The start of the new season
saw Waltham St Lawrence 1st XI playing
away in the beautiful sunshine of suburban Reading.
In a disappointing performance in which the visitors
were never quite at the expected level, Waltham
lost by 8 wickets to competitive Ibis Mapledurham.
The tossed rewarded Captain Hill with what
he wanted and openers Farnon and Ashton donned the boards
and prepared to wield the willow. They were not to be
separated until the 16th over with
56 on the board as Ashton perished trying to up the
run rate.
Farnon was briefly joined by Woolford who
looked sharp before failing to capitalise on an life
only to see his castle shattered. Jackson
strode manfully to the crease but continued to struggle
to push the run rate beyond four an over.
Much was left for Harris and Gearing to do
as they came together with a 100 on the board and 13
overs left in the tank. Harris spanked some lusty boundaries
and two towering sixes before being caught for 32 leaving
Gearing to see out the overs with Bridges for company.
Gearing savaged 16 from the final over to provide some
respectability to the Waltham
scoreboard which still looked 30-40 runs lite.
Much now rested in the hands of the Waltham
bowlers. Hill delayed the new ball and opened with the
liquorice allsorts of Gearing and the verve and swing
of the youthful Andrews (0-12 from 5 overs). Jackson
and Harris gratefully accepted the new pill in the 10th over as
Waltham continued to create chances only to see them
fly just wide of hand.
Woolford and Sharpe set the standard in the
field as they threw themselves around like pigs in mud
and valiantly chased down lost causes.
Mapledurham seem to accumulate runs without
playing many adventurous shots leading to the introduction
of Hill and his slow right arm grenades...which were
dispatched to various postal codes around the local
area as the openers ran up 150 without loss. Eventually,
Gearing got a ball to spear into the batsmen and remove
his middle stump whilst sympathy lead his fellow opener
into committing voluntary euthanasia holing out to Jackson
in the deep.
Waltham battled to the end following
the example set by Nebbett in a field full of “bear
traps,” but to no avail as Mapledurham ran out deserved
winners. Waltham will look to
pick themselves up next weekend and get a victory in
the scorebook in what should prove to be an eventful
Ashes season.
A special mention must go out to Mrs Jackson
and the “entertainment” that she was offering Saturday
evening...Mr Nebbett didn’t need to be asked twice by
all accounts?! |