Two in Two for the 2’s (by Richie Foldsworth)
HWRCC 2nd XI vs Old Hamptonians 2nd XI
After the heroics of last weekend’s win over Stoke Dab, your correspondent, at least, was looking for a more comfortable and assured performance from the Wick. This was not quite the case as we played a team very similar to ourselves in many respects.
Old Hamps have enjoyed two successive promotions, climbing straight out of the Fullers leagues, and appeared to have a youthful side with some decent ability to go with it. On a day, vastly improved from last weeks drizzle, captain Fudge lost the toss and was asked to bat first on a pitch that appeared to be dry and flat, but still offered something for the bowlers. Messrs. Cole and Golby opened up and started watchfully against a very useful opening spell from OH captain Blair and a swingy medium old boy from the other end. The ball was nibbling off the seam and runs were not easy to come by.
The first change bowler, Stone, appeared to be very rusty, replacing Blair and bowling probably 50% of his balls half way down the track and outside off, however both Cole and Golby struggled to put away the bad balls and the score continued to slowly trundle on. Stone’s figures of 10-0-38 were generous to say the least, he should have gone for double (easily said from a bowler's view, but I would have taken myself off bowling like he did!).
Cole was the first to succumb to the useful spinner at the other end, Hutchinson, who was wobbling it around all over the place and bowled well. Fudge joined Golby for the brief spell before drinks which saw the Wick at a very miserly 54-1 after 25 overs. Drinks saw a much needed injection of runs, with Skipper Fudge playing some nice attacking shots to dispatch Hutch, whilst Golby continued watchfully from the other end and starting to find some of those late Golby nurdle backward square cuts that he is renowned for.
This spell didn’t last long however, as Fudge was out caught quite unfortunately, toe-ing a slog sweep round his legs for the keeper to dive on. A much needed 28 though to get some runs on the board. Kilner joined and continued where Fudge had left off, playing some good attacking shots, trying to up the rate, however Golby could not stick around for his 50, bowled for 42, a good knock under the circumstances, providing some vastly improved stability to the top order! Kilner and Hirschey continued the cause, but not for long as Kilner middle a defensive shot straight down mid on’s throat for 25, with Hirsch following soon after for a quick 11.
At 137-5 the wick were looking like they could do with another 50 odd to make a competitive total on a wicket that was drying out. This was not to be, however, as only Copeland managed to reach double figures (19) as the late middle order and tail failed to wag, with few overs left and Blair back on bowling some tight lines. 159 all out after 49.2 overs was, despite being 30 runs more than last week, below par, but credit must be given to OH’s bowling. Blair ended up on 5 for 18 off 10 and “Hutch” 2 for 17 off 10.
Teas – 6/10, week-old pasta from the Orienteering party was poor form as was low fat Flora spread on scones as opposed to clotted cream. Harsh but fair.
And so the Wick took to the field with, what appeared to be a few short of a good score, and with what we knew would be a strong top order batting line up from Old Hamptonians. Your correspondent, Leggsy, took the new ball with Lownsy who both struggled to find that much talked about ‘rhythm’ early on. Lownsy, through no lack of effort, just couldn’t find his line and length early enough and went for a fairly expensive first over, resulting in him being replaced by Webster.
It was clear that Old Hamps were not going to dwell, as they raced to 35 off 6 overs, playing some comfortable shots and putting away bad balls with relative ease. It was going to take something a little bit special to slow the rate and, as you can tell by how I have started this sentence, that something inevitably happened!
Unsworth, thankfully found his areas and starting bowling some decent away swingers, getting the ball to nibble away off the seam and the bat was beginning to be beat. After a tight few balls, a wide swinging half volley was (purposefully???) tossed up, inducing a swing and an edge which was taken superbly by Copeland, diving one-handed in front of first slip. 37-1, what a catch!! This proved to be the start of a fantastic spell of pressure bowling and fielding from the Wick. The OH no.2 fell soon after, spooning one of Leggsy’s up, for Copeland to take comfortably, 48-2!
Webbo then joined the party, after some tight bowling and some good chat from the Golby Gully, an absolute peach of a Yorker bowled the useful looking Crowe, 52-3. The wick were, as Jimmy C might say, PUMPED!
Unsworth struck again the next over after a big swinging full toss was spooned up to Kilner in the covers, 56-4 and the Wick were on a roll! Chat started being bandied around of it not being easy out there, and runs still needing to be got and this was even more the case as Cole took a superb slip catch low down to remove the no.5 and give Unsworth his 4th. According to the play cricket score card this put the score at 106-5, although your correspondent is fairly sure it was less than this! Leggsy finished his 10 overs with 4 for 24, despite in his own opinion bowling a very inconsistent spell. Regardless, a good job was done; last week against Godalming, the same top 5 posted 197 runs between them, this week they only managed 49!
That says a lot! Breakwell replaced Unsworth after 20 overs and continued exactly where he left off last week, bowling some superb lines and shapes, beating the bat consistently and was simply too good for most. Cole joined at the other end and started well to leave OH on around 110-5 at drinks. This had been a superb start, not only by the bowlers, but the whole team! Fielding was tight and not a lot got through the ring. Breakwell struck immediately after drinks, finding the edge of the no.6 to put OH on 110-6, but with only 50 runs needed to win, we knew this was not over by any stretch of the imagination. Cole was replaced by the returning Lownsy, who improved to bowl a further 5 overs, but still not at his best!
A slight comeback ensued as Dunn started swinging the bat and managed to get to 32 before being caught by Hirsch trying to dispatch a full bunger from Lownsy, well held again Hirschey!! 117-7! The captain Blair came and went as Breakwell continued to probe outside the off stump and found another nibble through to Copeland, 118-8. The wick could smell victory and Cole was brought back on to try and tempt out the tail end, but to no avail. Breakwell was replaced by Webster to finish on impressive figures of 10 overs 2 for 8, including 8 maidens, another fantastic display.
A fairly comical appearance by a Mr. A. Cook Snr (aka Precious) continued to edge the Old Hamps score ever closer to the winning total. This chap certainly didn’t deal too well with the banter and took offence to almost anything, even a fairly tight LBW appeal and a sharp catch that may or may not have hit the turf before hand at point. He was, even by his team mates’ admission, a spanner or two short of a tool box! Webster continued to bowl well and his figures speak volumes; 1 for 20 off 10 overs, another top effort! At 135-8, it really was squeaky bum time, if the tail could hang on and let ‘Precious’ face the strike, and thieve a quick 25 runs it could have been curtains for the wick.
However, the oppo, and possibly even the skipper, had not accounted for the bowling talents of Kilner, who came on at the Kingsfield end. He managed to whip one through the gate of the no.10, and hit half way up middle to put Old Hamps on 135-9. The very next over it was Kilner again who hit the no.11 plumb in front and gave the oppo umpire no chance but to raise the dreaded finger and grant victory to the Wick. As you could imagine, bundles ensued, hair was ruffled, and high pitched squeals echoed around the ground. What a fantastic fielding performance! A special mention must be made to Harry Copeland, who was absolutely flawless behind the sticks. The number of runs he saved plucking rank leg side deliveries were nearly as important as the 4 catches he took. Great effort!
Your correspondent can’t help but feel that we have got to try harder to take games away from an oppo in the 1st innings and not leave it so late! The laws of averages suggest that we won’t be able to bowl everyone out for less than 160 every week!! And that was that, the Wick bowling attack again proved their worth! A thoroughly deserved 9 points puts the 2’s top of the league with two wins in two!
Lets hope we can take this momentum into the next two 50 over games at Cranleigh and against Farncombe to convert this to 4 from 4!
MOM – Unsworth
(Above; Richie Foldsworth gets his eye in for the forthcoming Cheese & Wine night)
