Waltham popped over the A404 to play Pinkneys
Green on a lovely sunny Sunday afternoon. With
a number of new faces in the side even the Waltham regulars
weren't sure what to expect. The afternoon didn't
start too well with captain Owen losing the toss and
the home team deciding to bat. The Saints were
then left shocked as the skipper decided to let Spinner
Smith open with the right handers playing with the spin
on the legside towards the short boundary.
It was
young Fergus Ridge that bowled the first over and was
soon producing chances as the openers made their intentions
very clear.
The edge of Brant's bat was found but captain Dan didn't
seem to move until the ball flew past his head at slip.
It didn't however take long for Owen's shock decision
to open with Smith to pay off as Narvel slashed an awful
ball straight at Kiani fielding at short extra cover
and somehow the ball stuck. Some tight bowling
from Ridge and Smith was frustrating Brant and soon
he played one big shot too many and found himself bowled
by Smith.
Kiani
replaced Ridge at the Pavilion End and was soon in on
the action bowling Hoskins in his first over. A
tough caught and bowled chance was put down by Smith
before Harris replaced him at the Road End. The
Pinkneys batsmen then started a rally with a good stand
from Arvind and Scary. Richardson replaced Kiani
at the Pavilion End and despite seom very tidy bowling
he and Harris couldn't find a way through.
After
drinks the ball was thrown to Parker as the batsman
looked to push on. Parker then had the dangerous
left handed Scary dropped on the boundary before the
batsmen took him to the cleaners and had little problem
finding every corner of the ground. This then
resulted in the return of both opening bowlers, a decision
that soon paid off with Ridge having Scary caught by
Richardson for 46. Smith then got back in on the
act making up for the early drop by this time completing
the caught and bowled to dismiss Arvind for 39 finishing
with figures of 3 for 30
Again
a double bowling change brought about more wickets.
An excellent change of pace from Rockell shocked
Pinkneys Skipper Fuller who was well caught by Richardson.
Then Harris caught Hendrey off the bowling of
Lloyd. As the Pinkneys tail tried to put as many
quick runs on as they could it was Harris and Owen that
bowled the final overs. Much to the disgust of
Harris it was Owen that brought to an end a quick fire
24 from Hardin as he had him caught by Ridge.
After
some recalculating of the scorebook it was deiced a
challenging
193 was the score required for The Saints to win.
Dispite
promising to go home having seen Owen take more wickets
than him it was Harris that accompanied Kiani to the
middle to face the openers. However Harris was
soon on his way home ('to mark year 7
tests') having been runout by a great direct hit for
just 6 with the score on 9. Despite Harris' annoyance
at being given runout, TV replays (or rather Rockell's
'detailed' description) showed he had failed to ground
his bat.
This brought
Richardson to the crease who together with Kiani steadied
the ship until with the score on 47 Kiani was bowled
by the excellent Scary. Scary then had Strutt
caught behind for 6 with the score on 62. The
total of 193 looked a long way off. With the tidy
bowling of Brant seen off it was Parker that strode
to the wicket looking to build a partnership with the
comfortable looking Richardson.
Parker,
batting like someone who was in a rush to get a beer,
soon got into his stride and together with Richardson
rotated the strike excellently, annoying not only the
fielding side but also the umpires with the left right
combination. As the fielding side started to taunt
Richardson that he must be close to his half century
it was much to the surprise of them, Richardson and
Parker as the pavilion rose to applaud the half century
from Parker coming in just 31 balls. It was however
them same over that they all rose again to mark the
excellent 50 from Richardson.
The batsmen
soon settled back down with the total approaching fast
the Pinkneys skipper tried everything to break the partnership
including coming out from behind the stumps to bowl
himself. It was however to no avail as Parker
(68 from 43 balls) and Richardson (75 from 76) guided
the Saints home with an unbeaten partnership of 133,
Richardson hitting the winning runs with a huge 6 over
the legside.
We thank
Pinkneys for a great game, wish them all the best for
the rest of the season and look forward to the next
time we meet. |