Perfect cricket weather greeted
the Waltham Sunday x1 on arriving at the picturesque
Farley Hill ground and Waltham put in a Grade A performance
on the sun-baked ground.
Skipper Burge elected to bowl
first on a pitch which would be described in the Dulux
colour chart as “very green”. Harris and Nebbett opened the bowling and
kept the opposition openers pinned down; Nebbett in
particular proved the hecklers dotted around the outfield
wrong with maiden after maiden of slow-medium bowling.
Despite the good bowling Burge
looked to Thomas and Johnson to provide the all important
breakthrough. This didn’t happen but they did manage to
keep the run-rate down by bowling a good line and length
supported by excellent fielding.
Waltham eventually took their first wicket in the
32nd over with Harris taking a
catch off the bowling of Naveed. From then on it was all Waltham with Naveed
and Aussie import Achilles picking up wickets with almost
every catch being pouched by the fielders.
A good first half of the game
looked to have Waltham in pole position, but after the
batting demons of the previous day no-one was taking
anything for granted.
Thomas and Naveed strode to
the wicket having just made the obligatory Waltham opening
batsman weight limit courtesy of a lovely tea.
The first
ball of the innings was tonked by Thomas into the nearby
wood for 6 and this set the tone for the rest of the
Waltham innings. An entertaining 50 partnership for the 1st wicket involved Naveed playing with his customary
flair, hitting the ball to all parts for a quick-fire
38 before being bowled.
Achilles entered the sporting
amphitheatre and launched 6 after 6 into most parts
of the surrounding woodland. By this time Thomas had been bowled for 10
and Harris was next man in. Achilles and Harris took the Waltham total
to within a boundary of the target before Harris was
bowled having a swish. Johnson played out one ball to much sledging
from his team-mates before Achilles ended the game with
a boundary to finish on an excellent 67* and for Waltham
to wrap the game up inside 15 overs.
Thanks must go to Farley Hill
for a lovely ground and playing the game in a friendly
spirit and also to the Waltham team for some exceptional
banter; particularly Nathan Thomas to the batsman regarding
Matt Nebbett’s bowling, “Don’t worry mate he’s only
got two balls and you’ve seen both of them”.
Comedy gold…! |