Captain’s Report
On an initially cloudy and breezy but later sunny afternoon, Wilcot welcomed old foes Bradford on Avon to the Old School Ground which had also played host to a fruitful Village Hall Committee meeting the night before. Another well prepared Peter Williams wicket looked hard and full of runs having been covered during the overnight storm and after winning the toss, Wilcot’s skipper chose to bat.
Wilcot’s opening pair of choice, vice captain Mark Oliver and our vicar Mark Windsor, were given the opportunity to give us a good start but, for once in the face of tight bowling, both failed to come to the party, Mark O lobbing a gentle catch of the toe of the bat to the keeper and with the vicar following soon after, also caught behind, the score stood at 23 for 2 in the tenth over. Steve Sadler and a doughty Doug Perrins took the score to 45 in the 17th over before Steve also fell and Wilcot’s frailty seemed to have moved to the top order for a change. However Doug dropped anchor and aided by some good strokeplay from the returning Shane Bryant took the score to 125 in the 36th over before Shane was out having contributed 54 runs of an 80 run partnership. Useful cameos from Wilson Saraj and Ash Elliott, whose first scoring stroke for 6 disturbed the reverie of the Stowell lambs, meant that a further 57 were scored off the last 8 overs making a respectable, but possibly very makeable, 183 off 45 overs.
Tea was served on a fine new table, kindly donated to the club by the Corbetts, and Linda’s offering was met with the usual approval. As well as the favoured egg, ham, cheese and chicken sandwiches, smoked salmon and cucumber was also on offer and a particularly gooey and tasty cake. A surprise offering was fresh pineapple which went down well with the healthy conscious member of Wilcot’s squad as well as the other 10 members.
Well refreshed and conscious that we may need to bowl and field well on what seemed a good wicket, Wilcot took the field with some purpose. Cometh the hour, cometh the man and Billy Flippance rose to the occasion and, bowling fast and accurately, demolished Bradford’s top order taking four wickets in a hostile spell, the last thanks to an excellent running catch by his brother Luke. Ash Elliott also played his part restricting Bradford to a frugal 9 runs from his 6 overs.The ball was then passed to our fired up Aussie Doug Perrins and Luke Flippance who both bowled well and with both taking wickets at regular intervals, Bradford’s last wicket fell with the score on 107. The ground fielding was also of a standard rarely seen from a Wilcot team and offers much encouragement for the future.
In the absence of the two most ‘experienced’ members of the team (the skipper and Tim Mister are on holiday) Mark Oliver takes command for next Saturday’s home game, the return match with the mighty Erlestoke. My own and Tim’s absence allows for the introduction of some youf and athleticism which could be useful if J Dorgan decides to cart the ball around as he did in the reverse fixture.
Wilcot 183 for 8 off 45 overs
Mark Oliver caught 1
Mark Windsor caught 5
Steve Sadler caught 17
Doug Perrins stumped 38
Shane Bryant bowled 54
Tim Mister bowled 3
Wilson Saraj caught 16
Ash Elliott not out 21
Billy Flippance bowled 6
Luke Flippance not out 5
MFG DNB
Extras 4 byes, 3 leg byes, 8 wides and 2 no balls.
Bradford on Avon 107 all out off 31.3 overs
Billy Flippance 9-1-36-4
Ash Elliott 6-2-9-0
Doug Perrins 9-0-36-3
Luke Flippance 7.3-1-19-3
Extras 4 byes, 3 leg byes, 3 wides and 2 no balls.