A miserable
day in terms of the weather was matched by an equally
miserable result as Waltham St.Lawrence slumped to a
5 wicket defeat at the hands of Yateley. This performance
highlighted why WSL first eleven are bottom of Division
1: a combination of inept batting and challenging wicket
led to the home side being skittled out for a paltry
68 runs.
The fate of the game was determined by Waltham’s
acting skipper’s risky decision to bat first with what
looked like a decent batting line-up. All looked to
be going well as Naveed Raja(25) crashed several boundaries
to the leg side boundary but with Ziggy Kayani already
back in the pavilion, Raja holed out to deep square-leg.
With last year’s prolific run makers, Gareth Johnson
and Paul Gearing at the crease, a competitive total
looked possible. Unfortunately, the latter was out of
touch with his timing and holed out in the covers.
Disappointment, was further compounded by in –form Andy
Jackson’s misjudgement when he failed to play a ball
from Davies which cut back viciously to hit off stump.
Only the dogged Johnson seemed capable of applying himself
with the necessary concentration as the Waltham innings
continued to fall apart without reaching 50! Chris England
and Vic Monon failed to achieve double figures and the
tail disintegrated with four ducks!
Even the luckless Johnson(18) fell victim to the difficult
Waltham track being trapped lbw to a shooter and the
WSL innings was offer in 25 overs. Yateley’s Ahkter
took 4-17.
Waltham knowing how difficult it was
to bat on this wicket needed an early breakthrough.
However, the Opners, Muir and Wildy, proved dogged and
chipped away at the meagre Waltham total. Finally, Jackson
trapped Muir lbw but to compound Waltham’s problems
light drizzled turned to steady rain making bowling
and fielding extremely difficult. However, chasing such
a lowly total, there was no way Yateley were going to
leave the field of play and despite England and Raja
taking two more wickets each, the soaked and bedraggled
Waltham fielders were eventually put out of their misery
as Yateley struggled to 69 for 5.
Waltham with need huge commitment,
greater application with the bat and a lot of luck to
avoid the ignominy of finishing bottom of the table
as player unavailability looks to continue for the rest
of the season. |
