Burbage & ER 3 vs Wilcot – 24th June 2017

On a cloudy, humid and later occasionally damp afternoon, Wilcot travelled to local rivals Burbage.  Burbage’s third and fourth teams play on an all-weather artificial pitch on a ground recently converted from an arable field and a feature is a large oak tree, subject to a preservation order, some 20 yards from the middle of the wicket. Ash Elliott and both Flippance brothers are former Burbage players and were greeted warmly by their former teammates. Having called correctly once again, Wilcot’s skipper chose to bat.

 

Mark Oliver and Ed Mardon opened the batting and Ed was in good form scoring freely immediately and this pair took the score to 40 before Mark was bowled.  Ed and Doug Perrins took the score to 105 in the 20th over and a big score seemed to be beckoning. Sadly, they both fell in quick succession with Ed caught having made a fine 61 and Doug bowled for 23.  Useful runs from Wilson Saraj, Ash Elliott and both Flippance brothers kept the scoreboard ticking but the innings had lost much needed momentum and only 90 was scored off the last 25 overs for the loss of nine wickets.

 

Much to ponder over an excellent tea with a choice of cheese, ham egg and BLT sandwiches among others.  Also on offer were delicious sweet chili chicken tortillas/wraps, blinis with smoked salmon, pizza slices, pork pies, crisps, fresh fruit, brownies and miniature banoffee pies which especially appreciated by Wilcot’s leading wicket taker to date, Luke Flippance.

 

Burbage started steadily against some tidy bowling from Billy Flippance and Ash Elliott and Billy took the first wicket with the score on 35 in the 11th over.  Ash bowled a very accurate spell and beat the bat on several occasions and was unlucky not to take a wicket particularly as his spell also featured the now almost inevitable dropped catch by the skipper. However, our total of 195 never looked enough on a relatively benign wicket and in spite of good spells from Doug Perrins who took one wicket and Luke Flippance who took a further three, Burbage did not look in much danger. The skipper as a last resort turned to his canny Scottish spinner Ninian MacGregor who helped to bring the match to a swift conclusion by twice being clouted into the neighbouring gardens by a 13 year old Burbage batsman.

 

A disappointing result but we failed to score enough runs and were outplayed. The match was played in a very congenial spirit and we look forward to welcoming Burbage for the return fixture in Wilcot at the end of August.

 

We play Devizes at Wilcot next Saturday with what is likely to be a scratch side as the Corbett’s invitation to lunch on that day clearly appealed more to a number of our players than the likely rigours of playing a side that sits at the top of the league table as I write.