Teams for Saturday 29th

Weather for Saturday Home Games...

It's league weekend 8. Some encouraging signs over the last two weeks with both the 2s and the 3s moving away from the trap door. Long may it continue. 1s now just a point off the promotion places. Phil Linter's dovemagentaandblack (racist?) 4xi army have opened up a 3 win gap to second place... who they play tomorrow. Good luck to everyone. See you in the bar... with a Wickwash! Ps #no offence but it's been pretty light on match reports this week. What's a fictional character supposed to tweet about? #justsaying

1xi v Old Paulines (a) Start 1.00
Imran Rashid (c), Nick Maingot, Nomaan Ali, Robbie Oliver, Adam O’Mahoney (wkt), Naveendra  Weerakoon, Matt Kilner, Charlie High, Ian Tong, Matt Davies, Jamal Malik

Meet 11.30

Umpire S Riley

2nd X1 V Chobham Avorians (h) Start 1.00

Matt Rudolph, Ben Stephens (c), Usman Janjua, Derek Soppitt, Joe Hirsch, Alex Jackson, Ted Goodwin, Yasir Admed, Fahad Tanzeer, Aqueel Ilyas, Patrick McMullen

Meet 12.00

3rdX1 v Cheam (a) Start 1.00

Ian Collier (wkt), Paul Sayce (c), Jonny Allen, Tom Simcock, Dan Kemp, Charles Edmonds, Jack Smith, Zohaak Tughral, Schalk Van Vuuren, Nirmal Kannan, Alex Dare

Meet 11.15

4xi vs Walton on Thames (h) Start 1.00
Ed Cooper, Mark Mackie (c), Kirk Laight, Nick Clark, Ollie King, Rob Richie, Mohit Bal, Will Taylor, Jamie Craddock, Phil Miles, Tanzeel Ilyas

Meet 12.15

Collier Wins Week 7 La Cloche Voucher

Here's this week's nominations for the La Cloche at The Lion voucher for player or contribution of the week. Ian Collier wins... but who took part?

1st X1 Graeme Tong starred with the ball taking 5-40 from 16 overs as Sanderstead were restricted to 167. Adam O’Mahoney 47, Nomaan Ali 49 helped steer The Wick home by 2 wickets with skipper Tong hitting the winning runs. Nomination Graeme Tong


2nd X1 Matt Rudolph scored a solid 43 whilst Yasir Ahmed got a very good 68, and then Derek Soppitt and Alex Jackson [who he? Ed] (making a welcome return to league cricket) pushed on with a 50 run partnership to get us to 220 after being on only 20 after 17 overs. Usman Janjua bowled very good off spin picking up 4 for 48. Yasir also bowled some decent spin and picked up two wickets. Nomination Yasir Ahmed.

3rd XI Ian Collier – Carried his bat with 63* managing our run chase perfectly under pressure to produce the 3s first victory of the season. Three catches behind the sticks too including a really good one to dismiss their best bat. Rob Sayce made a valuable 45 whilst the wickets were shared between Alex Dare, Dan Kemp, Paul Sayce [Minty! - Ed] and Schalk van Vuuren. Nomination Ian Collier

4th X1 James Hoppe 4 for 28 and Tanzeer Ilyas 3 for 18 as 9 man Wick restricted Staines & Laleham to 89 all out. Ed Cooper 46 n.o. led the Wick to their 7th successive league victory, winning by 7 wickets. Nomination Ed Cooper [er boys - what a win... 9 men? Really? Bowled them out for 89 with 9 men? - Ed]

Sunday XI For the BPL game Nomination has to be Paul Myers - - 77 runs in the successful chase and a reasonable bowling spell – but what seals his nomination is that half way thru his spell he dislocated his finger with a missed caught and bowled, stuck the bone back into place and carried on.







Player of the week Ian Collier Congratulations Ian

Getting Wick With... Saycey

The Popular Game "Where's Saycey?" Which Saycey Now Knows as "Where's Harry?"

1 Nickname(s): Saycey (standard Wick nickname of adding –y to end of surname), Stacey (think that’s just a misunderstanding of my surname), or Paul Casey [All of these nicknames were invented by Hibby - Ed]

2 Highest Score for HWRCC: 75* v Warlingham (a) in the threes marshalling us to victory

3 Best Bowling for HWRCC: 1 for something. Only took my first Wick wicket against Valley End 3rds recently having abusing my position as captain...downhill with the wind..

4 Favourite Away Ground: Bronwydd in Carmarthenshire. Simply because of the teas - off the map. The Great British Bake Off does cricket teas. Scones, strawberries, home-made cakes. You’ve never seen such competition to play a Sunday friendly.

5 Favourite Food: Can’t beat a post-match curry.

6 Favourite Singer/Band: Like everyone else I’m sure, got a lot of time for Hibby’s post match singing. The way he hits those high notes...Baritone.

7 Favourite Movie: Twin Town. Not seen it? It’s a documentary about how towns become twinned. It’s not really. Black comedy set in 1990s Swansea – my primary school features as do a lot of Swansea’s finest places. Quote-a-minute territory too, most of which aren’t printable on this fine blog.

8 Favourite Book: Catcher in the Rye.

9 Favourite Pub/Club: The Wick. The balcony view, the banter and a selection of beers. What more do you want???

10 Favourite Crisps: Not a big crisps man, but forced to pick I’d go for Sweet Chilli or Worcester Sauce.

11 Favourite DBW Sandwich: For me, sandwiches aren’t the best part of DBW’s repertoire but I’d pick Chicken Tikka. My favourite Mr Kipling of his is the Bakewell slice.

12 Favourite Quote: Ambition is critical – Dylan Thomas. Sadly, the quote is the complete opposite of my batting style.

13 Childhood Sports Hero: Roger Freestone (legendary Swansea City goalkeeper of the 90s) No seriously. Had a great song too.. Replace No with Roger and Limits with Freestone to the tune of No Limits by 2Unlimited and you’ve got it. You’re singing it now aren’t you? You should be. Roger, Roger, Roger, Roger, Roger, Roger Freestone...

14 Best Wick Moment: Winning the Fullers Div 1 in 2008 with the 2s at Shepperton

15 Worst Wick Moment: Bowled first ball of the game at Oxted & Limpsfield in the 2s in 2009. We won the game though thanks to a five-for from Shri Shinde so maybe it’s being bowled out for 69 chasing 230 in my 2^nd game as 3s captain. That was against O&L too. Think I’m away for the return fixture this summer...

Someone Seriously Quick Turns up to Nets

1xi vs Merrow - Report by Tongy

Rumours of cost cutting at the Wick are rebutted when the rain comes in on Saturday

HWRCC 1xi v Merrow 15th June
HWRCC 121-6 (24)
Merrow 69-5 (20)
HWRCC winning draw


Scorecard

After a fantastic start to the year had been somewhat curtailed by a loss and losing draw the previous weeks the 1st xi needed to show some grit if they wanted to overcome tricky opponents Merrow.

The toss went the way of the visitors however and the Wick were inserted on a deck that looked, despite heavy overnight rain, a flat true service. Slight panic had set in however as new recruit Jamal (Gherkingate) had failed to show. At 1:05 skipper Tong emerged to join Noman in the middle, much to the displeasure of Riley who had been barking in the direction of the changing room to try and get the game started on time.

The rush had obviously not given skipper Tong any time to fret over the task in hand, and he and Noman started well. The deck despite looking flat and true was on the slow side but with the boys prepared to use their feet to get down the track boundaries came frequently in the opening overs.

However the forecast showers were about to make an appearance for the 1st time, and a slight shower sent the players scuttling for the changing room. It didn’t last too long however and the Wick were back out and picked up where they left off. Nomi harsh on the short delivery and Tongy strong on the drive the boys raced up to 75 off the 1st 15. All was going very well until the slow track did for Nomi and he sent a leading edge high up into the covers. Tongy cracked another boundary but then perished to the same fielder whilst trying to drive over the top.

Paul Myers was now joined by Jamal who had finally made an appearance; apparently a heated debate over a spare ticket for Pakistan vs. India had turned sour and caused issued with his flat mates, meaning he missed his train. Not heard that one before….

Myers departed and was replaced by Kilner who didn’t have long before rain again halted proceedings. This time it wasn’t one of those almost pleasant refreshing showers you might expect on a June day but a fully hellish horizontal driving rain type. Nasty business. The players were left with no option but to take an early tea and hope the wick drained in time to allow Merrow 20 overs in reply. The minimum allowed to get a game.

DBW was in a creative mood as potato salad, coronation chicken, and crispy bacon added to the egg sarnies giving this week’s tea some welcome variety, a solid 7.5 again from him.

After tea the rain departed but had left some severe puddles in the outfield near the clubhouse and also around the bowlers run ups. There was only one thing to do at that was to get out the squeegee broom. Resembling an oversized car window screen cleaner its perfect for dispersing puddles, no idea what it’s used for a dam good job we have it.

So the game was saved and after much discussion between the oppo’s panel umpire and Riley a revised overs game of 24 for the Wick and 20 for Merrow was given. This greatly played into the hands of Merrow as it left the wick who were on 88 for 3 after 20.2 only another 3.4 left to slog to get up to a decent target. Some hideous heaves and slogs later we had managed 121 off of 24. Mention to Fin Murray who beautifully dispatched their difficult left arm spinner high over square leg into the car park first ball, he may have been bowled next ball but seemed very content with his strike rate of 300. We would have to bowl well to restrict the visitors.

What seemed like a gettable target was actually in truth a very tricky chase as the pitch had become even more two paced and sluggish. Nomi and Tongy opened up and bowled with good control and gave nothing away for the oppo. The batsman had to get on with the job and in trying to improvise gave away wickets. Nomi with an LBW and one nice cleaned bowled that sent the stumps flying and Tongy had two both caught by that man Jamal.

The highlight was the 2nd catch, a sliced drive from their number 5 bat that ballooned high over mid-off. Jamal having to run at full pace and put in a full length dive managed to cling on whilst he was horizontal in midair, a high quality catch indeed. We now had a slight chance of bowling Merrow out for an unlikely victory. All was forgiven for his earlier lateness. All of this was of course great entertainment for the Wick balcony which was comprised of the whole second xi who had returned extremely early (will we get a write up for that 2’s game….).

4 down for 48 and with 8 overs left a slight sniff of victory for the Wick, The new ball was taken in an attempt to force a win but despite a late wicket for Fahad in truth Merrow survived comfortably. However it had meant the Wick could pick up a winning draw and 5 valuable points against a strong oppo vying for that promotion place.

Next week is a huge game as the Wick take on old rivals Sanderstead at home, with second place up for grabs. The weather look s slightly dodgy again, best get Keith to invest in more squeegee brooms….

Getting Wick With... Sunday Skipper Graham Smith

Smith's Favourite Crisp...

He's one half of the new Sunday captaincy pairing, Dad to the best Smith bowler in the club Jack and legendary quiz specialist... but just who is Graham Smith?

1 Nickname(s): Smudger, Twatface


2 Highest Score for HWRCC: That’ll be in 2010 when I scored some top grade Crystal Meth and got so high that I was convinced I was Jesus Christ and could feed the whole of Hampton Wick with a DBW mini doughnut and a Tuna sarnie. I couldn’t. I got the munchies and ate them myself

3 Best Bowling for HWRCC: No idea, but I did get 10 for 43 for St James’s v Goring in 1985 but I never like to mention it ( well no more than once a week)

4 Favourite Away Ground: There used to be a cricket pitch at St Francis Mental Hospital in Haywards Heath and in the 70s /early 80s St James‘s would play the staff – mostly Irish Hurling players – and we would regularly be interrupted by patients, haring across the pitch, usually stark bollock naked and being chased by the nurses – true.

5 Favourite Food: Baked beans on toast with a clove of garlic and butter squeezed into the beans. Oh Man…. But be careful of side effects (violent flatulence and bad breath).

6 Favourite Singer/Band: I quite like that new band made up of The Hairy Bikers and Kate Bush but can’t remember what they ended up calling themselves.

7 Favourite Movie: “When Harry met Sally and introduced her to Chedward” with hilarious consequences

8 Favourite Book: “50 things to do and make whilst fielding in the slips to Tongy”

9 Favourite Club: Mashie niblick

10 Favourite Crisp: Quentin

11 Favourite DBW Sandwich: Hm, that’s a bit like asking “who’s your favourite Nazi?”

12 Favourite Quote: “Don’t worry chaps, Keith is in next” or “get out of my f****** kitchen with those studs”

13 Childhood Sports Hero: Tony Greig – top all rounder like me.

14 Best Wick Moment: about 3 weeks ago in clubhouse bar – having a refreshing iced drink after a gruelling match

15 Worst Wick Moment: About 3 weeks ago, discovering that ice in drink was yellow.

Ashford Blown Away by Rampant Wick 4xi

One Bit of Fruit and a Couple of Crudites Are Missed by Ravenous Colts...

HWRCC 278-3 (32) Clark 118
Ashford 75 all out Linter 4 for 13
HWRCC 4xi wins by 203 runs

Scorecard

HWRCC 4xi put Ashford's bowlers to the sword, gobbled up tea and then ran through their batting to record an emphatic win at Short Lane on Saturday. A strong line up which included The Lord, injured bats Nathan and Mackie, and a selection of colts and regulars was too good for an Ashford line-up who have struggled this season when full strength. That they started with 9 for the first 10 overs didn't help - and the Wick had got away to a flyer by the time the tenth player arrived.

Splints called correctly and chose to bat again this week with half an eye on the weather forecast and a desire to set the pace again. Some loose bowling greeted the openers and Clark was quick to profit, reaching the boundary regularly as the new ball rocketed across a mown outfield.

Whilst The Lord had pronounced the track a green top before the toss it didn't play like one. And neither Nate or Clarky looked in too much trouble - able to keep out the respectable seamers of Boota from the A30 end and pick gaps in the 9 man field. At the Heathrow end... Carnage. A series of bowlers were tried but variable lengths and lines were seized on by Clark in particular and caned all over the place. The Wick were happily blazing away at 9 an over.

The sense of slight unreality was built by the elderly Ashford keeper's almost complete immobility. He let through 27 byes and was unable to stop wides. Coupled with positive batting from the Wick openers, it was impossible for Ashford to gain any control. One change bowler went for 16 off his first over - Clark taking umbrage at being pinged on the back leg smashed four consecutive boundaries.

The opening pair raced to 100 with Clark ably backed up by E X Tras, Nate playing the anchor role. Almost every time Nate did pick up the strike a bowler would fire one wide or for a bye leaving him almost becalmed and watching Clark from the other end. Despite a reasonable spinner turning up to relieve Boota, the partnership reached 150. It was finally broken by Molla bowling Nathan for 38 with Clark by now in the 80s. Mackie joined him and there was no let up in the scoring rate, Mackie busily manoevering the ball around, Clark hitting regular boundaries before turning the spinner round the corner to move to his first league ton from 79 balls and first of any kind for the Wick.

Under instruction to allow others a go Clark then long handled a brace of sixes and a boundary before top edging a pull to mid wicket. Johnny Allen got in the mood and made a brisk 10 including a massive maximum before The Lord strode out and imperiously dismissed the bowling for a two-run-a-ball 32* making Mackie's busy run-a-ball 28* look positively pedestrian. The Lord smote the biggest six of the day too... Enormous wallop over Long Off... Still going up as it crossed the boundary etc etc.

With rain coming Splints pulled the plug with the Wick on an awesome 278-3 from 32. There was enough time to get the covers (covers please note) on before the rain came. While we were at tea it's no exaggeration to say that it absolutely pissed down - the rain bouncing up of the ground. Without them the match would surely have been over and done.

Tea was excellent - a very solid 8 - almost nothing to fault - but there was no dip for the crudités which was felt to be an error and we weren't sure about the cucumber and cheese sandwiches. Just about every last scrap was consumed as we realised there was no chance of play starting again soon with the colts in particular relishing the opportunity to clean up. Nice.

It took 45 minutes to mop up when the rain relented. We'd batted through a shower during our innings so the square had already taken a lot of water and it took time to mop up the water with one of those sponge things that soaks up puddles. Talk about facilities! Because Splints had declared before tea and we'd scored so quickly we still had 43 overs to bowl out Ashford.

The skipper impressed everyone by opening with the old ball and holding back the new cherry until the outfield had dried more. The approach yielded dividends as tight bowling from Jamie Brewin produced a skied drive and a fantastic over the shoulder catch from Bendall in the covers. Inspired captaincy from Linter then saw him take a sharp catch at silly mid on from the flighted spin of Will Taylor who at times spun the ball sharply.

The new ball was taken in the 13th over by Jamie Craddock and The Skipper. Linter was unplayable - frankly - and removed the organised looking #4 with a nick to 1st slip which was classily taken low down by Mackie. Craddock won a marginal LBW decision which we decided would have stayed with the onfield umpire had it been reviewed, but perhaps failed to make the bats play enough.

In contrast Splints was making bat after bat play and miss and completely nonplussed the #6 who was left marvelling as he was cleaned up. The #1, who had seen 5 colleagues depart in short order was finally castled and also appreciated being stitched up like a kipper by the skipper.

Tommy D and Benders both the bowled tidy spells and picked up a wicket a piece. Johnny Allen had a trundle too and The Lord rolled back the years with a typically miserly spell making the bats play every ball. By this time Ashford were 8 down with their last pair at the wicket. The close fielders were very impressed with James Magli (batting 10) who played some of the most attractive shots of the day in putting together the highest score of the Ashford innings.

Eventually Ashford were getting too close to the draw for comfort and the Captain was urged to bring himself back on to mop up and get the boys into the showers. This he did by digging one in a bit and getting the obdurate #9 to spoon one back to him. It capped a 203 run victory and a game that had something for every Wick player.

The game was played in good spirit and we must thank Ashford for getting the game back on. Facing a target of 278 off 43 some oppos would have been less keen to soak it up and especially having been bullied with the bat. The 4s are now 26 points clear at the top of the table going into a game with Staines next week who beat us in the ill-fated affair at their ground last season. It will be an interesting test.

JMac and the Giant Peach – 4s Stay Top After 5th Straight Win

Wick 218-5 Edmonds 63, Clark 47, Laight 36*
Oppo 90ish JMac 5-26

Scorecard

A crushing win against a young and old Egham side vindicated Skipper Linter's controversial decision to bat first on Kingsfield this week. Following a succession of early “bowl first” finishes this season, the skipper decided to set up the game this week and back a strong attack to bowl out the oppo. In the event his bowlers had too much for Egham with JMac McMullan the pick with a useful 5 for 26.

Our half of Chedward had begged the skipper during the week to field first so he could get on the Britneys and watch the other half (playing 2s) from the balcony. Splints though took one look at the deck and decided it was a bat first type of deck and he was probably right.

Ched took the first ball once Splints had won the toss and was accompanied by Clark. The pitch was a standard Kingsfield number with two of everything - two paced and bounce that was up and down like a dwarf in a New Zealand bar with rugby players in town. Perfectly playable of course but a test for anyone expecting cricket week main square decks….

Hawes from the Everest End was decently brisk and swung the ball away and instantly earned the respect of both batsman, beating the edge and delivering a number of Kingsfield jaffas... balls that swing and then seam off the compliant surface… providing a true challenge. Being a 4xi game no one is good enough to get an edge on them - but they are a thing of beauty for the student of cricket aesthetics. The challenge comes from trying to rearrange your thoughts with a pack of close fielders telling you the bowling’s too good for you etc etc.

The plan was to see off the opener, see off the shine, bat 'til drinks and then take stock. Once a look had been had, Clark played some aggressive shots in a reasonably composed stay at the crease. He was severe on anything pitched short but his timing was a little off and in combination with a slow outfield found himself running far too many threes for his or Ched’s comfort. Ched played cautiously and patiently while Clarky biffed a few – with a couple of streaky edges thrown in - and the pair almost ticked off all of their objectives until Clark patted a nothing ball tamely to mid off in time to get first go at the drinks waiting on the boundary edge.

The change bowling was by and large one side of the wicket which kept the scoring rate respectable. The Wick were 80-1 approximately at drinks but with a solid base and batting to come could be quietly confident of setting a sound total.

Tanzeel came and went unluckily top edging a pulled full toss to long leg. Rob Ritchie played a typically belligerent innings and smote one of the changed bowlers over his favourite boundary for a maximum. When Rob perished Unsworth briefly prospered before Kirky played a gem of an innings to register his highest league score, pulling anything short mercilessly along the floor to the midwicket boundary and later smashing some big shots down the ground to remain 36*.

Charles was the glue to the innings though and started to cut loose, eventually achieving a well deserved 50 before powering into the early 60s. He was undone in the end by a wild swing chasing a declaration total and it fell to the skipper to partner Kirky to the 45.5 ball and 218 for 5. It was a well balanced assembly of runs but perhaps we could have pushed on a little quicker. But these are mere trifles. Ched was seriously ruing Splinter’s decision to bat at this point. Wickman will wager it’s the first time he has batted for 42 overs in any form of cricket. It was hard work with excellent application and patience were on show. But it was a physically and mentally demanding knock which will hopefully prepare him for further challenges in the season ahead.

Dave did not serve trifles at tea sadly. But he did surpass himself. There was mass refusal of the cream cheese and spring onion but everything else was wolfed down. Coronation chicken made a reappearance (bravo, encore etc etc) as did beef. The sweet elements were so popular that when Clarky returned to load his plate (went too large on the savouries) there was nothing left! For that and the misjudgement on the cream cheese this is a 9.5. Highest mark ever awarded by Wickman for a home tea. But it was one of Dave’s finest.

Egham’s chase began positively. The oppo skipper is a good cricketer and began at quite a pace. Olly King was bowling from the Mariana Trench end with a surprisingly brisk crosswind which made it difficult for him to shape the ball away this week. So we were treated to the best batting of the day as Bartlett whipped a succession of balls off middle and middle and leg savagely through midwicket.

At the other end Linter bounced a Surrey Ladies trained bat and then mercilessly beat her neck and crop with a perfect awayswinger shaped from leg stump to hit middle and off through a defeated forward defensive. That this was only a ball after we believed he had pinned her in front with a sand shoe crusher was all the more sweet.

Replaced by the number three who looked more than competent this was where the game was “on”. For a while Egham were exactly on the rate that Clark and Edmonds had set earlier. The question was though, would they be able to last 45 overs?

The answer came relatively quickly. Olly nipped a perfectly pitched ball back up the slope to kiss the top of #3’s middle stump. #4 and the skipper looked busy and punished bad bowling for a couple of overs but the introduction of JMac changed the course of the game. He bowled Bartlett off his pads with an inducker and then perhaps with the worst ball of the day he convinced the remaining top order adult batsman to glove one down the leg side to the keeper who collapsed like a gorilla hit by a vet’s dart into a heap and pouched it at the same time.

There was not then a great deal of substance to the rest of the innings. JMac cleaned up another bat or two, one with the sort of peach that should sign up with TMac’s agent to secure a role as a giant fruit in the next film version of James and the Giant Peach. Dom Lown removed a couple – one utilizing the keeper’s legendary matrix skills “it’s like a 2s retirement home out here” the other a drag on as a reward for his tight off stump line. Boooooooooooom. Egham all out in 26.3 overs with JMac registering a very decent 5-26.

It’s too early in the season to be drawing any conclusions. After the narrow low scoring squeak at Valley End at least this game had some quality and structure to it. When England were making a meal out of killing off New Zealand a week or so ago in The North commentators were asking about the “style” of the cricket being played. Well… this was fairly ruthless. Today the 4s top the table and have opened up a 15 point gap… you couldn’t ask much more of them. There will be sterner tests ahead, you can be sure.

Old Whitgiftians vs 3xi - Match Report by Saycey

Tea a Poor 5.5 "Saved" by Sausage and Chips

HWRCC 3xi 162 all out (Collier 41)
OW 163 - 5

Scorecard

The weather and the setting for this encounter encapsulated all that is good about playing cricket in the British summer. The sun shone, it was even warm (sun cream dusted off for the first time) and a small, well situated ground. The deck was rock hard but patchy suggesting plenty in it for the bowlers. The boundaries square were very short and the outfield short and quick. Old Whits won the toss and decided to bowl.

One senses this wasn’t a popular move by the skipper. Having a drink after his first over, the opening bowler was heard to remark, “I can’t believe we’ve decided to bowl on this. It’s an absolute road.” In the third over Collier induces cover to twist his ankle and take them down to ten men. Canny work. All looks fairly serene, Kannan times two beautiful back foot drives to the boundary and it’s another solid start by the pair. At 31-0, Kannan is castled by one that comes back in. An over later, Sayce is sent packing for a duck, bowled having left one. It’s come back a mile – even the bowler doesn’t know how it happened.

The mercurial Tughral is in at 4, having returned from Hong Kong on the Friday. He strides to the crease with the words of “take your time” resounding in his ears. First bowl, slapped through the covers for four, the second he takes two steps down the track and dispatches Woodrow over long on for a huge six. That’s one way to counter-attack. Fifth ball his stumps are splattered as he aims another big shot over the leg side. 45-3.

The skipper’s brother is given the no5 slot ahead of the recently arrived new boy, Yasir. Collier and Sayce R look comfortable and put us back into a decent position and still moving along at 4.5 an over. The elder Sayce having outperformed his brother chips to mid-off and is caught. 80-4. Collier is left in charge of rebuilding again, this time with Yasir who’d been given a personal recommendation by his mate, Farooq. The new boy looks good with cuts and drives either side of the pitch. Collier falls on the verge of drinks for 41 to stall the recovery. Dan Kemp is then undone by one that keeps low by the wily left armer. 115-6. Yasir and Jonny Allen mix defence with attack to good effect putting on 40 before Yasir is caught at mid-on for 40 before Allen is caught in the covers. The last few wickets fall for not many and the Wick finish on 162 but having used only 40 overs. It feels a long way short of par but it’s a score on the board to be chased.

Tea? Saved by hot chips and sausages. 5.5

We take the old ball and entrust it to the youngsters. Alex Dare spinning and teasing the openers from one end, and Dan Kemp swinging it and tempting them from the other. The bowling was excellent, and the number of times ball beat bat escalated. Eventually Dare traps one LBW. Somehow the other opener doesn’t edge one of Kemp many in-duckers. Bowl like that every week and these two will surely take a stack of wickets this summer. The new ball having been taken departs at a quicker rate as Donnelly and Smith are treated harshly by the second wicket pair with the Wick pushing for wickets to force a way into the game defending their total. Eventually the opener skies one to Donnelly at mid-off but having made 70 most of the hard work has been done. In the closing stages, Smith takes two more victims including an incredible leaping catch by Kemp on the rope to dismiss the no3 for 46. Kannan makes a good run out but in the end Old Whits reach their target in 28 overs with 5 wickets down.

A disappointing result to be beaten so comprehensively by a side of not massively superior talent. Collier and Yasir showed the requirements for building a total but 162 never felt like enough. The bowling of Dare and Kemp showed real promise and on a different day would have found greater reward. Again, more positives but not the positive result the boys have been striving for.

Valley End vs HWRCC 4xi - Match Report by Wickles

Keith "runs out of energy" through not eating enough tea at Valley End

Scorecard

The last time I visited Valley End their 1st XI were in Div1 of the Fullers League and they had just started work on a3rd/ 4th Xi ground just across the road from the main ground . Five successive promotions followed. The price of this success was to be huge. The cricket bureaucrats turned up with their tape measures and deemed the main ground to be too small for 1st team cricket. So the 3rdX1 ground is in the process of becoming their first team ground. I paid a short visit before the game. The ground has two port-a-cabins, new covers and three massive sightscreens at each end which would make Joe Ewen look like a dwarf. The ground has a large grass bank at one end which reminded me of Arundel, without the charm (there is the constant drone of traffic from the nearby M3). The club are trying to raise £800,000 for a large new pavilion that can cater for disabled cricket. They are an excellent, well run club with plenty of ambition to provide first class facilities whilst maintaining their local community spirit

The old first team ground is idyllic, surrounded by trees with a good wicket, sightscreens and covers. It is by a country mile the best ground the 4th xi will play on this season. Last year was the best 4th team game of the season with fifty and five wickets from Clarky earning the Clark family another visit to La Cloche. Unaccountable Clarky decided that this year he would rather hit a little white ball around Hampton Court rather than don the whites. Shame on him. [Harsh but fair - Ed]

Not sure who won the toss but The Wick fielded first for the fourth time in a row. Ollie King and the skipper Phil Linter had this week's opposition in the same sort of trouble that they had last week's - Valley End in 28 for 6 in no time at all. The highlight was a good catch by Kirk Laight running backward in the covers. Valley End rallied but were all out for an under par 68 off 31 overs with Kirk and The Chairman cleaning up at the end with two wickets apiece (it was so slow that at one point The Chairman considered that he had taken the wrong option and umpiring the 2nd XI would have been more exciting).

Tea was not taken; much to the disgust of The Chairman who was feeling decidedly peckish after his "exertions". Young Dominic Jones, the most stylish batsman on view all day, was soon taken at slip off Andrew Freeman, a useful young bowler who moved it both ways all be it at a gentle pace. James Lloyd soon followed but with Phil Miles, Rob Swaine and Max Talman, who was very tidy behind the stumps, all making double figure The Wick at 47-3 were cruising to their fourth victory on the trot. 47-3 soon becomes 52-8 however, but Kirk and Ollie King saw the team reach their target, much to the relief of The Chairman who was next in. Valley End took thie defeat in good spirits, not for them the histrionics and excessive appealing you see with many sides. So 18 wickets fell for 137 runs from nearly 56 overs. Poor batting by both teams. Perhaps Mr Clark was not so daft after all. [Debateable - Clark is rumoured to have threatened suicide after recording a 95 in the Monthly Medal - Ed].

Tea was taken and was fine although I cannot give marks as most of the plates were empty by the time I had got to it, as I was chatting to their President whose name is also Keith . Keith, who seemed to have been involved with the club for a fair portion of its 118 year history, thanked me for the glowing report of Valley End CC made by Wickman in 2012. There was nothing from my visit this season that would prevent me from endorsing that report. Valley End are a friendly, well run club who play cricket in the right way and the right spirit. We wish them well this season [apart from in the return fixture - naturally - Ed] and in their desire for a new pavilion.

3xi vs Valley End - Match Report by Saycey

A Run Out that We All Enjoyed...

Scorecard

Looking for their first win at the fourth attempt, the thirds took to the field with a strong looking (on paper – not the bruiser kind) 11 against Valley End. Having won the toss for the first time this summer, Sayce put Valley End in to bat on a typical Kingsfield pitch. You had a good idea that it would “do a bit” but how much, where and when was down to the Kingsfield gremlins..

In the huddle, the skipper remarked on the fact that for once the thirds had eleven and they were all present and correct to start the game. Think that’s a given? See previous 3s match reports. Breaking from the huddle (where other encouraging positive words and instructions were dispensed) the 2s skipper Ben Stephens was seen ambling on to the pitch for a word. The 2s were batting but only had 8 men. Charles was duly surrendered to play in the 2s and maybe putting Valley End in to bat wasn’t the best idea. The 3s would field with 10 men.

Schalk, poached from Crossbats by Collier, opened from the top and showed decent wheels. Valley End’s openers were up to it and looked solid. Sam Jones from the Pavillion looked dangerous and caused problems. Neither had the luck they deserved and the breakthrough had to wait until Jack Smith induced the young opener into skying a drive, well held by Kannan at mid-on. After that the durable opener at the other end supported by the No3 Messenger put together a decent stand, never getting away from the Wick but building a good foundation for a big total. The skipper using captain’s prerogative brought himself on after drinks in search of a wicket. It duly arrived with the opener’s middle stump knocked back. Sadly for him, Sayce thought that bought him another over. Trying the controversial tactic of coming round the wicket to the right hander he beat the bat twice but was also dispatched for a 4 and a 6 in the direction of cow corner. The skipper brought back Chaz who did get rid of Messenger for 81. The middle order put together some useful runs and Valley End finished on 230. Jack Smith’s 1-31 showing real control stood out.

The batting looked capable of chasing 230. Collier and Kannan provided another solid start putting on 45 before Kannan departed. Sayce came in and played out three handy maiden overs from the top end. He finally got off the mark with a two behind square. Next ball he called Collier through for a suicidal single which Collier was never in contention to make. 55-2. Sayce feeling a huge deal of remorse and responsibility set about repairing the innings and putting the team back in contention. With Copeland, the Wick got themselves into a position of needing 115 off the last 20 with 8 wickets in hand. Sayce was harsh on anything short from the young spinners while Copeland swept and reverse swept to his delight and the oppos annoyance. Copeland then mistimed to midwicket and was caught. Sayce made further progress with van vuuren. Now 100 needed. Sayce then had another brain-fade running himself out off a no ball. He’d managed to run out his side’s two top-scorers. Has he forgotten how to judge a run?? Despite a belligerent 15 from Dan Kemp with some scorching back foot shots, the Wick ended up 79 short in the end.

More positives to be taken despite the loss. This game really could have gone the other way if the Wick had fielded with 10 and the skipper had a better eye for a well judged run.

MOM – Jack Smith. Villian – undeniably the captain.