Although this was not another
three figure defeat, the margin, 85 runs, was sufficient
to highlight that Waltham were
a poor second in all areas of play at Goring.
Believing his strength was
in the bowling department, stand-in skipper Chris England
elected to bowl first again. Once again, this proved
to be the unfounded. Goring’s openers, Smith and Armitage,
raced away to fifty off the first nine overs. Amir Rasool
bowled without any luck but Rasheed Arif was well below
his early season form. At this stage, Goring looked
like they were going to amass 300! However, Shah Rasool
and Chris England not only put the brakes on the Goring
scoring but also picked up wickets. Rasool yorked Smith
and then had the dangerous Armitage well taken in the
slips by England.
Not
wishing to be out-done, the skipper then picked up two
wickets himself, bringing Waltham
right back into the game at 116-4. But Goring’s middle
order proved strong and were soon taking advantage of
some loose bowling. Kent went
on to be undefeated on 76n.0. as Goring progressed to
a formidable 240-6; England proving the mainstay
of the Waltham bowling with 2
for 28 off 11 overs.
In reply, Waltham
got off to the worst possible of starts both openers
back in the pavilion with only 7 on the board! Things
only got worse when Ray Hussain top-edged another short
delivery from Goring’s pace bowler, Hedge. England(27)
and Hill(30) led a mini-recovery but former went after
another short ball from Hedge and was caught at slip.
Shah Rasool came in and batted sensibly until he
once again fell victim to the slower bowling, being
stumped. Amir Rasool(27), came and attacked the bowling
with great flair, playing several fine shots but he
also top-edged Hedge to slip. Hill, who once again proved
the backbone of the Waltham innings,
finally succumbed to the rampant Hedge. A brief flurry
from Sharpe(10) and Owen (12) took Waltham
to another batting point although their total of 155
was well short of what was needed if Waltham
were to contest the game.
On recent poor showings, ground
fielding has been particularly weak but most crucially,
if the current bad form is to be halted then the team
must apply themselves to bat the full 45 overs. Those early season victories
now seem invaluable; without them relegation would be
staring us in the face! |