Captain’s Report
On a glorious late summer’s day, Wilcot’s intrepid warriors set off to take on the mighty Devizes 2 at the sports ground adjacent to Wiltshire Police HQ. With Devizes Carnival clearly in full flow given the nearby fairground music, most of the team were pleased to avoid too much traffic and reach the ground in good time. The wicket prepared looked hard and flat and full of runs. Wilcot’s skipper was aided by young Bertie Perrins for the coin toss but both were disappointed when the coin bounced off the hard surface into the longer grass and ended up showing tails against our call of heads and Devizes’ captain chose to bat.
Undeterred by the prospect of bowling on a pitch likely to favour the batting side Billie Flippance steamed in from the Carnival end. Ash Elliott, who was suffering from a chest infection, struggled with his early length and ten runs had already been taken from his second over when he took the first wicket with a well judged catch at cover by Charlie Maidment. Billie removed Devizes’ number 3 in the next over with the unusual spectacle of the skipper taking a catch. Ash then removed the second opener, who did not take kindly to being given out LBW, and the score then stood at 33 for 3 at the end of the 10th over. Enter S Chapman and G Rogers who with some elegant and hard hitting stroke play took the score to 309 in the 42nd over. dispatching all of Wilcot’s willing and diligent bowlers to all parts of the ground. The only respite to this barrage of blows was the necessary pausing of the game while the Air Ambulance landed and took off from the adjacent field ignoring Billie Flippance thumbing for a lift. Devizes finally scored 353 for 4 off their allotted 45 overs, the last wicket falling to Tim Mister calling on all his guile to have G Rogers caught at gully having made 96. S Chapman left the field to an ovation unbeaten on 205.
Much needed sustenance was provided in the form of egg, cheese and ham sandwiches, sausages rolls, spring rolls with chilli sauce and a variety of cakes and chocolate bars.
Wilcot’s vicar Mark Windsor and Wilson Saraj were chosen to open the batting and Wilson was the first to fall when trying to hook the mountainous and hostile J Hutchinson, closely followed by Doug Perrins falling LBW to the same bowler, 16 for 2. Steve Sadler, fresh from limited appearances in the middle in 2017, joined the vicar and took the score to 45 in the 16th over before Mark became Hutchinson’s 3rd victim gloving an attempted hook to the keeper. The highest stand of the innings followed with Steve and the skipper dourly taking the score to 80 before the skipper’s dodgy hearing contributed to him being run out. The remaining wickets fell at regular intervals but there were a couple of elegant shots from Ollie Lanyon before he was the last to fall with the score on 122.
A comprehensive defeat by a good side who narrowly failed to win the division in spite of being on the same number of points as Marshfield who won more games overall than Devizes. With those two teams promoted and, assuming our squad remains similar to that available this season, we should be in the mix for promotion ourselves next season. We end the season with 9 victories and 8 losses from 17 matches played. There has been a tremendous strength of spirit amongst our players this season and we have played some competitive cricket with some (mostly) affable opposition and had a lot of fun.
Devizes 2 353 for 4 off 45 overs (S Chapman 205 not out, G Rogers 96)
Billie Flippance 9-2-30-1
Ash Elliott 9-1-55-1
Luke Flippance 9-0-63-0
Charlie Maidment 7-0-56-0
Ollie Lanyon 3-0-49-0
Doug Perrins 3-0-47-0
Mark Windsor 2-0-19-0
Tim Mister 3-0-28-1
Extras 5 byes, 1 leg bye, 4 no balls and 9 wides
Wilcot 122 all out off 43.2 overs
Mark Windsor Caught 24
Wilson Saraj Caught 6
Doug Perrins LBW 0
Steve Sadler Caught 40
MFG Run out 18
Tim Mister Bowled 8
Ash Elliott Caught 3
Bille Flippance Bowled 6
Ollie Lanyon Caught 10
Luke Flippance Bowled 0
Charlie Maidment Not out 1
Extras 2 byes and 4 wides