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….