The Saints made the short trip to Knowl Hill
looking to put the lacklustre display against Shinfield
behind them. Unfortunately though the rain induced break
the previous weekend ultimately did little to re-invigorate
Waltham. Skipper Matt ‘Quickly
‘round’ Connor lost his first toss of the season and
was asked to field.
Opening bowlers Taz ‘PC Pink’
Ghulam and Mike ‘Soon to be arrested’ Thompson took
a while to find their line and length but each picked
up an Knowl Hill opener with identi-kit balls. Short,
wide deliveries were the buffet balls of choice and
both caught thin edges from slashing blades through
to keeper Connor. From a good position at 19 for 2 however
Waltham let the advantage slip.
D. Brookman was dropped by Waz ‘Teflon 2’ Javed off
both Ghulam and Thompson, and a sloppiness crept into
the fielding on a small field were mistakes were punished
harshly. By the end of the innings Knowl Hill had been
gifted at least 20 runs by the infuriatingly generous
Saints.
With D. Brookman and the classy
Duffy forming a right hand, left hand partnership Thompson
was replaced by Chris ‘Downhill’ England
and he bowled with typical metronomic control. Steadily
though the batsmen accumulated runs in a steadying partnership
of 55, until England had Brookman caught at cover as
Ziggy ‘Bostick’ Kiani momentarily forgot himself and
pouched a high ball seemingly without thought for the
lucrative sponsorship deal Javed was desperately trying
to wrestle from him.
At the other end Matt ‘I Once
got a 6-fer’ Nebbett, then Andy ‘I Should Bat above
Nebbet’ Smith toiled away with no reward for their efforts,
only unforgiving punishment of bad balls to the short
boundary.. England picked up a
second wicket as he clean bowled Depledge but the Knowl
Hill batsmen were keeping the scoreboard ticking over
consistently. Kiani shocked everyone for a second time
in the match as he took another good catch
of skied
shot to dismiss Thompson and end a partnership of 62
off the bowling of Javed.
In the final overs with only
5 wickets down the batsmen were able to swing the willow.
Ghulam picked up a further 2 wickets as attempted big
shots picked out fielders. First Knowl Hill skipper
A. Brookman smashed the ball back over the bowler’s
head only to be well caught on the boundary’s edge by
Thompson, then in the final over Duffy skied a ball
to Ed ‘Can’t Afford a Razor’ McGee to bring to an end
and excellent innings of 75. A few scampered runs in
the final balls led the home side to finish on 195 for
7 from their 45 overs.
A new look opening partnership
began the Waltham response as
Neil ‘No Nickname’ Wilkinson and Ziggy ‘Best Fielder
in the Club’ Kiani took to the middle. They were watchful
from the off and by the 10th over had at times sped the scoring rate onto
a blood-curdling 2 an over. The Boycott inspired resolve
was eventually ended as bowler Harrison got a ball to
rise sharply and Wilkinson did well to glove the ball
to gulley.
As McGee joined Kiani at the
wicket the run rate began to climb as both batsmen started
to take advantage of the short straight boundaries.
However just as they began to find some momentum both
fell to the leg-spin of Knowl Hill skipper A. Brookman.
With Thompson following quickly after without troubling
the scorers the Waltham innings
was teetering.
The reliably stalwart England
and skipper Connor began a brief fight-back as they
worked the ball well into the gaps and the home side
began to feel some pressure. The Knowl Hill spin partnership
of A. Brookman and L. Thompson kept things tight however
and finally frustrated England into a big
shot which Harrison caught well on the boundary.
When Connor prodded a ball into the waiting hands of
Depledge at short cover it looked like the Waltham
resolve had finally been broken.
As has been the case on a number
of occasions this season however the Saints lower order
made their opponents work for their wickets. Both Chris
‘Hightower’ Burge and Javed played confident cameos
(16 and 18 respectively) until Burge was caught behind
attempting to pull a ball that that rose above his shoulder
and would have given most a nasty bump on the knee.
With Nebbett joining Thompson
in expanding the duck gallery it was left to Ghulam
and Smith to battle it out to be the last man standing.
With Ghulam attempting to lose as many balls as possible
in the adjacent woodland Smith decided to block out.
Duffy quickly claimed the wicket of the cavalier ‘PC
Pink’ to complete a good win for Knowl Hill and cap
an excellent personal performance.
Skipper Connor will be disappointed
by a second flat performance in a row from his team
but credit must go to Knowl Hill who played an excellent
game in all areas and in good spirits. The Saints look
forward to welcoming them to Oak Meadow for the return
fixture but will hope for a very different result. |