Groans resounded around the
Waltham changing room when skipper
gearing elected to field on a scorching hot afternoon.
Despite having ten men and playing on a ground with
short boundaries, Waltham did
well to contain Pinkneys Green to 210 all out in forty
overs.
Pinkneys Green batsmen went
for their shots from the word go but Huntley fell lbw
to Chris England in the third over and two overs later
he picked up the key wicket of Curlewis, the opposition
captain, caught by wicket keeper Damon Hill . Having
their opponents at 28 for 2, Waltham
appeared to be in control but Lashley and Wood swung
things back to the home side with a fifty partnership.
Runs were flowing off the bat at a quick rate when Paul
Gearing had Wood well caught by Jackson
in the slips. Dhillon’s arrival at the crease did not
stop the runs flowing but when Gareth Johnson had the
dangerous Lashley caught behind, Waltham felt, at 118
-4, they were back in the hunt. However, another solid
partnership between Dhillon and Green swung the game back to the
home side.
Skipper Gearing, brought “old man” Chris England back
into the attack and he dismissed both, getting Green
lbw and Dhillon well caught by Chris Sharpe at deep
square leg. Waltham now thought
they could clean up but they hadn’t accounted for the
risky but effective bludgeoning of Atherton, who added
a quick-fire forty. He was finally bowled by Rasheed
Arif taking one swing too many.
Pinkneys Green had now pushed over the 200 when Andy
Jackson finally got into the action by cleaning up the
tail with a stunning hat trick. Pinkneys were dismissed
for 206 with England taking 4-54.
If Waltham
were to win, they needed runs from their top order batsmen.
Gareth Johnson started scoring freely but Paul Ashton
(3) and Andy Jackson (0) went cheaply and Waltham
were reeling at 18-2. Much now rested on the reliable
and prolific partnership of Johnson and Gearing. Fortune fell the way
of the Waltham skipper when he
was dropped early on in his innings by the Pinkneys
keeper. But the pair soon lived up to their reputation
almost accumulating another fifty partnership when Gareth
Johnson(41) edged Lane to slip. At 64-3 it looked at
daunting total to chase for Waltham.
However, debutant Damon Hill joined his captain and
the two gradually took command, with Gearing attacking
all the Pinkneys bowlers in his customary attacking
style whilst Hill supported him excellently with a mixture
of solid defence and intermittent aggression. The pair
went on to produce a match winning partnership of 146
looking increasingly commanding as the opposition wilted.
Paul Gearing finished on 91 n.o. – taking his average
for the season to over 250!!- and Damon Hill carried
his bat with an accomplished 60n.o. Waltham
ended up winning by the impressive margin of seven wickets. |