Match Report - Merstham vs HWRCC 3xi - by Selvesy

"Selvesey joins the rest of the team for tea on Merstham's outfield" - Ed

HWRCC 3xi 220 for 5 off 45. Clements 63, Byrne 57
Merstham CC 3rd XI 211 Aqeel Ilyas 3 for 27, Fahad Tanveer 3 for 54, Charlton E 3 for 36
HWRCC Wins by 9 runs
Singh, Risman, Ratnage, Selves, Aqeel, Fahad, Laight, Charlton, Byrne, Clements, Linter

Scorecard

As the 3rd XI surveyed the outfield of the first away league match of the season, the pleasures of playing on the main square at the WICK last week were a long way away. The opposition informed us that the game was moved to this ground because someone had in essence stolen their pavilion at the other ground. The fact there was also no pavilion at the new ground was something the boys pondered as they padded up after the invite to have a bat on the other side of the small hills between the boundary and the square.

The wicket had a nice grass cover that looked like it might do a bit, and it did in the bounce department. Ratnage got one and the catch was held. This turned out to be a bit unfortunate for Sam as the fielding then took on the consistency of the outfield (lumpy? - Ed). Risman and Singh took to building a healthy start with some good running against the poor ground fielding and some punishing hitting. Risman then got an assisted LBW from their umpire and then in the thirties Singh let one through.

Byrne and Clements set about building on the good work and kept the score ticking over. At 150 for 3 off 35 the 3s looked to have banished the demons of the batting collapse the week before and built an innings in the way Boycott would be telling them was perfect cricket if the TMS team had got lost while thinking they were walking on the south downs and found a cricket strip in amongst the hills. Byrne and Clements then opened up with some great hitting to finish off two composed and punchy performances and at 220 off 45 Captain Singh called the boys in and they had a picnic in the foothills.

The Wick took to the field and if the batting was a 100% improvement on last week the fielding went the other way. There were quite a few dropped catches throughout that would have put this game to bed, but then that would have ruined a nice story. Fahad and Aqeel opened up with lively spells getting good bounce and tickling the odd face guard. Neither bowler is however afraid to hit the furniture and both gave the stumps a whack and Merstham were 3 for about 15 after great opening spells for the two new Wick bowlers. It is about 15 because there was no scoreboard.

Selves came on up the hill for Aqeel, watched a catch go down then watched his line desert him and received some punishment. When their number five avoided being caught again Selves asked him for his lottery numbers and took a blow thinking of Jimmy C and a week being a long time in cricket. Then in the strange yin and yang relationship that has developed between Selves and Charlton’s bowling (never both take wickets in the same game) Charlton came on down the hill and looked the money. A few words with their lucky number five and a caught and bowled saw the Wick break the one partnership that looked like it could take the game from them. It was a great spell from Charlton that saw three fly past slip somehow not finding a pair of hands. Ratnage came on up the hill and Charlton continued his desire to be involved in every ball as Merstham’s opening bat swept every ball to him at square leg. Byrne offered to go stand in the openers face and when Singh said ok he realized he meant it. It is yet to be decided whether it was more impressive that Byrne nearly took a catch from a full pull about two meters away or the that he didn’t flinch when one hit him full on a few balls later.

Despite the wick proving they had the harder players Merstham were doing a sneaky ticking along of the score board, made all the more sneaky by there not being a scoreboard to tick along and their scorer taking about an over to work out the score when asked. Linter came on down the hill and continued the aggressive fast bowling of the others. Linter tucked up the batsmen and just as things were looking to be hitting a stale mate Linter forced an early shot with a quick ball and Aqeel took the catch running backwards with the ball flying over his head.

Singh didn’t let the new batsmen get comfortable as they started blocking out and rotated the bowling bringing Aqeel and Fahad back into the attack and both picked up wickets wrapping up great starts to their promising Wick carriers as Fahad caught low to his left off Aqeel.

With one wicket to get in 8 overs the Wick looked to be on for the win as Charlton and Linter came back for some more with Merstham needing 36 odd to win. A couple of top edges flying for 4, a dropped catch and a number eleven who did a quick Chris Gale impersonation and it was squeaky bum time for the Wick. But the boys held their nerve and with 9 runs left to win Merstham’s luck ran out and the top edge flew high down to Ratnage at fine leg. There was a long pause as that ball came down then a lot of shouting as the 3s recorded their first league win. Pleased to say Sam’s heartbeat is just returning to normal.

If the 3s field like they did week one and bat like they did week two anything is possible this year and the composure and support of each other in a game that somehow became a nail biter shows great team spirit for some tough games to come.

MOM this week was Fahad. Nathan says:

It is a tough call but I am going to go with Fahad for three wickets and a great catch. He would have picked up more wickets if catches were held.

Match Report - 3xi vs Esher - by Krusty Lown

"Splinter and Rizzo were quick to console Lownsy after the match" - Ed

HWRCC 3rd XI v Esher 3rd XI 7th May 2010
Esher 141 (Selves 6 for 37) HWRCC 86
Esher win by 55 runs
Scorecard

The wick won the toss and chose to bowl in the first 3rd XI league game to be played on the main square. Despite overnight rain, the outfield was dry and conditions good.

Donnelly and Lown opened up and bowled tight lines, restricting Esher to 19-1 off 13 overs. Both were replaced by Charlton and McMullum who also bowled well, but anything short was punished on this sticky wicket.

At Drinks the Wick had Esher at 59-2 off 20 overs, and a change in bowling saw Adam Selves come on from the Millennium Wood end. Having listened to the words of advice from Risso, Selves took the pace off the ball and bowled with great control; either tucking the batsman up or back of a length outside off. This bowling, backed up with some good catching from the wick brought Adam good reward, with figures of 14-3-37-6. Along with Phil Linter and Sam Ratnage at the other end, the Wick managed to bowl their last 32 overs in 1hr 50m and restrict Esher to 141 all out in 47 overs.

Tea – it never helps when the opposition wonder in and tell DBW the tea is a 10/10. Yes it was good – new combinations such as Chicken tikka with crispy onion and crème cheese had Goldie going back for 2nds, and the introduction of mini Cornish pasties is always pleasing. But tell someone they cant improve any more on the first league game is a recipe for disaster. So am giving the tea 7.5/10.

The Wick went out to bat needing 142 to win off 53 overs. With a strong top order this seemed very doable. However, Esher had other plans and opened up bowling very tightly outside off which resulted in wickets. Risman was caught at gully to a ball that stuck in the pitch, Goldie got a great ball which was feathered to their keeper and Ratnage was unlucky in playing onto his stumps. 12-3 off 5 was not the ideal start.

Clements and Edmonds tried to regain the initiative and both batted watchfully to see off their openers. However, Esher’s change bowler – bowling slooooow right arm around the wicket to right handers proved too tempting for some of the Wick, and wickets again began to fall quickly.

Donnelly and Selves came in and played some lovely looking shots and rotated the strike well, but ultimately the wick fell well short of their target and were bowled out for 86 off 31 overs – with 21 being the top score.

This was definitely a game of 2 halves – with the fielding and bowling being very good for the first game of the season. The bowlers worked well in pairs and stuck to their job, and were backed up by 7 catches. Its just a shame we couldn’t make the most of 53 overs and seen off the new ball to give ourselves a chance.

This week welcomes back skipper Singh from some pre season warm weather training in Mauritius where we hope to do a lot better with the bat.

3xi vs Warlingham - Match Report by Lloydy

Warlingham 3xi - 157 all out on 45 overs (Linter 3-45, Smith 3-32
Hwrcc 3rd XI- 158-4 (Sayce- 75*, Walsh 37)

Risman, Sayce, Lloyd (c), Singh, Copeland +, Ewen, Nicholls, Linter, Smith, Walsh, Rodgers

When you start out in a new league you never quite know what to expect, especially from an early season fixture where the availability for a lot of clubs is somewhat erratic. So it was encouraging that the Wick were able to field 3 strong sides on the first league weekend of the season…. Long may it continue!

First up we played Warlingham who were relegated from the league above last season and after a last minute venue change we arrived at Old Walcountians [careful with the spelling there - Ed] Rugby club full of energy and thankful that we had been spared a tour of the perennial mess that is Purley way/ Ikea’s carpark. Playing at a Rugby ground you are never quite sure what king of track you are going to get, but we were pleasantly surprised to be greeted with an absolute road, though be it a green one but certainly no stud marks or lost teeth on a length and a sloping though flat outfield. It was a perfect day for a certain left arm seamer to fill his boots though unfortunately he was called up last minute as a result of a freak testicular injury in the 2’s… get well soon mate! Toss won, bowl first, ATS! Graeme and Linter opened up for us and with a light to brisk down hill breeze blowing across the strip, provided some early entertainment for the expectant wick fielders. The opening bats looked comparatively comfortable though, punishing the short ball and happy to score at 2-3 an over. Frustration began to set in eventually and it wasn’t long before some more expansive shots were played and the edges began to flow. Once Phil found his length he had one opener caught at fly slip by Graeme only to have it wiped off due to a no ball but persevered and had him out the next over in identical fashion. In between Graeme bowled their other more threatening opener with a textbook leg cutter down the slope.

With 3 and 4 at the crease the wick turned the screws with Ewen Snr encouraging the bowlers, the number 4 was cleaned up by the milkybar kid caught behind by Harry and a few overs later Lints struck again bowled this time. Graeme’s consistent line and length encouraged the number 6 to play round a straight one and the wick were on a bit of a roll.

Chairman Nicholls then joined the attack and kept things tight and even took a wicket with his second ball of the season much to Graeme's chagrin. He was ably supported by young Tom Rodgers who also picked up the sticky number 3 thanks to a sharp catch at point by Nathan in his first over. Tom struggled a little with his lines though after this and was replaced by Ewen Snr who bowled his trademark line and length darts and kept the runs down but without the reward of a wicket.

Warlingham then had a bit of a tail wag and realising they were looking like being all out for little over 100 began to chance their hand and throw the bat. Dick and Nipples requested to swap ends so Tom came back on for an over and again took a wicket. The innings was eventually mopped up by Dick and Graeme bowling their last two bats in consecutive overs to leave us needing 157 from our 50 overs plus 5 of theirs.

Tea - Difficult really as it wasn’t their ground. Some said the bread was a bit stale and I’m not sure about the sanity of roast beef and onion as a filler as it recurred on your scribe for the rest of the afternoon. Plenty of it though which is always a plus when Harry is in the side and ginger cake was a nice touch. Tea ran out twice and was served from paper cups which is always a bit galling. – 4

The pairing of Risman and Sayce got us off to a great start punishing anything short or wide and a few that were just lose. Risman walked in the 20’s with a top edge to the keeper and brought the in form Nathan Singh to the crease. Sayce carried on as before and held up his end, frustrating the Warlingham openers. Nathan was unfortunate to fall LBW, narrowly missing out on duck tax to one that kept low and he was replaced by Lloyd who, ignoring Sayce’s suggestion to play himself in creamed the first ball over the bowler for a one bounce 4. It was in the slot apparently. The score board ticked over nicely as the pair (read Sayce) scored at around 4 an over. Lloyd was given out caught behind having struck the ground and brought Will Walsh to the crease.

Will and Paul put on a fantastic partnership with the latter reaching a fine 50 to steer us within touching distance of the win. Will was eventually out to a great one handed catch at midwicket on a well deserved 37 and Harry came in to see us through the final overs to win by 6 wickets with overs to spare. The highlight of his innings being 2 consecutive drives to long off and an attempted third being missed entirely. Indeed the Warlingham keeper was so surprised he made a mess of the stumps without ball in hand much to the amusement of the square leg umpire. It was all over the 4 balls later though as Paul flicked a rank full toss off his legs for four to win the game.

Red ink and a fine 75* for Sayce and 13 points in our first outing in the new league. Early days they maybe but a good start none the less.

Bring on Kempton next week.

MOM Sayce.

[MOM Sayce waves goodbye before disappearing into an Old Walcountian back garden]

3's Lose... Well it had to happen some time I guess

3rdXI Vs Old Tiffininans. Risman, Doddy, Lloyd, High, Cameron, Maloj, Caldwell +, Nicholls, Taylorson, Noor, Laight

Coming off the back of 3 straight (and some may say comfortable) wins, one would be forgiven for looking at this score card and saying “complacent”. But you would be wrong. My first mistake was telling people that Duncan had played a blinder with 77 runs and 4 wickets which prompted Fudgey to pipe up and say “ Perfect I need a number 7 next week Ithangyew!”.The next mistake was attempting to slide the highly rated colt Chris Madoc-Jones into my side which prompted Matty D so say ! “Are you sure!!” and my scribbling his name out.
The next heinous crime was that the IRB had rudely decided to play the Guinness premiership final on the same day as our game which instantly prompted Cranesy to go on a ticket hunt and join Dom on his birthday Leo Sayer. Couple this with opening bat Shyam Pushpanath coming down with measles and you have 120 runs missing from the previous week via Duncan and Crane and are an opener short. Following the steep learning curve that I cannot play cricket after an all night bender I took the opportunity to have a quiet one in front of Mario and Sonic Olympics and a Ruby. Perfect!

(Pop) Message from Charlie Fox
“Lloydy, lash tonight, exams finished getting on it”
“cricket match orrr”
“Don’t Worry I’ll get ruuuunnnsss”
Whatever

Toss won I decided to bat as the track was moist and were were fielding more of a bolwing side plus Charlie was looking like he had a night on the tramp juice (white lightening for those un accustomed to the nuances of stoodent beverages) and I thought sending him in early may have been the end of him.
Jimmy and Ian opened the bowling and tied up both ends for the first 3 overs before Ian managed to get their opener to sky one to mid wicket and into the buckets of Lloyd who waited an age for the thing to come down with snow on before catching it and putting it in his pocket. 4 for 1 off 4.
Good start.
Next over and still no more runs. In fact they got to 8 for 1 off 8 before Ian bowled the other opener. On came Muzzy and Maloj and snaffled for their first league overs of the season. Muzzy’s extra bounce accounting for the number 3 who was caught at gully by jimmy and then identical ball and catcher the next over to account for the dangerous number 5 and thennext over, Maloj took a fantastic C&B which he plucked from 2 strips across (god knows!). It was their number 5 that did the damage though, smashing first Kirk and then Keith for too many runs and accelerated their score to 130 odd before he fell and brought the innings to a close.

Teas were a reasonable 6 as a result of the cold sausages but only let down by the overly milky tea…. It’s a precise science don’t you know!
Doddy and Riso opened our innings and the former added to the clubs duck tax flashing at an out swinger (with the old ball?) in the 3rd over and sent the opposition into the kind of raptures usually reserved for service men returning from the battlefield. Lloyd joined Risman at the crease and seemed to be picking the ball well despite the short left armers both coming out of the trees, but fell for 6 playing across he line. The pain was increase when High who had picked his first few balls well had his middle stump uprooted as he did the same as the skipper. The wick were in trouble!

Cameron came to the crease and played selectively but well and he and Riso looked to be bringing the score along nicely before the latter holed out to mid off and brought new Wick keeper and debutant Alex Caldwell to the crease. Alex batted and kept with composure and experience which was in excess of his 15 years and it’s a shame he isn’t about much due to school.

The pressure was put on in a big way not least by Tiffs deciding to appeal for everything that either missed the edge or struck the pad, and by the constant chattering of the slip corden when we had been very quiet during their innings, which isn’t really in the spirit of the modern game. As time ticked on Cameron and Caldwell both fell caught and bowled respectively as did the chairman who spooned one to mid wicket. Frantic conversations were had between incoming batsmen and Lloydy and the draw was decided on as there was only 40 minutes left in the game.

Muzzy and Ian played with composure to see us to the last 10 minutes before Ian was cruely bowled by a grub hunter having seen the previous 2 whistle past his ears.

Last 7 minutes and Kirk and Muzzy were holding firm.
With 5 minutes on the clock, yet another appeal for caught behind was turned down by umpire Lloyd… funnily enough because there was no edge and that they appealed before the ball get near the bat, followed by an LBW shout, again turned down because Kirk was batting with a leg guard and the ball pitched outside off but boy were they grumpy!. Following this entertainment, I guess it should have been no surprise that the first ball of the next over struck the pad (again batting off leg stump) up they went. Their umpire used his good eye, moved the fastest he had all day and triggered Muzzy and bring about more over exuberant celebrations and hand slapping. A draw would have been a fair result we felt and to lose in such a manner left a bad taste with all the wick boys.
next week away to Merstham and hopefully better availability through the club should see a return to winning ways cos my corona just didn’t taste right!
Evenings festivities, Tun= lively Barcadia= even more lively
Duncan= vomming and the passing out on Cranesy’s sofa= Most lively!

3rdXI Vs Weybridge Vandals

Team: Risman, Pushpanath, Crane, High, Lloyd ©, Cameron, Copeland +,Kennedy, Taylorson, Nicholls, Ashmore

With the weather looking bleak to say the least you could be forgiven for thinking this game was to be a non event. However, whilst striding out to the middle for the coin toss it seemed both captains were keen to get a game in as it was decided that we would play through rain unless it started getting dangerous. So I promptly lost the toss for the second time in a row and having seen the damage our bowling attack did to Camberley the week previous we were put in to bat. Riso and new man Shyam looked comfortable from the off and put on an opening stand of 74 befor Shayam fell to a catch at point. The young lad sticking up a hand in hope more than expectation only to find the ball stuck and he celebrated like he had won the lottery. Riso followed shortly afterwards and brought Monkey boy to the crease to partner up Cransey in potentially explosive partnership. As it happened Monkey played a really nice innings full of composure and flair. Sadly Adam realised too soon that you need to leave the drive in the bag when playing on Kingsfield and holed out for a disappointing 6. Monkey and Lloydy put on a strong partnership of 74 for the 4th wicket and saw Monkey reach his maiden 3’s fifty with a number of huge 6’s. Lloydy tried his hardest to prove that you can drive on Kingsfield and was dropped twice on the way to 24 before playing round a straight one to bring Jimmy C to the crease. Jimmy played with his usual bottom handed finesse and ticked the runs along nicely. Monkey decided that his head had gone against their grenade chucker. Jimmy C disagreed. Monkey lost his middle stump next ball for 59. Told you he said. Duncan and the chubby chaser upped the run rate nicely over the last few overs till Jimbo top edged to the keeper and brought Harry in for the final few overs. 47 overs 215 on the board and Lloydy drew the innings to a close with Duncan on 37. Teas- Good with the foods of the world theme extended to some Italian cold cuts. Hot tea was unbelievably welcome. 8/10 With 20 overs being the magic number, the energy of recent weeks fielding performances continued and we found ourselves on top pretty quickly. Jimmy bowling down hill with pace and bounce threatened with everyball. A piece of captaining brilliance saw Duncan moved to 2nd slip and the next delivery drew the edge and nestled into his hands. 2 balls later and he has the number 3 LBW without scoring. Ian bowling uphill in his third over gets one to dip in and the bat gloved onto his own stumps to bring us to 3 for 4 off 5. Nice. Jimmy finished his spell with 4 wickets and Ian with 3, a comedy run out and a wicket for chairman nipps topped it off to win by 165 runs and send a happy Wick back to the bar with their supporters. Thanks go to Dave Ashmore whom I dragged from his bed to field for us and to Shyam for turning out to play on Friday night. Next week we are away to Wallington who were relegated from the Surrey Championship so should be more of a test. Fingers crossed for good availability up the club so we can field strong teams throughout.

HWRCC 3xi Vs Camberley cc 3xi (h) - Match Report by Lloydy

Risman, Crane, Doddy, Lloyd ©, Copeland +, Cameron, Robinson, Taylorson, Kennedy, Tong, Laight

As the proud captain of the Wick’s newest league side, it was with a degree of trepidation that we approached our first game in our new league. All the ingredients for a good days cricket were there: Weather - Check, 11 players - Check, Oppo - Check, Typical Wick pitch - Check. So all going well it seemed until I lost the toss. The oppo had a car missing and we were missing an Aussie (something about shrimp and barbies I dunno) so I helpfully suggested that we would be happy to field first with 10 to enable their remaining players to arrive.

Wick – 1 Camberly - 0

Kirky opened up with the new ball and bowled a lovely line and length that was instantly a challenge to the batsmen who struggled to get their head round the ball angling across and swinging in. At the other end we opened with new boy Graeme Tong. Text from Matty D mid week [He is rapid! Opening bowler Fact!!]. He wasn’t wrong and Tongy hit the mark immediately and took a wicket with his second ball. He and Kirky formed a formidable partnership, miserly on runs and always threatening to take wickets. At 3 for 3 (with only eight players present) Wick tails were firmly up and Camberly looked to be in a spot of bother.

After a spell of 9 overs for 4 wickets and having ripped through the upper order Tong was replaced by Taylorson who continued the demolition with his own run of 4 wickets from 7 overs for 10 runs, supported by Duncan at the other end who shipped in with a wicket off his 4 overs.

Camberly’s innings closed all out for 54 off 30.3 overs. Advantage Wick!

Teas- Interesting Asian fusion with Chicken Tikka [Good work Lloydy - like your use of the word fusion - Ed] but bread slightly dry so 6/10 [Hmmm. Perhaps you were through them so early that the bread was ever so slightly fresher - Ed]

The Wick innings was opened by Mssrs Risman and Crane – a formidable blend of composure and explosive power against the old ball. With the words “You have 75 overs to chase this score so don’t try and do it in the first 3 Cranesy!” they resisted temptation and I am pleased to say batted with control and common sense.

The score was brought up off just 10 overs without losing a wicket and allowed a satisfied team onto the terrace, Magners in hand to cheer on the 2s. An excellent team performance typified by first class fielding and bowling from all. We won’t win games by this kind of margin every week, but we have set ourselves a yardstick for measuring our bowling and fielding against and if we can get close to maintaining this form we will be a tough team to beat.

WICKWASH

[Image is obviously Tongs four for... - Ed]

3rds vs Bank of England - by Wickman Jr

HWRCC 3xi v BANK OF ENGLAND

When Harry met Lloydy…

Hampton Wick 3s get second win on the spin to make mockery of non-league status

HWRCC – 135 for 6 (35 overs) – Alex (47 not out), Lloydy 30 + Bank of England – 89 all out – (Laight, and Iqbal taking 3 wickets a piece)

Do you remember in When Harry met Sally when Harry Burns opined about the problems of marriage and long-term relationships? (Stay with me on this… I’m about to draw a tenuous link)[Wickman is reading this very carefully and suspects the urine is being extracted, but carry on]. Well, for those of you who’ve only ever perused the “wrestle mania” and “adult” sections of your local Blockbuster Video (firstly, get some culture and secondly, be thankful you don’t have a woman) here’s what Harry had to say on the subject:

“Right now everything is great, everyone is happy, everyone is in love and that is wonderful. But you gotta know that sooner or later you're gonna be screaming at each other about who's gonna get this dish (Harry points at plate). This eight dollar dish will cost you a thousand dollars in phone calls to the legal firm of That's Mine, This Is Yours.”

Ahh… such a doozy of a quote isn’t? Basically, summing up, Harry’s thinking, “yeah, I really like this bird I’m seeing at the moment, but just give it time and we’ll soon be fighting over last night’s pizza, and it will all end in tears. That’s the way relationships are”. (Just as a side point though, if you do have a penchant for “the larger lady” – and who among us doesn’t? - this WILL happen, FACT… and trust me you won’t be getting any of the pizza).

While it might not be immediately obvious as to what any of this has to do with cricket, if you think about the situation of Hampton Wick’s young star keeper – also named Harry (part of the tenuous link being drawn here, keep tight hold) – the connection is clear. Although Harry is by no means a slice of pizza, he is indeed a dish that everyone at the Wick will be fighting over in the next few months - FACT. The harmony that currently exists between the Club’s first, second and third xis will almost surely be strained after his brilliant performance behind the sticks against Bank of England on Saturday. Harry met Lloydy, and Lloydy liked what he saw.

The young colt single handedly saved 20-30 runs behind the stumps in a stellar performance, with some of the best glove work I’ve seen since I took a tour of the Kookaburra factory and saw them making wicket keeping gloves. Keep tight hold. Not only did he ensure that the Wick picked up their second win on the bounce (“we would be top the league… say we would be top the league…”) but also confirmed that when Fudgey meets Matty D, they will be fighting over just who will get first call on Harry when Garf and Clarky are away?

Indeed. Now to the match.

After last week’s heroics by Iqbal, the talk permeating the club all week was whether or not the boys could back it up against the Bank of England on Saturday (by “talk”, I mean, AJ saying to Matty D at nets: “Great win for the 3s on Saturday eh?”, Matty D: “yeah FACT – reckon they can back it up?”, AJ: “Don’t know mate – yeah why not”? MD: “Jimmy C’s good isn’t he?”, AJ: “Yeah, he’s lively as well!”… you get the gist). Following a couple of late inclusions into the squad, and a mysterious decision from the opposition to field in the wet having won the toss, the Wick went out to bat on what Doddy mused was a “bloody slow” track.

Led by openers Risman and Doddy, the Wick made a slow but confident start. However, with the pitch playing as invitingly as a (deleted, this is a family blog), it wasn’t long before they were both back in the hutch after some cavalier shots. Jimmy C joined them soon after following a ridiculous dance down the wicket, leaving the Wick at 4 for 30 after just 15 overs.

Thankfully, stability was soon restored as Lloydy and Alex arrived at the crease, helping to rescue the innings. Alex never looked troubled by their attack, pushing 2s and scoring boundaries at will, while Lloydy kept the runs ticking over at the other end with his usual, aggressive style. A partnership of 70 was quickly put together, helping the Wick to reach a respectable 135 at the close.

After the tea interval, and a great gee up from Lloydy, the boys took to the field in a buoyant mood. With “Direct” and Iqbal opening the attack, there was every reason to believe it could be a short afternoon. Direct, bowling with his usual pace and bounce was as probing as ever, while Iqbal got the ball to swing and dart all over the place, putting their batsmen under pressure from the off. It was little wonder then that their openers were back in the pavilion after only a few balls, both falling in quick succession.

Given the Wick’s good start and sensing an early finish, Doddy helped lighten the mood with a couple of horrible sledges about “banking” to unsettle the Bank of England batsmen. Listed by no means in order of popularity, Doddy came up with these gems:

“Make them play by ‘direct’ debit Des" “Good to see that our bowling is fixed and not variable” “this is gold standard stuff Wick” “send the next one down with interest”

Surprisingly Doddy’s oddball behaviour clearly rattled the batsmen. Direct and Iqbal managed to pick up another couple of wickets each, with Harry taking superb catches on both occasions. This, however, was only a small part of an amazing repertoire from Harry, who dived at everything and pulled off some amazing stops in the process. With the Bank now at 5 for 50, the game looked to be over as a contest.

With few remaining wickets on offer, Kirky and Jimmy C then came on to get into the act. Jimmy C couldn’t buy a wicket, despite constant appealing (Monty Panesar style) while Kirky, on the other hand, swinging the ball beautifully up the hill, picked up three wickets in quick succession, almost getting a cheeky hat-trick.

Thanks to Tommy Robinson and Ian T, the tail was quickly taken apart and the game was over. The Wick had bowled out Bank for under 90 runs with a brilliant bowling and fielding performance, led by the incomparable Harry behind the stumps.

In the team huddle after the win, Lloydy spoke eloquently about the “solid” performance. It’s two wins on the spin now for the Wick 3s, but can they make it three in a row? There’ll no doubt be talk at nets during the week, courtesy of AJ and Matty D, but don’t be surprised if there’s talk about which team is going to keep Harry.

Yours in Wick, Wickman Junior

Match Report - 3rdxi vs SR&K - by Wickman Junior

HWRCC 3rd XI v Southern Railway & Kenley 3rd XI (h) – Match Report

Team - Ewen R ©, Risman, Clough, Cameron, Wright, Hirsch, Lloyd, Copeland +, Iqbal, Nicholas, Walters, Moss.

SRK all out for 71, with Derek “You wouldn’t get pitches like this in South Africa” Nicholas taking 6 for very little. Jimmy C, Alex, Dick and Conner all sneaking a cheeky wicket each.

HWRCC 72-4; Lloydy not-out 37.

HWRCC cruises to comfortable victory as boys become men.

It’s not everyday you get to pit your cricketing prowess against Mike Tyson, George Foreman, and the three pesky kids from the Goonies, but Saturday May 20th was just such an occasion for HWRCC’s 3rd XI. To say that recently self-anointed Wickman junior (who still wonders who his father Wickman really is) has never seen anything like it before, would be akin to the reaction of Pete Townsend’s girlfriend on discovering the “pictures” folder of his PC.

While clearly not in Las Vegas on fight night Team Wick, led by Captain Dick were just as prepared as said fighters in boxing’s halcyon era, many of them having attended Fudgey’s 2s warm up and had a cheeky net. Having recovered from the initial shock of seeing the opposition, The Wick headed out onto the field (read: Hill) to bowl. With the outfield looking in need of a trim and some drastic rebalancing (for future reference, a pitch on a 45 degree angle means that it has “character” according to AJ),The Wick set about the task of tearing into the openers. Led by Derrick “I should be in the twos” Nicholas and Iqbal, the openers couldn’t buy a run.

With The Wick clearly on top in the field, Jimmy C decided to question the skipper's tactics in an unprecedented outburst. Cried Jimmy: “Why the #@% am I fielding here! We’re playing on a hill!

While Jimmy C and Dick exchanged verbals (think Ponting responding to big Dunc Fletch after being run out in Ashes ‘05), Derrick did not bat an eye lid. Taking 6 wickets in a blistering opening spell, we were soon into the tail.

It was at this point that the game ended as contest, if it hadn’t already. Out walked to the crease two pads and a helmet wearing what appeared to be an 11 year-old. Barely moving because of the weight of said gear, the young fella could only face a few deliveries before Derrick took out his middle peg.

With two further kids succumbing to Alex and Jimmy C, SRK ended on a difficult to defend 71 runs.

With a small target to chase, Wickman Junior could only see a comfortable win for HWRCC being the result. However, this confidence was ill-judged, as a nervy start of “hit or get out cricket” (right from the book of Shahid Afridi) left Wick on 11-3. The tea interval came at a welcome time for the boys.

After the tea break, Lloydy and Alex played watchfully to their opening bowlers (read: only bowlers) and only went after the loose deliveries. Lloydy batted like a younger version of Greame Hick and with the assistance of Alex, guided the 3s home to a comfortable victory.

Jimmy C later commented on the farcical ending, which saw one of the little blokes getting whacked for two fours in a row by Lloydy, as a “dark day for English cricket”. But then Jimmy C is a bit lively…

After the game, the opposition was invited for a couple of swift brews at Wick HQ. Sadly, given that it is illegal to sell booze to minors, this was unfortunately neither possible nor wise.

Yours in Wick,

Wickman Junior

3xi vs British Airways - a Clough and Crane production

BA 1st/2nd XI vs. HWRCC 3rd XI – Saturday 28th April

D Ewen, A Risman, D Clough, A Crane ©, P Sayce, I Taylorson, D Nicholas, T Robinson, Z Tughral Jr, Alex Walters +, K Laight

There was an initial scare when we arrived at the well maintained, if not noisy BA facilities when we saw “BA 2nd XI vs. Young Lions XI”. Having a team with an average age low enough for the Arsenal team to point and laugh, we thought this wasn’t an error in team name merely a reflection of our burning desire to get our first game of the season under way. Cranesy, having captained last about 4 years ago, unsurprisingly lost the toss and we were put into the field.

Ian opened the bowling and immediately found the spot, not giving the batsmen much room to manoeuvre, bowling with good speed. Derek from the other end was swinging it more than Ray Quin jacked up on Haribo. Alex behind the stumps, myself and Cranesy in the slips knew a wicket would come early doors if the opening bowling pair carried on like that and sure enough a swipe from a wider delivery gave Derek his first ever wicket in Hampton Wick colours when Dick Ewen collected a nice catch at gully. At this point they were scoring no more than 3.5 an over and we had them at a comfortable 25-1 after 8 overs.

Their number three was one of their 1st XI batsmen, no doubt about it. Anything short, anything not on the off stump, anything small, red, and kind of round got smacked for four. Kirky was on the wrong end of some fantastic shots. Tom Robinson, this season to be known as Juicy (Clough & Crane, 2007), was bowling good stuff on the spot, only to be given the same treatment. We found out soon enough that their number four was equally talented but inspirational captain Cransey picked up his vital wicket (albeit after his century) after a spell of tight bowling slowed their run rate. An attempted clip of the legs ended up in Ian’s safe hands.

After 30 odd overs the run rate we were looking to chase was in the region of 7 an over. And if it were not for some truly outstanding fielding from Paul, it would have been considerably worse. They had amassed a massive total of 244 after 38 overs and mercifully decided to declare.

The tea was distinctively average, and certainly not on a par with the facilities they’ve been provided with by the generous folk at BA. Paul asked Skip what the tactics were going to be after the batting order was read out, to which the all knowing Cransey announced “to score more runs than they did”. With genius like this it’s easy to see why after only on one season he’s made such at impact on the people at the Wick.

Dick and Rizzo opened the batting and had a solid start. They never really looked like troubling them, although they did manage to restrict us to only a few runs after 7 or so overs. Rizzo in an attempt to push the score along was unfortunate to be caught at deep mid off, which put me onto the field. Dick Ewen was dismissed not long after, leaving Cransey and myself in the crease. 26 runs later I was walking back with my head in my hands after swinging and missing a full toss which hit middle.

Cranesy was soon after cleared up by their leggie getting an inside edge onto the stumps, departing for a brisk 19. This left the two new boys Paul Sayce and Ian Taylorson at the crease. Paul followed his good work in the field with some wonderfully played shots including one (at least) sumptuous cover drive. With Ian backing him up well the score was moving on at a decent rate.

I forget how these two departed and on what scores exactly however I know Paul must have been around 30(?).

Along came another new boy Derek who looked to work the ball around and take advantage of any bad balls that came his way. Partnered with young Tom for a while who looked comfortable against both spin and seam.

Derek departed with around two overs to go looking to move the score along to a more respectable total. Bringing forth young Zohaak, clearly frustrated with his lowly appearance in the order he looked to prove a point but this point however lasted 2 balls as he slashed wildly and skied one to point.

Alex who had a good game behind the stumps came out with little more than an over to go hit a couple of strong shots, before doing something truly indescribable on the penultimate ball. Kirk came in played and missed and that was that. At least we were spared being all out.

Overall it was a good team effort against a stronger opposition, who were strengthened by their 1XI being called off. Particular mentions must go to Paul for manful efforts in the field stopping several powerfully struck shots in the covers, young Tom for bowling an excellent line and length though his overs, and finally Alex for a fine performance with the gloves.