We welcomed new League leaders Newport to Church Road this week, with the hope of wiping away the memories of a) last weeks defeat at Berkswell and b) the slight farce of our "abandoned" game over at their place, early on in the season.
The deck wasn't looking how you'd expect a Wombourne deck to look after the weather we'd had....... and a green-top was what we were left with. Unfortunately, we also lost the toss, on top of losing Mikey and Liam, thus not the best start to a game!!!
A slight shuffling of the order was a result of both having players missing/returning and also our recent inability to get off to good starts. Unfortunately, with the pitch in the state it was in, and their Indian pro and old timer bowling to it well, we were again on the back foot early. For the fourth game in a row, we lost our 4th wicket with less than 65 on the board, not really good enough for this stage of the season. Greggy's slump continued, stumped, KQ left one that cut back and took off peg, the returning Flamingo got a leading edge and Sherms had one nip back on him.
Again, Poolside set about constructing a partnership, this time with Mowgli who's recent returns with the bat had earnt him a promotion to 5. We seemed to be getting the hang of it, mixing solid defence with lusty blows to the boundary (it was pretty much 1 or 4 given the outfield!) until a rush of blood to the head from Stu put us back under the pump, 5-80-ish.
I joined Mowgli and attempted to carry on where he and Stu had been going, waiting for the now tiring bowlers to give bad ball up. A few overs of obduracy brought about a double change, with their spinners coming on. Unfortunately, the temptation to rain blows on the tennis courts proved to much for Reefer, bowled with head in the air! Speaking of rain, it was looking very much likely to shed it down, so with 36 overs gone we were in a bit of a conundrum. Do we go buns blazing with only 4 wickets left, in case it rains and we have the rest of our overs removed, or do we play sensibly and hope it stays clear til our innings is done?
Well, the dross the spinners served up made out minds up, Smudger coming in at 8 and I managing to deposit a few over and past the ropes to up the rate, and down the Newport balloon somewhat. Not really sure how, but one of the umpires decided a ball hitting 3/4 of the way up a tree on the outside of the ground, before landing in the road, and dribbling onto the community centre car-park was only worth 4 runs, before his folly was pointed out. To be fair, he had to check how many balls were left in an over twice though
A quick flurry of wickets (surprisingly enough once the pro was brought back on, must be nice having your cricket played for you?!) towards the end left me with the Big Bird and 8 overs to go. A 23 run over (included a blow into the beer garden of the Chav Bar, sorry the Pool Bar) pushed us over the 200 mark, before I was given LBW to a slower ball.
Tea was taken with a dispute over the score, Becky had 206, the umps 205 and their scorer 202. Apparently the only fair way to go was to take 202?
Back out we went, with Chippy and the Bird licking their lips at the still green track, and us buoyed by another recovery. Again, we needed quick wickets, and both of the above bowled the right areas, and we had them 2-20 odd early on. Calv was finding all sorts of snakes to bounce the ball off and soon enough they were 4 down, with the pro and their captain in. Make or break time.
A dispute over the light brought about mainly by a fair bit if gamesmanship was ended by a heavy shower, with all sorts of carrying on going on. Calculators were to the fore as we got the covers off, the final equation, they needed 98 or more off a further 24 overs for a winning draw, or 147 more off the same overs for the win. Calv and Dale resumed, and both bowled beautifully, without much luck.
The returning Chippy removed the skipper, and we kept the pro starved of strike as much as possible, confident of removing the many specialist fielders at the other end Wickets came at fairly regular intervals, but while the pro was in, they were always a show at the winning draw, making it a tense affair all the way til the end. However, one big shot too many saw Smudger take a fantastic running catch at extra cover to remove him, and give us a couple of overs at the last two wickets, while they still only needed 15 or so. Disappointingly, they decided to shut-up, possibly an indication of their lack of faith in the lower order, and we took the winning draw fairly comfortably in the end.
Once again, not a great effort with the bat, although not helped by the conditions, followed by a superb effort with the ball and in the field. Everyone hung in, and with a tad more luck, we could easily have won. We've played Newport twice now, and barring the weather, SHOULD have beaten them comfortably both times. Good signs for the future, should we get everything working together.
MG
Wombourne ao-202(?!); Grant 82, Smith 28, Sunasara 24(?).
Newport 8-152(?); Hughes 4-for, Priest 2-for, Sunasara 2-for, Quiney, 10 overs, 0-28 (fantastic, very unlucky)
Wombourne 14* (15 - 1 for slow over rate, which is a joke in my opinion)
Newport 7 (?)
Related Links:
WCC vs Ombersley (1st XI)
WCC 1st XI vs St.Georges
WCC vs Coleshill (1st XI)
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