Windsor 1st XI vs. Burnham 2nd XI (TVL Division 2A)
Saturday 13th May:

Windsor 202 for 9 52 Overs (A Towse 67, A Nazir 5-41)
Burnham 2’s 194 for 8 48 Overs (W Nicholls 5-72)

With four weeks of pre-season friendlies and netting behind them, Windsor 1st XI played there first game in Thames Valley League Division 2A this past Saturday. It always promised to be a stern test against local rivals Burnham and the game proved to live up to it’s billing.

Upon winning the toss, Windsor captain Warren Griffiths chose to bat first. Openers Craig Bird and Brian Davis faced a difficult opening burst, with the ball swinging and seaming in the overcast conditions. Indeed Bird’s forward defensive shot was beaten by a huge leg-cutter from Nazir; a feat repeated two overs later on Windsor No.3 Clarke. Towse then joined Davis, who together began to sow the seeds of recovery. Unfortunately, a smart catch a square-leg saw Davis depart for 29 and it was left to Millman and Towse to further the Windsor cause. This they did magnificently, as they began to build a strong partnership that put Windsor on top. Millman finally fell for a fine 48. Towse continued on with mini partnerships with Cornish and Mirza taking him to a well-deserved fifty. When he finally fell for 67, Windsor was still 30 runs from the desired 200 and maximum batting points. Lusty blows from Mirza and Baumgartner helped the cause and, despite some interesting running between the wickets, Windsor closed their innings on 202 for 9 with Burnham’s Nazir finishing with a fine 5 for 41.

Burnham’s reply almost immediately hit rocky ground, as Windsor’s new overseas all-rounder Wes Nicholls removing both openers in successive overs with some fine bowling. Ably supported by Cornish, Windsor was at this point well on top. Unfortunately, two relatively similar dropped chances off the Burnham numbers 3 and 4 proved costly, as despite being heavily on top, Windsor could not get the desired breakthrough. It was the introduction of Mirza, bowling in tandem with Griffiths that broke the partnership. But with the rain starting to fall more heavily, the ground carried more surface water and meant the ball would need to be dried after every delivery. Not only did this slow the game, but also saw the ball become soft and difficult to grip, which effectively took away the ability to swing, seam or even spin the ball. By this time however, Burnham were way behind the run rate and had to really begin to cut loose. The re-introduction of Nicholls and Mohindru saw wickets fall regularly, with the latter picking up the key wicket of Chaudrey trapped lbw. A fine run-out by Mirza, coupled with Nicholls achieving his five wicket haul would see Burnham losing wickets at a regular pace, despite more than achieving the run rate required to win. Further dropped catches saw the game reach a dramatic final over with 14 runs to win. Despite, one lusty blow, Mohindru managed to rain the Burnham 9th wicket partnership back and Burnham were unable to reach the target of 203 to win. Windsor were awarded the winning draw and took 14 points from the game, Burnham would leave Home Park with just 8 points.

This coming Saturday, Windsor 1st’s play their first away fixture of the season as they travel over to Falkland. This will be the first visit to this picturesque ground for many years and promises to be a good match.