Oliver bashes it around, but Wick 1XI fall at the last

In my humble opinion the best way to revise for an exam is to play cricket. The other option is to stay at home and revise – and do it badly because you can’t concentrate knowing you should be sunning yourself in white pyjamas. Mr Oliver is clearly cut from the same cloth and he took Saturdays game away at Godalming to catch up on some much needed algebra learn-age. Like a cat he settled in behind the scorers in the scorebox and buried his head in his books. Admirabe. Unfortunately he chose this opportunity to make his most significant contribution for the 1XI to date, albeit ultimately in a losing cause, and so was unable to revise as much as he would have liked. Every cloud…

Godalming 1XI v HWRCC 1XI scorecard

Whilst there was maybe eight 1xi squad players unavailable on Saturday, the team remained strong and offered an opportunity for those picked to make claims ahead of the league that starts on May 10. With daboos aplenty, perhaps losing the toss and batting on a damp dog of a wicket was not an ideal start. Crowther and Tong didn’t last long, and a few interesting lbw decisions later saw both Ali and Malik (daboo) sunning themselves. These four averaged 3.5.

This did however offer a chance for others to make an impression. Ahmed (daboo) and Tughral Zo biffed a few with neither quite reaching 20. Tanveer also fell to the guile of Agge (50 this year and possibly the best character on the circuit – a true gentleman off the field and class act on it).

But then a recovery. Mr Oliver – coming in at 6, an hour earlier than perhaps he would have liked, put together a mature 7^th wicket stand of 50 with Ahmad (daboo). Oliver is a wonderful, classy player full of flicked and booming off drives – not dissimilar to a recently departed Madoc-Jones (he will return from the dark side one day). However on Saturday he was forced to score ugly runs and showed great maturity in riding out a difficult start to end up with 65 at a run a ball. You can add 15 to that score too because the outfield was very big and grass cut to a local Council special standard.

Ahmad in contrast showed he can hit a ball and played very sensibly and simply – block the straight ones, and hit the ones on his legs hard and far. At one stage we would have taken 120, but a score of 175 was a very good response – below par for a normal Godalming track, but given the time of year perhaps only slightly below par. Within that 175 was a great inning from Singh (daboo). After missing/blocking many a ball, he unfurled a mow over cow – Saran Singh Six! Unfortunately the other 10 balls he faced were all dots – but still, a good story.

The Godalming response started slowly (not that ours was fast), and Ahmad and Tanveer both impressed with accurate/hostile spells respectively. Both deservedly got a wicket. But a very tight opening spell failed to lead to a convincing position, and Godalming found their way slowly but surely to 79-3. Singh was given the chance to show his skills, and a promising start was rewarded by the prize wicket of Agge caught in the deep (no surprises there), and whilst wickets started to fall, runs were still being accumulated. Ali impressed as always – ending the day 9-4-22, and Tughral Zam (re-daboo) also bowled really well and would have got more with a harder track – his time will come.

All of a sudden we found ourselves in a proper cricket match – all results possible right through to the last over, with Godalming needing five runs and the Wick one wicket. I wouldn’t say luck was on Godalming’s side – because it wasn’t. We dropped 4 catches and missed 5 clear run out chances where direct hits would have won us the game in the final throws of the match. Godalming got home off the final ball to win by one run – well played.  

I have much love and respect for Godalming, and I know many of their players and characters well, but there is no way we should have failed to bowl them out for less than 175, even if they are a bit of a bogey side for us. Nevertheless there were many positives to take for the season ahead. The Wick’s attitude was spot on throughout, Oliver and Ahmad impressed with the bat, and Ali and Tughral Za with the ball.

Finally, being scorer means I get to see every ball and able to analyse the statistical quirks of the game. For example, in the Wick innings there were two short runs (both to Ahmed – there is a lesson there). There were also three 7-ball over’s in Godalming’s reply (and we got a wicket off one of them). Knowing these facts make me happy.