A wonderful game unfolded on
Sunday afternoon as Shinfield and Waltham St Lawrence
shared 413 runs and 19 wickets only for Waltham to come
one run short of a tie. Shinfield won the toss and elected
to bat first. Opener Gaylor rode his luck as he cut
over the top of the slips then miscued a similar shot
over gulley.
Waltham finally got a breakthrough as Gaylor called
Kayani for a suicide single and was run out by Thomas.
Burge followed this as he ripped out Madgewick and Crouch
to leave Shinfield reeling on 22 - 3. Railton then had
Gaylor well caught by the juggling Cox at mid on and
Burge grabbed two more quickfire wickets to send shinfield
deeper into the myre.
Shinfield however, had their aces up their sleeves as
their two Premiership batsmen, Chris and Tim Marcon
joined up at the crease. Both played with a fluent ease
and inspite of some good bowling from Toy, Burge, Thomas
and Nebbett they both scored excellent 50's to post
a respectable and challenging 207 from 40 overs.
After a sumptuous tea prepared by Mrs Sharpe, Waltham
entered the battle with openers Woolford and Nebbett.
Unfortunately, both were back in the pavillion early
and Burge joined Cox at the crease. Youngster Cox showed
just why he had failed to top "4 runs" on
his previous forays to the crease as he attempted an
agricultural village slog to the first ball he faced.
Thankfully his wicket stayed in tact and he flourished,
smashing the bad balls for four and defending the better
deliveries. Together with Burge he put on 50 until Burge
was bowled by Gaylor for a well crafted 26.
Cox however marched on, unfazed by the loss
of Toy. He reached his maided fifty, slapping Crouch
for 3 consecutive fours. He was finally out for an excellent
52 and had laid an formidable platform for WSL to go
on and win the game. A
special mention must go to Rob's employers who granted
him a futher hour of cricket to notch up his half century.
With Cox gone and Kiani heading back to the dressing
room , Thomas found himself with Connor for company.
Both batted sensibly together and begun to rebuild the
innings. With five needed every over, both players worked
the ball into the gaps and ran cleverly taking the score
to within 10 to win till both were out in consecutive
balls.
The game was going down to the wire. Trudgill strode
out to the middle and immediateley hit a straight drive
for four. He rotated the strike well with last man "El
Presidente" David Railton till, needing 2 to win
got rapped on the pads by Marcon and was given out LBW.
This was a fantastic game played in incredible spirits.
WSL would like to thank Shinfield for their part in
a great game of cricket, especially captain Tim Marcon
for his conduct and sportsmanship. |