windsor at bay. Indeed the match turned on its head when the two young Chesham spinners were replaced. With Mirza and Murray both falling to Scott, it was again up to Hill and Davis to tick the required runs off at the end of the innings for the second week in a row. After needing over 6 an over two big overs off Scott changed the innings. An over including a huge six from Davis was followed by a big over from Hill, which put Windsor needing 5 of 12 balls. Hill duly brought up the win with a fine lofted drive past the bowler. Windsor won the game by 5 wickets with 9 balls to spare.
Another strong run chase bore testament to another fine team performance. The fielding needs to be worked on still, but all in all a very good win from Windsor chasing a par score on a wet wicket.
Windsor this week face top of the table British Airways at the Home Park for what is bound to be a test for both sides of their potential for the 2009 season.