Match Report - 1xi vs Kempton - by Matthew Davies

HWRCC 1XI beat Kempton 1XI by 7 wickets.

Losers tell stories and winners celebrate.

We celebrated by firstly watching Coley (fresh from 4 wickets and 70 runs) dance to 80s 'classics' at the Wick, supported ably by Riley. I then ventured into the Royal Borough of Kingston with Charles High, Gregors Runsworth and flipflopped, Wick jumper wearing Whinney, all eager to celebrate the first Wick Wash of the season. I can now officially confirm I've perfected my Imran impression, as Bacchus' regulars will testify to.

I will also tell the story.

A warm day had emerged from a rainy night. Kempton's lovely ground had covers and therefore the track had been spared what little rain had happened overnight. It must have been watered fairly regularly though, because there were hints of green. Despite this, it was flat and pretty hard. It looked like it would be a batters' game, and spinners would play their part. And so it proved.

I'm not sure if they've played in the same Saturday side before, but for the purposes of this report we'll assume they havn't. Madoc-Jones C and J joined the famous brothers of Powell (and possibly Davies) by representing a Saturday side whilst sharing the same padre y madre. Both took a catch (J a stumping as well), but neither were needed with the willow in the end. Runsworth was also re-called.

Raza won the toss. Wick would bowl. Two weeks in a row we'd batted first, scored big enough and claimed winning draws by failing to bowl out the opposition. This wouldn't happen here and for that we were grateful. Ali and Unsworth opened up, and Unsworth managed to claim the oppo best bat for a quack, bowled for nought. Great start. It soon emerged however that the track was benign and pads were an unecessary weight handicap for batsmen. After 10 overs of decent, if not perfect bowling, Raza brought on Tong and himself to mix up and twirl respectively. Tong got a caught behind and Raza joined in with some lovely stuff. There was grip and a bit of bounce, but Raza kept things very tight and would eventually be rewarded with 5 wickets (albeit off 21 overs!). Kempton #5 scored an impressive 60/70 holding things together as others lost their way slightly.

The fielding was a mixed bag. Whilst the outfield was poor, like most outfields this time of year, some of the fumbling was comical - I will name names... Unsworth, High, Ali. It's also advisable to stand on the line if your skipper asks you to do so, if he's bowling. Especially if the next ball goes in the air to you. Imagine the embarassment if that happens and the ball goes over your head for 4... just imagine... Some good catches though, Madoc Jones C taking a great one running in from cow disposing of the dangerous if uncultured #4.

201-8 off 52 overs. That was a hard slog in the field. Also proof that it was an important toss to win.

Teas - a very good spread. Usual suspects, but also some cold pasta which went down well. Marfleet was slightly perturbed when asked not remove the cling film from the sandwiches he was trying to access, and for that indiscretion I shall remove a point from the score. However, I was satisfied so the score will be 6. It was also served on a trolley, which is old skool.

Kempers took the old ball. 52 overs old twas. A fair enough tactic given the state of the pitch. It's worked before. However, after Kempton had not managed a single 6 in their innings, our first 3 scoring shots were 6s - two for Ali and one for Davies. The old ball was lost in a garden and a new old ball was found. This new old ball was not as old as the old old ball had been, but the newer old ball would probably be better for both teams as it gave us all something to play with. There was always of course the option for a new ball...

Davies was caught at short fine leg, foxing the bowlers into bowling short with some feinting, and then foxing himself by splicing the half tracker in the air like a geriatric. How embarassing. One's cricket bat was thrown with disgust. However, Cronin joined an increasingly fluent Ali who put together a richly deserved 95 partnership and took the game almost beyond K. Cronin's dismissal merely brought in Raza who at the moment is seeing it like a beach ball, and another 40 runs were put on the board. Ali's ton was run a ball, and despite a controversially tight run out chance, was almost chanceless (rarely is a ton totally chanceless). His 100 didn't receive a single clap from the K fielders, which was a shame. Apparently we are a one man team. Check play cricket fellas.

Rashid's entrance merely speeded up proceedings, as he played some lovely shots to race us to the target off maybe 38 overs only 3 down. The good thing is that we're now taking it in turns to put runs on the board. Frimley was Davies and Raza with lots of 25s, Frimley was Ali and High and Kempton was Ali with help from Cronin.

Vandals next week. Game on.

[Matty D throws some shapes in Bacchus - Ed]