On an overcast and rain-threatened day at
Sulhampstead, WSL managed to find the killer instinct
that narrowly evaded them the previous week. Winning
the toss skipper Connor put the home team in to bat
with the hope of dismissing them cheaply and chasing
down the runs before the inevitable rain truncated the
day. The cunning plan worked with such efficiency that
some were left with the unnerving feeling that WSL might
actually know what they were doing!
The postage stamp size ground and U11 size
boundaries had little effect on Taz ‘’ello ‘ello’ Ghulam
who was bowling a sublime opening spell with perfect
line and length (ultimately finishing with figures of
9-3-11-5) and was soon rewarded with a plumb LBW decision.
The Saints were lifted by this opening breakthrough
and clearly paid more attention to the skipper’s ‘One
brings two’ pep-talk than usual as Ghulam had the Sulhampstead
No.3 smartly caught by Chris ‘the Cat’ England the very
next ball. The running one-handed catch from the Waltham
veteran set the tone for the remainder of the innings.
On the first of his 2 hat-trick opportunities for the
day the pressure clearly got to Ghulam as he served
a juicy full-toss for the new batsman.
At the other end the remaining
Sulhampstead opener, Creba Snr, was steadily accumulating
runs, taking advantage of some unusually wayward bowling
from Matt ‘Have Pompey scored yet?’ Nebbett. The pressure
continued to build though with Waltham
sharp in the field and an attempted quick single to
Thompson at point proved ill-advised as he threw down
the stumps despite only having one to aim at.
Ghulam responded to being told
he was starting his last over by taking a further 2
wickets in his last two balls thanks to a smart diving
catch by Nebbett in the gully and an edge through to
the keeper. It was generally agreed that this was a
fairly astute way to get yourself one more over!
With neither Nebbett nor his
replacement, Chaudhry, having any joy at the pavilion
end, Connor tossed the ball to Chris ‘the Metronome’
England and he was not disappointed.
A viciously steepling ball directed at a young colt’s
helmet resulted in the latest champagne catch at short
leg by Neil ‘Hamstring’ Wilkinson. The following over
Ghulam’s latest attempt to achieve a hat-trick was substantially
better than the first but the miserly Creba Snr failed
to fulfil his part of the bargain and played a text
book forward defensive. This simply delayed the inevitable
as he was caught behind by Skipper Connor the very next
ball for a creditable 53. Ghulam’s completion of his
5-wicket haul did nothing to alter the skipper’s mind
however as the bowler’s complete inability to take 3
wickets in 3 balls had clearly pushed Connor to breaking
point and Wasim ‘I don’t need spikes to bowl’ Javed
was brought on in his place.
It is at moments like this that true gentlemen
come to the fore. Seeing a fellow bowler struggling
with such trivial things as hat-tricks, Chris ‘Benevolent
Teacher’ England magnanimously
decided to demonstrate how it should be done. An outrageous
slash from the batsman led to the ball looping high
over the slip cordon to be caught well by a quickly
retreating Steve ‘hope I get a bat in the 2s’ Farnon
at second slip. The next ball spat up at the batsman
and was fended off high over point into the hands of
the back-tracking Thompson. The cherry on the cake though
would have to wait 6 nervous balls as Javed attempted
to ruin the Master’s lesson. The time came however and
the hat-trick was secured as the Sulhampstead No.11,
a colt barely taller than the stumps, was comprehensively
bowled and Chris ‘the human aeroplane’ England
celebrated in style (finishing with figures of 2.1-0-7-4).
The hosts then were dismissed
for 84 in 21.1 overs. There then ensued some heated
discussion about whether the egg mayonnaise sandwiches
and Jammy Dodgers should be consumed immediately or
after the Waltham innings. A quick
reference to the BCL handbook established that in the
circumstances teas should be taken after 42 overs of
the match. This gave Waltham 20
overs before the break.
The chase started well with Matt ‘One brings
Two’ Connor and Matt ‘the Mop’ Trudgill building the
score without the Laurel and Hardy running of the previous
week, though left-armed opening bowler Small kept the
pair honest. All too soon however Connor (3) was caught
one handed at slip by the opposition skipper. This brought
Chaudry to the middle and after a couple of overs of
watchful defence joined Trudgill in plundering the short
boundaries, both benefiting from some suspect Sulhampstead
catching. As the rain began to fall the batsmen sought
to raise the scoring rate to complete the job before
tea. Chaudry sought to do this by hitting a crunching
straight six over the fence and into the trees which
led to a prolonged search of the woodland by the Sulhampstead
players as the rain continued. Once play resumed however
the run rate continued at around the 6 runs needed each
over until Chaudhry (19) pulled the ball straight down
the throat of square-leg.
Chris ‘the All-Round Saviour of WSL’ England
strode to the wicket requesting of his partner a few
balls to get his eye in. Within 3 balls he was on 7.The
score continued to get ever nearer to the 85 required
though not without incident. After full utilisation
of the patented Lugthart ‘hokey-cokey’ shot England
was saved being bowled by the young Sulhampstead spinner
only due to a lack of varnish on the stumps.
With 2 overs left before tea
and only 5 required Sulhampstead brought on their 3ft
assassin (aka England’s hat-trick
victim). After a run-up of which Paul Harris would be
proud Creba Jnr launched an innocuous looping delivery
which proceeded to trap Trudgill LBW for 27. It was
a minor blemish on the Waltham card however
as Javed (1*) and Chris ‘ruthless punisher of young
children’ England (24*) finished
the job.
It was an excellent performance
by Waltham with good energy throughout.
Without doubt the key to the victory was a solid all-round
team performance in the field with excellent catching
that skipper Connor will hope can be taken forward for
the rest of the season.
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