Waltham captian James Woolford finally delivered
the brilliant innings he has always promised as he blasted
112 not out to set up a fabulous victory for Waltham
St Lawrence. On a wet pitch Waltham were put into bat
and were soon in trouble as Kiani went without troubling
the scorers then Raju edged behind to leave Waltham
on 18 for 2. However, with Bridgeman riding his luck
and capitalising on it with a flurry of miximums and
Woolford calmly building his innings, Waltham rebuilt.
When Bridgeman was finally out for 39 Woolford
was only on 18 but this just proved the catylist he
needed as he began to move up through the gears. He
brought his fifty up with a six then four boundaries
in a row took him into the seventies. Tim Atkins and
Sava Christodolou proved superb foils as Woolford breezed
into the nineties then through to his maiden 100. This
was a flawless innings, measured to perfection and the
ideal start to the league season for Waltham.
With 195 required for victory, Warfield were soon in
trouble as Kiani continued his recent form with 2 wickets
and Bridegeman bowled impeccably to take 3 for 33. However,
they were both upstaged by Chris Burge who ripped through
the middle order, seaming and swinging the ball prodigiously
to take 4 for 13. Sava Christodolou chipped in with
the other wicket as Warfield were bowled out for 96.
This was a superb team effort without a catch dropped
all afternoon and barely a misfield to write about.
Hawthorne at slip was predatory and Dan Owen took two
more catches in the outfield. In addition, Centurion
Woolford took two chances behind the stumps. Congratulations
to all the team for a comprehensive and clinical victory. |