On a warm Saturday
afternoon 3rd placed
Saints hosted top of the table Grouse & Label for
an eagerly awaited match. Winning the toss Waltham
skipper Matt ‘Is it Balls!’ Connor put the visitors
into bat hoping for an early breakthrough. Opening bowlers
Taz ‘’ello ‘ello’ Ghulam and Mike ‘Chris England Wanabee’
Thompson
bowled spells tighter than Jacko’s purse strings
as it took until the 12th over for the runs
to overtake the overs bowled! The vital breakthrough
just wouldn’t come however as Ghulam first had opening
batsman Sean dropped at slip, then the same batsman
saw another edge fly between first and second slip.
Saints would have been forgiven for thinking it was
not their day when shortly after the same batsman narrowly
escaped being run out.
Never
one to give up, Ghulam was soon rewarded for an excellent
opening spell as Azmeen clipped one of his legs and
straight to Neil ‘Sure-Hands’ Wilkinson. This though
bought Kasun to the middle and he looked assured from
the off, taking the attack to the Waltham
bowlers from the first ball. Two fours from Chris ‘Drop
Catch’ England’s first 2 balls set alarm bells ringing.
You don’t bowl in the BCL for as many decades as Chris
‘Spring Chicken’ England however
without knowing how to deal with such things however
and he proceeded to bowl the next 10 overs and 4 balls
for only 13 more runs.
This
tight bowling together with good support at the other
end in the face of the onslaught finally resulted in
Kasun going for one too many big shots as Wilkinson
took a good steepling catch from a thick outside edge
to dismiss him for a quick fire 38. With his departure
the scoring rate quietened a little and England
and Smith looked to tie Grouse & Label down.
Andy
‘I hope it’s going to be worth my while going all the
way upto Trent Bridge tomorrow’ Smith was offering up
a mixed bag as buffet was followed by sublime. Ironically
it was the buffet that offered up the best chances as
Colin ‘on me head’ Parker declined the opportunity of
a catch in the deep preferring to head the ball for
4, while shortly after Sandeep only succeeded in smashing
a full toss down Neil ‘the (new) ball magnet’ Wilkinson’s
throat at cow.
Moving
into the final ten overs Waltham were set to rue their
lack of wickets at the start of the innings as the visitors,
with wickets in hand, were able to open their shoulders
and plunder more than 70 from the dying overs.
The
obdurate (and somewhat fortunate) opener Sean finally
edged England through to Connor who himself must have
been astounded at the batsman’s strike rate, while Matt
‘New Puppy’ Nebbett bowled a solid spell at the Royal
Oak end in the face of slashing blades, twice surprising
batsmen with his mystery ball (the straight one) and
finishing with figures of 3 for 41. The second half
of the Grouse and Label innings was well anchored by
Kiran finishing on 54*.
The
Saints were left feeling that at 167 for 6 they had
let their opponents score a few more than they would
have hoped given the good start but it clearly showed
the importance of taking wickets. Nonetheless after
a Cherry Bakewell and an Iced Fancy there was confidence
in the ranks that the score was certainly achievable.
Skipper
Connor and Andrew ‘Quasimodo’ Jackson
started briskly, with good running between the wickets
keeping the score ticking over. Some good first up bowling
by the Grouse openers brought some speculative appeals
until Connor caught a faint edge through to the keeper.
Ed ‘Tramp’ McGee joined Jackson in the middle just as
‘Quasimodo’ got his eye in, plundering four 4s from
a Rajesh over leading to the bowler being swiftly withdrawn
from the attack.
The
pair were going well with the partnership one short
of 50 when McGee lost one and was bowled off his legs
for a creditable 19. Though disappointed to have lost
their No.3 the Saints felt confident as Chris ‘Superhero’
England strode to the middle.
England played with aggression
from the off but all too soon played one too many shots
and was caught behind trying the ‘Woolford’ cut.
The
partnership that followed was incredible in so many
ways. With Wilkinson joining him in the middle Jackson
freed his arms and unleashed a volley of sublime shots
on the Grouse and Label attack. The ball found the boundary
with alarming regularity including sixes into the Royal
Oak car park, field and even over the clubhouse
(causing the newly arrived President Railton to turn
slightly pale and fret over his choice of parking space).
That only a single ball was lost in the face of this
onslaught is a testimony to the many tough hours of
Hide and Seek clearly put in by all present.
With
the target score rapidly approaching the Grouse skipper
dug deep in his experience bank and brought on his part-time
bowler, and Satish had just the thing needed. He bamboozled
Jackson in the bounce (the second)
and had ‘Quasimodo’ bowled having recently passed the
century mark. Jackson was left
to hobble back to the clubhouse for an impressive 107.
The final footnote for the partnership of 83 being Wilkinson’s
dogged and well judged contribution of 5.
Thompson
therefore found himself walking unexpectedly to the
middle, only moments earlier considering changing out
of his whites. His second ball he launched over mid-on
for four to complete a solid victory for Waltham
and take vital points off one of their main rivals at
the top of division 4. |