The heavens looked favourably
on Oak Meadow on Saturday as the hallowed field was
spared any rain as their traditional season opener took
place on Saturday. The improved square and pitch were
looking fantastic in the April sun as captains for the
day Andy Smith and Dan Owen tossed up.
Smith
won the opening exchange and chose to insert the Owen
XI. Openers Johnson and Woolford's differing styles
complimented each other well as both were relatively
untroubled by the opening bowlers. Woolford playing
some extravagant drives especially off Arif who came
in for some severe treatment before Woolford retired
Not Out. How, the Smith XI must have rued the dropped
catch off Nebbett.
Johnson at the other end
rotated the strike to accommodate Woolford's hitting
and was looking well set till he was bowled by Javed.
Indeed Javed looked a much better bowler than last year
and he beat the bat regularly and bowled a miserly line
conceding only 10 runs from his 4 overs.
With
the departure of Johnson the Smith XI looked for further
breakthroughs and it wasn't long till Smith snared Kiani
into a false stroke with debutant Wilkinson taking a
smart catch at midwicket. At the other end Ray Hussain
was just getting going targeting deep midwicket with
some excellent hitting. Once again however, the Smith
XI struggled to hold onto chances, Chris Sharpe dropping
another difficult chance at midwicket.
With
Hussain retired Adil Hussain and new boy Kamran Chaudhry
began to push the ball around until a mix up led to
Hussain being run out. Captain Owen replaced him and
allayed any fears of a first day duck with a quickly
taken single to mid on. With few overs to spare the
Owen XI looked to increase the scoring rate Chaudhry
perishing to a good Andy Smith delivery and Owen being
bowled by a full delivery from Raja. Rockell and Brown
took the score to 113 at the break.
After a
quick change round the Smith XI began their persuit
of a seemingly gettable target. However they were soon
reeling in the face of some good new ball bowling as
Woolford and Ghulam reduced them to 16 for 3.
Christodoulou however didn't let the situation get to
him and he began to unleash some fantastic drives. McGee
and Connor kept him company for a few overs each but
no one seemed to be capable of playing the anchor innings
for to compliment the Christodoulou strokeplay.
Nebbett blocked his first 13 balls before being
bowled by the impressive Chaudhry. Johnson at the Royal
Oak end was bowling an immacuate line and length and
picked up the dangerous Christodoulou courtesy of a
fine catch from keeper Owen. He followed that up by
having Baker caught impressively by Brown to finish
with figures of 2 for 6 from his 4 overs.
The
Smith XI looked dead and buried at this point but Javed
has other ideas as he launched some blistering strokes
to finish 29 not out.
Smith was bowled by
Brown near the end and Arif provided good support to
the Javed victory march but in the end it was all too
much and the Smith XI fell 14 runs short.
This
was an excellent run out for the Waltham St Lawrence
teams. Especially impressive were Javed, Johnson, Hussain
and Man of the Match James Woolford.
Waltham
take on Holyport in their traditional pre-season friendly
next week with the 1st XI at home and 2nd XI away.
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