Wooburn Narkovians 155 all out (50 overs) Rogers 49, Edge 4 for 43, Kellard 4 for 11
lost to
Windsor 2 159 – 4 (33.4 overs) Malik 78*, Riches 48
With quite a few changes from the week before due to unavailability’s, and with poor convoying skills, the Windsor 2nds all drove different ways for the short journey to Wooburn! After some cross country driving, found the covers to have been stolen mid week and therefore the pitch to be damp and soft to say the least. Vice captain Hill, standing in for Huggins won the toss and duly elected to bowl first, to see what sort of total Wooburn could post on what looked to be a track that would trouble the batsmen early doors
Being told he was running down the track after his first delivery, and therefore having to adjust his run up caused Hill some early line problems, but managed to snag Lees wicket in the 3rd over with a clean catch off a ball that popped off the wicket to mid off. Immediately both Hill and Hartridge got bounce lift and swing with the overcast conditions, but the Wooburn opening bat Rogers and number 3 Tennant were not looking to build a steady innings and looked to push hard at anything just outside off or overpitched. With a fair amount of shots being hit in the air, the ball seemed to be chasing new player Ward around the pitch, with potential catches simply not carrying. Wooburn were rattling away at 44-1 off the first 10. After Hartridges 7 permitted overs with no breakthrough, Davis was brought into the attack to start to dry up some of the runs due to his wicket to wicket approach that Hill hoped would build some pressure. With no more wickets coming Hill’s way, veteran Edge was brought on, but struggled in his first 5 deliveries to find the ideal length, but on the last ball bowled A Tennant. In the next 12 overs the runs did start to dry up as both bowlers found the wicket to be in their favour and gave the batsmen some things to think about. Some deliveries were keeping low and some were popping off a length. Davis eventually got Cuthbert to push at a drive that didn’t clear Hill running round at mid off. M Tennant pushed the ball about giving some life towards the end of the Wooburn innings, but the tight lines really kept building the pressure. Edge also broke through 3 more times in his spell to end on 4 – 43 off 15 overs. Davis toiled well and really is becoming the all rounder he didn’t want to become, going for 32- 1 off 12!. Hill knew that the Wooburn batsmen had to go after the ball in the last 12 overs as there score was only 118-6 and brought young spinner Kellard, back from holidays, into the attack in the 50th over. M Tennant, Barker, Small and Aslam were all victims of moving down the wicket to Kellard and being bowled or stumped. Kellard, whose flight and line was excellent finished on 4-11 off 5! Wooburn got to the 150 mark in the 50th over when the last wicket fell on 155, giving Windsor 2 extra overs to chase the low target.
After a fantastic tea, (from a cancelled BBQ the night before) Windsor went out in a positive frame of mind to attack the low score and Chana, scoring a neat single off the first ball was unlucky to be run out off the 2nd ball as k Condon drove a crisp drive back to the bowler who skillfully flicked the ball onto the stumps and Chana was clearly out of his ground backing up. Riches then cam into the fray and decided to carefully take a good look at the pitch with Condon and scored slowly for the first 7 overs, but didn’t take any risks either. M Tennant, the Wooburn opening bowler, found the same popping and lifting wicket as Windsor and this caused Condon to be bowled in the 7th over after a very tight opening spell. Riches started to find he could drive the ball with more confidence and him and Malik got Windsor to 34 in the 10th over when it started to rain. Play was stopped for 25 mins and Malik and Riches kept attacking the bad ball and paying due respect to the good balls. It wasn’t until the 24th over, where Windsor were on 112, that Riches, having done all the hard work against Tennants accurate seam and Aslam’s controlled spin, tried one sweep too many off Aslam and topped edged with his score on 48. Ward and Davis came out to offer support to Malik, and backed up well and pushed some singles a
round. Ward was run out, with Malik loosing concentration for a split second, and Davis ended up not out. Malik at the other end was brutal, hitting five 6’s and four 4’s in his impressive and controlled 78 not out, and hit the winning runs with a huge 6 into the trees.
Windsor approached the match with a positive attitude given the scale of the changes to the team the week before, and attacked the game well on a wet wicket. Some fielding was a little poor and Windsor must concentrate on this part of their game this week to ensure all catches stay caught and must apply pressure on the singles close to the wicket. All in all a solid effort for a well deserved 20 points