Waltham St Lawrence 1st XI crashed
to their second defeat in as many weekends on a very
hot and sunny day at Oak Meadow. Having won the toss
and elected to field things started brightly for the
home side as Ashton took a good catch at slip after
England had got the ball to rise
sharply to the batsman and brush his glove. At this
point however Goring began to settle with loose balls
being heavily punished in the blistering heat.
After a good partnership Rashid Arif finally made
the breakthrough with debutant Wood taking a smart catch
at point. England bowled the new batsman
shortly after he reached double figures and when Johnson
took an excellent catch at cow corner to dismiss the
classy Goring captain, Grant (74), Waltham
were back in the hunt.
The middle order held
firm however and maintained a reasonable run rate. The
only other wicket to fall was that of wicket-keeper
Grist who, after settling into his innings well, was
deceived by a masterly slower ball from Gearing and
was clean bowled. Goring finished their innings on a
creditable 202 for 5, and the sides retired to the pavilion
to watch what was laughably called an England
football match.
After the extended break the
Waltham batsmen made their way
out to begin the chase. Things started poorly as Ashton
dollied a simply chance back to the bowler off a long-hop;
only the third ball of the innings. The bowler may have
wished he had dropped the chance shortly after however,
as Gearing set about dismantling the bowling with aplomb.
Hitting 16 off one over, the Waltham
captain raced to 29 of 27 deliveries before a rush of
blood to the head saw him attempt to launch a straight
ball back to Goring and was roundly bowled.
Arif arrived at the wicket and set about the bowling
in usual cavalier fashion. Having tested the catching
ability of mid-on with a skied effort and won he was
finally caught for a lively 5. At the other end Johnson
was building a typically patient innings as Christodoulu
became the first of the Waltham
batsmen to ‘earn’ a place in the infamous duck gallery.
England then made his
way to the middle and a promising partnership began
with good shots around the ground. Unfortunately though
Johnson fell LBW for 36 as a ball failed to bounce and
England followed shortly after
firing the ball directly to cover. Things were looking
bleak for Waltham as Thompson
joined Owen in the centre. Both batsmen maintained their
admirably consistent recent form notching up further
mentions in the Duck gallery. The tail then failed to
wag and the team were dismissed for a disappointing
107.
Captain Gearing will have been disappointed
by the performance as a number of key players had returned
after absence the previous week. However, Waltham
will rue the lack of an accomplished spinner as they
were dismantled by the classy bowling of Clarke who
finished with figures of 4 for 13 off of 12 overs. |