Windsor come close as Falkland drop the shutters

Windsor 226 for 7; 49 Overs (Bird 96, Towse 51)
Falkland 178 for 8; 49 Overs

With the clouds finally parting for the first time in days, Windsor 1’s visited Falkland looking to continue on what was a good start to the league season the week before. Acting captain Craig Bird won the toss and chose to bat first and take advantage of the wet conditions and potentially a wet ball.

Windsor openers Bird and Davis took advantage of the conditions as they got the innings of to a quick start. On a fine batting surface, both were severe on anything short, with the latter hooking a six on to the roof of the opening bowler’s car. A four from Bird brought up the fifty opening stand, a feat not achieved for some time by a Windsor pair. As the rain began to cease the ball dried and started to see some movement off the pitch. A rather ambitious shot from Davis (26) saw his demise; soon followed by Clarke two balls later, falling to an inswinging yorker.

This brought Towse to the crease, who immediately continued his fine form, building a huge partnership with Bird who soon past fifty. The scoring rate continued to rise as Bird in particular took advantage of the short boundary, swatting some poor leg side deliveries for six. Shortly after Towse reached his fifty, a misplaced moment of bravado from Bird saw him miss out on a deserved century as he mistimed his charge down the track and was duly stumped for 96. Towse followed soon after, dismissed via a fine direct-hit run out for 51.

For the second week in a row, the final overs saw a flurry of wickets as Windsor tried to gain as high a total as possible. Upon reaching 226, Bird declared the innings early to allow the chance to use 49 overs to maximise the opportunity to bowl Falkland out and gain maximum points.

After tea, Windsor chose to take the old ball and looked to expose the Falkland top order with the spin of Mohindru and reverse swing of Cornish. Both bowled very well, but it was Cornish who made the early breakthrough and took the first wicket. Falkland looked to bat aggressively early on, but the introduction of Nicholls and Edge, along with the new ball, soon saw two quick wickets peg them back. Some lusty blows from Baig, continued the Falkland assault, but upon his departure to Nicholls the scoring rate soon slowed. As the Falkland tried to attack, they continued to lose more wickets with Nicholls taking 4 wickets in the process. At 7 down and 12 overs to go, Falkland quite literally shut up shop and decided to bat out for a draw. The introduction of Mirza and return of Mohindru saw spin at both ends and despite incredibly attacking fields, Falkland continued to block out and rare attacking shots were greeted with ironic cheers.

Close calls continued to come and go, but the final ball of the innings saw Mirza claim a deserved wicket and Falkland lose their eighth wicket, giving Windsor an extra bonus point whilst claiming a winning draw. For the second week in a row Windsor ended with 14 points and perch 4th in TVL division 2A. What is encouraging is that all five bowlers used took a wicket, demonstrating the good balance in the side this year.