achieved winning draw against
Kempton - 127 for 7 (Jimmy C - 4/29)
The 3rd XI kicked off the 2010 promotion campaign in the freezing cold against a Kempton side eager for all 20 points. Captain Jimmy C tried his best to rally the troops before the start of the match, talking about responsibility and how "we're all in this together". Sounded eerily similar to a certain political parties manifesto, which would play itself out later in the match.
Having lost the toss, the 3rd XI went out to bat. A poor start followed however. Dick Ewan was incredibly unluckly to get bowled around his legs, the ball ricocheted off his back foot and cannoned into his stumps. Risman, old soft hands, tried to play one that was too pitched up, and also got bowled. The team was languishing on 2 for 15.
Harry and Nathan then came in a settled the ship. Nathan hit a quick fire 19 before being bowled, while a hung over Harry batted superbly for a great innings of 49. He single handedly carried the side, while Lloydy, Jimmy C, and Tommy D fell cheaply around him. At 7 for 107, the boys were still struggling, and when Harry was removed just before his 50, a total of 110 looked likely.
Thankfully, some sensible batting from the tail enders - Phil Miles and Adam Selves changed the game. Smacking bad balls to the boundary and annoying the oppo, the Wick managed to finish on a defendable 151 for 9 off 50 overs.
The 3rd XI's defence in the field got off to a good start. Lowns quickly removed their opening batsmen, yet their total off 1 for 60-odd of 20 overs looked ominous for the Wick. Tommy D bowled superbly and was finally rewarded with a wicket, and with Eddie Charlton at the other end causing problems, he too then picked up his first scalp of the season.
With Kempton 3 down for 80-odd after 35 overs, their time was now running out to force a victory. Skipper jimmy C then came on to bowl with Adam Selves from down the hill and the Wick put the game out of Kempton's reach. Jimmy picked up 4 wickets in the end, leaving the 3s just 3 wickets short of a great victory.
All in all it was a tough opening match and probably more than could have been expected after such an ordinary start. But lots of positives from the match - the tailenders batted with maturity and the bowlers did extremely well to restrict a good side to less than 130 runs in 50 overs. Bring on next week, and perhaps some warmer weather?
Wickman Junior
No comments:
Post a Comment