Waltham made the trip to bottom of the table Shinfield
in confident mood following their good start to the
season, and things looked to be going well when skipper
Matt ‘King Tosser’ Connor maintained his 100% toss-winning
record. The Saints took to the field looking for early
wickets but for the second week running were to be frustrated.
Paul ’Happy Gilmour’ Harris bowled frugally while Mike
‘Hungover’ Thompson picked up the sole early wicket of opener
Deat with the score on 39. The lack of wickets would
prove costly for Waltham as with
wickets in hand the Shinfield middle-order were able
to play their shots.
Opener Aust stubbornly made
his way to an achoring 68 though not without assistance
from the Saint’s fielders. Fearing that his early season
form would put pay to his lucrative sponsorship deal,
Ziggy ‘Tefal’ Kiani returned to type and dropped a sitter
off Andy ‘Paparazzi’ Smith before the Shinfield batsman
had made his half century. Unfortunately however this
was not a lone slip as a number of chances went down
throughout the afternoon in a disappointing fielding
display.
First Gaylor (20) then Ali
(38) took advantage of the situation, sending the ball
around the field as Shinfield built a solid score, and
the Waltham bowlers struggled.
Even the normally solid Chris ‘Form is Temporary, Class
is Permanent (apparently)’ England seemed out of sorts,
though luck was not on the veteran’s side as he was
victim of numerous drops and near misses.
As with the previous game though
the Saints found a solid performance in the closing
overs to restrain the onslaught. Matt ‘Quietly Modest’
Nebbett bowled a superb spell of 9 overs which both
pegged back the scoring rate and to the surprise of
the bowler more than anyone bagged an excellent 6 wicket
haul. First up he had Gaylor well caught by Connor from
a skied ball, quickly followed by a well judged slower
ball that bowled an advancing Aust. A edge through to
the keeper and another two mystery balls (the straight
ones) brought Matt ‘There’s an art to bowling at the
Death you know’ Nebbett his first ever 5-fer. A caught
and bowled completed the set to leave Shinfield on 195
for 7 at the end of their 45 overs.
Thanks to the Nebbett heroics, Waltham
began their innings with an achievable target to aim
for thought the task was steep. Before they knew what
had happened however the things became substantially
more difficult as they ended the first over on 0 for
2. Skipper Connor succumbed to the 3rd ball of the game, bowled by a swinging delivery,
while the 5th ball saw Kiani trapped LBW.
England made his way to the middle to accompany to
somewhat bemused Harris, and the pair moved the score
onto 32 before England chased
a ball outside off-stump and was caught behind for 9.
The Saints middle and lower-middle order battled bravely
in support of Harris (47), with and handful of partnerships.
First Neil ‘Inside Edge’ Wilkinson (8) offered support
before a controversial LBW decision, then Thompson (19)
provided a quick scoring cameo before being beaten for
pace and getting caught at point. Savva ‘Scolari’ Christodoulou
contributed a dogged 13 with Colin ‘Butch’ Parker adding
the same.
A losing draw was looking a
possibility until the Shinfield skipper called back
his opening bowlers. Despite some excellent resistance
from Matt ‘11th Man’ Andrews the Waltham
tail couldn’t quite hold out against the tight bowling.
Javed in particular continued the excellent line that
had brought him two wickets in the first over to finish
with figures of 5 for 19 from 13 overs.
Ultimately the Saints were dismissed for 152
from 42.4 overs. It was a disappointing performance
in the field which once more highlighted the importance
of taking early wickets. Skipper Connor though will
take heart from the performance of his middle order
which battled doggedly in an attempt to force a draw.
Credit must be paid to a Shinfield team who played the
game in good spirits and with the return in this match
of a number of key players showed the kind of form that
should ensure they soon start a steady climb up the
league table. |