Waltham St Lawrence 2nd XI
erased the bad memories of the opening day debacle but
still couldn't stop a weakened West Reading side.
Kicking off nearly an hour late due to the oppositions
poor time keeping Connor put West's into bat and both
openers Shehsaq and Ashfaq teed off as if it were the
last few overs of a 20 - 20 match. In spite of losing
5 overs off their innings West's were looking strong
but Ghulam held his nerve to take the first wicket and
England, coming on in place of Javed got rid of the
freeflowing Ishfaq.
Afzaal meanwhile was mixing authentic strokeplay with
risky, less cultured efforts as he was dropped twice
on his way to 65. With West Reading well placed on 155
for 4 Waltham knew that they would have to fight hard
to stay in the match and fight they did as Thomas and
Thompson blew away the middle order with an excellent
display of accurate bowling. They were well supported
in the field as WSL took their catches, Thompson holding
a steepling chance off his own bowling and England catching
Razzaq off his ribs and eventually holding it between
his legs.
Burge picked up Ahmed with an audacious slower ball
and Thompson then took the final wicket in the last
over to give Waltham maximum bowling points for the
5th consecutive match.
Waltham turned round requiring a tough 214 for victory
and got off to the worse possible start with Thomas
being run out in the first over. Rasool however at the
other end was looking solid and produced some fluid
drives till he mistimed to mid off. Chris England came
and went but number three Woolford was finding his feet
with some sumptuous drives and trademark cuts until
he got undone by lack of bounce.
Chris Sharpe went cheaply for one as Waltham lost three
wickets for one run. However, whilst Chris Burge was
there anything was possible and he was joined by an
out of sorts Connor who farmed the strike as much as
possible to allow Burge to unleash some aggressive drives.
They took the score to 96 until Connor was victim of
the vagaries of the Waltham pitch.
Ghulam was next to the crease and he played his best
innings of the year playing with freedom and power to
hit 22 until he was controversially given out stumped.
Wasim came in following two ducks in his previous two
innings but avoided the ignominy of a third as he played
sensibly for a well made 18 not out. In between Thompson
found himself in the gallery and Smith added one more
to his impressive duck tally as Waltham were all out
of 140.
Captain Connor was again impressed with the spirit of
the side and its competitiveness. Congratulations go
to West Reading and their captain Imran Razzaq. |
