On a rather
wet Sunday afternoon, the Waltham St Lawrence Sunday
XI took ICL close, but ultimately were left stuck in
the mud after letting ICL set a target 20 runs too high.
The day commenced with some manic pitch preparation,
as the pitch from the previous day was deemed unplayable.
A new pitch was cut (and would have been rolled using
our PETROL powered roller if not for a certain person
who shares his name with a brand of tea bags…), and
stand-in skipper Dan “Two Hands” Owen successfully won
the toss and opted to field, hoping (unwisely) that
the rain would stay away. Last minute pitch preparations
completed, Waltham changed into whites and went out
to field, though it would appear that one member of
the squad may have been in a little too much of a hurry…
more on that later.
Mike “Thumbs Up” Thompson and
Matt “Best Gofer in the Club” Nebbett (was that meant
to be golfer? Oops) opened the Waltham attack and, despite
some good bowling, could not find a way through ICL’s
opening partnership. Latecomer Paul “Can’t Measure a
Run Up” Harris paired up with Naveed “Stole the Missus’s
Car” Raja to replace the opening bowlers, and soon had
the ball flying towards fielders all over the park.
Sadly said fielders could not cling onto any of the
offerings, though Mike “Hero” Thompson may have wished
he had got more than just his right thumb on one of
them. Bring on the sub fielder.
Harris and
Raja continued to strive for a wicket while the opening
partnership of Garrett and Patel pushed the score towards
three figures, but no breakthrough was forthcoming.
Andy Smith and Martin Perry were brought into the attack
and, despite the former finding a hole between batsman,
leg stump and wicket keeper, failed to contain or dismiss
the ICL openers, who quickly raised their opening stand
to three figures. It took the return of Raja to finally
find a breakthrough, dismissing Patel for 61. A glut
of wickets then fell, with a further 5 going down for
a mere 51 runs, to leave ICL on 165-6. Notable wickets
included the first wicket (and first bowl) of the season
for Don “This one time, at Scout Camp” Rockell and a
well taken catch off the bowling of Matt “Knickers in
a Twist” Nebbett. Notable drops included one at deep
mid-off by Andy “Windscreen Wipers” Smith off the bowling
of the Nebbster.
Indeed Nebbett was such a
key player in the field that not only did he execute
a superb run out from the boundary, and pick up a second
wicket, but he also broke his normal rule of quietness
and passiveness to issue huge vocal support to Paul
“Cold Hands” Harris, as the latter chased a ball to
the fine leg boundary off his bowling; nothing to do
with it being a wide or anything. The seventh wicket
partnership for ICL could not be broken by the return
of Harris (even when he started bowling off-spin) or
Mike “I don’t need my thumb to bowl” Thompson, and they
pushed the score up by 51 runs to leave WSL requiring
217 runs to win in increasingly damp conditions.
A fed, watered and, in one case, de-twisted
Nebbett and James “Half Game” Woolford made their way
out to the middle, determined to put some significant
runs on the wall of the pavilion before returning to
it. Woolford started positively with some big hits,
blasting 3 twos off the first over, and Nebbett also
was soon off the mark. Sadly Woolford tried one slog
too many in the second over, and departed with the opening
partnership just scraping into double figures. Naveed
“It WILL reach the boundary” Raja joined Nebbett at
the crease, and took just 4 balls to find his first
boundary of that day. And lose his first ball of the
day. Despite looking pumped up and ready to score big,
Nebbett offered a simple chance behind having failed,
once again, to reach the heady heights of double figures.
Don “Left, no Right, no Left” Rockell joined Raja at
the crease, and contributed a mammoth 4 runs to the
third wicket partnership of 26, as “Huggy” Raja continued
to hit out.
After offering a simple chance
behind, Rockell returned to the pavilion to be replaced
with Ziggy “I taught Olly all he knows” Kiani. Unfortunately
Kiani failed to set an example for his protégé,
allowing his stumps to be ripped out of the ground by
a shooter from P. Bishop for a measly 5 runs. Apprentice
Olly “But I look 18” Brown replaced his departed master
at the crease, and settled in to play the supporting
role to Raja, who blistered his way up to 68 in just
43 balls (as in 43 balls bowled, not lost. That was
only 4) with 4 sixes and 7 fours, before seeing the
ball shoot past him into his stumps. Paul “Two Tone
Trousers” Harris joined Brown in the middle, and both
began to loosen their shoulders, with a particularly
impressive six from Olly to open his boundary account.
WSL were soon ahead of the required run rate,
but as the partnership reached 66 in the fading light,
Harris was caught off the bowling of Wyatt for 40 off
39 balls to leave Waltham needing 46 from 10 overs.
Stand-in skipper Dan “Iron Gloves” Owen joined Brown
and was off the mark with a 2 first ball, much to the
disappointment of all those in the dressing room. Sadly
the skipper lasted just two more balls, to bring Martin
Perry to the “crease” (or quagmire, as it was then being
referred to).
Despite a classy stroke to get
off the mark, neither Perry or Brown could keep the
momentum with Waltham, and the required run rate gradually
increased. Soon Perry tried to force the issue one time
too many, and departed to bring Andy “Duck King elect”
Smith to the crease. Much celebration was had as Smith
scored only his thirteenth run of the season, and for
the first time outlasted his batting partner, as Brown
tried to force the pace and was caught off the bowling
of Kumar for a very well played 43 runs. Mike “Get a
Grip” Thompson came to the crease, and survived the
final ball of the 38th over (both
times), despite having problems holding the bat. Smith,
wondering if wellies would be more useful than spikes,
moved his score to three and Waltham’s to 196 before
falling to the simplest of lbw decisions with a misjudged
sweep.
Many thanks and congratulations
to ICL for a very enjoyable game; hopefully the weather
will be slightly nicer for the rematch next week. Suggest
you bring your scuba gear just in case though. |