On a stiflingly
hot and windless day stand in Skipper Ashton won the
Toss and inserted Hawley to bat and Waltham
never looked back. With superb, restrictive bowling
from Harris and Rashid (9-4-10-0, unlucky to remain
wikect-less)openers Hartley and Delaney were soon feeling
the overs passing them by and pressure started to build
as they attempted to push the run rate.
First wicket to fall was to
Rajah – Hartley caught behind by Woolford for 24. Then
it looked like Hawley were going to settle in to pushing
the ball around with Delaney (49) and Freakes (74) at
the crease. Their partnership was soon over as Delaney
skied the ball to Owen at deep Mid-on – leaving Freakes
to carry Hawley’s hopes. It was not to be as partners
fell by the wayside. Freakes eventually caught out by
a superb pick up and shy at the stumps by Chaudhry at
Mid-off. Final target set was 180 which was a good return
given their slow start and also belies some excellent
Waltham bowling figures – Harris
11-1-58-3, Raja 12-3-36-1 and Shah 13-2-58-1.
180 was a target Hawley at
least could feel they could bowl at………step in Ashton
and reluctant (due to back pain) opener Johnson. Both
batsmen looked set, in particular Ashton when, with
the scoreboard on 83, Ashton was bowled on 30. With
Raja being caught LBW almost immediately for nought
it looked set for another Waltham
wobble in the middle order. Enter young Sharpe who batted
a magnificent innings, overcoming the confidence problems
from his previous run out and showing the kind of character
that has made his place in the first whilst still a
colt. With Sharpe in the middle Johnson was able to
build another classic innings steering Waltham
to what turned out to be an easy win.
In the conditions a magnificent
performance in the field and with the bat joint men
of the match should be; Sharpe for stopping
the rot and Johnson for the magnificent consistency
of the oo’s and ahhh’s from his colleagues as he plays
his shots to build what is becoming the expected innings
total for him (there, or thereabouts 100). |