Match Report
With another hot and humid day beckoning, Wilcot’s league side returned to the home of cricket to welcome local rivals, Ramsbury cc. The previous evening, the opposition captain had suggested his team may have to forfeit the game due to a shortage of players, but with some encouragement from the home captain, Ramsbury were able to scramble together a few more which meant that the game was still on.
By 1pm, only two members of the opposition had turned up, with all XI Wilcot players, which included “two Aussies, one Pakistani, a West Indian and a tw*t” – Ash Elliott (2023), waited nervously for the remaining players to arrive. The captains agreed to put the start time back to 1.30pm as they went out for the toss. The opposition captain, who was standing in for a fellow teammate, admitted that he didn’t even know four members of his side. However, his day worsened as he called incorrectly, allowing Wilcot’s skipper to bat first on what appeared to be a very true batting surface.
Fortunately, Ramsbury now had 10 players available and took to the field, as Wilcot sent out Wilson ‘Shabbash’ Saraj and Shane Bryant to get the innings under way. Ramsbury bowled well from the very start, and some wicket-to-wicket bowling meant that runs were hard to come by. Shane was looking resolute, but in the fourth over, he tamely inside-edged a delivery onto his stumps, falling for 4. Doug Perrins joined Wilson, and after the first change of bowling, it was clear that Ramsbury had plenty of depth in their bowling attack. As the score crawled to 38 off 14 overs, Wilson nicked off to the bustling Yuvuraj for 11. This brought Heytesbury centurion and renowned gloveman, Kenelm Cornwall-Legh, to the crease. Having been peer-pressured into playing by both Jack and Doug, Kenelm was nursing a torn calf and therefore, significantly restricted in terms of ‘explosive’ movement. After settling in, Kenelm started to find the boundary and moved swiftly to 17, but with 64 on the board after 20 overs, could only nick one behind as Ramsbury continued to apply scoreboard pressure.
The captain joined Doug in the middle and as Ramsbury turned to another decent pair of second change bowlers, both began to steadily accumulate runs and rebuild the innings. With the score on 127, a well-set Doug was bowled through the gate by the spinning Williamson for 34 as Wilcot lost their fourth wicket. This brought the flamboyant Darayan Harricharan to the crease for his league debut. Darayan made his intentions clear from the start and his first delivery demonstrated some true “cot-ball” as he smashed a four down to long-on. However, Darayan’s calypso innings was brought to an end after a drive was well-taken in the covers as he departed for 9. With Wilcot now 5 down, Ash Elliott walked out and promptly hit the opposition captain’s spin into the canal with a mighty blow to long-off. At this point, Ramsbury turned to their skillful opening bowler, Faizey, for his second spell. With the score 173-5 chaos then ensued, with Faizey dismissing Ash, Harry P-G and Ben Leach for a brilliantly bowled hattrick, as captain Jack could only watch from the non-striker’s end. Having almost been timed-out, Billy arrived in the middle, hoping to steady the ship. However, a mistimed drive was caught at mid-on, leaving Wilcot 174-9, and perilously short of their minimum 200 target, on what was a good batting surface. Luckily, Charlie saw off the next over from the dangerous Faizey and ran well with the captain as the last wicket pair frustrated Ramsbury. The skipper brought up his 50 with a couple of wafted drives over backward point, but Charlie arguably played the shot of the innings with a delicious cover drive off Faizey’s final over. With the part time keeper struggling to keep byes at bay, Mr Extra raised the bat for its own 50, as the final partnership allowed Wilcot to creep to 209-9 off their 45 overs; with a useful 10 wicket partnership of 35 between Jack and Charlie.
As the players took tea in the sapping heat, Wilcot rued their lower order batting collapse and wondered if the total was big enough against a team which performed very well in the field, despite being a man short.
Once again, Ash and Billy were asked to open the bowling. With Charlie Maidment convinced that momentum was with the team, a raucous Wilcot took to the field and cheered on the strike bowlers. Having opened the bowling, Mr Faizey walked out to open the batting and promptly dispatched Ash for two straight fours in the first over; this was clearly the key man! Despite the ominous signs, Billy began his over up the hill and struck with only his third ball, as a beautiful delivery seamed outwards and took out the top of off-stump. With the new batsman not even sporting a collar on his shirt, Wilcot sensed blood, and Billy’s next delivery found a leading edge up into the air with PG claiming the swirler at square leg. With Billy threatening a second hattrick of the match, the fielders moved in, and despite the hattrick ball finding the outside edge, the ball fell between Kenelm and Doug as Ramsbury breathed a sigh of relief. As Faizey battled away, Billy claimed his third wicket, as Wilson took a great catch in the illegal webbing of his right mit, leaving the opposition 14-3 after 4 overs. With a wicketless Ash fired up, it was only a matter of time before he joined the party, as the competent Yuvaraj sliced a shot to Kenelm at gully. Faizey remained, and was quickly onto anything pitched up, as two huge drives over the captain’s head sailed for six and into the canal. With new balls being sought, the captain turned to both Doug and Charlie for a breakthrough. Charlie bowled a tight line from the start and despite bowling over the wicket to the left-handed captain, was able to pin him LBW on the back leg for 7. Wilcot had 5 wickets and only needed four more. With runs hard to come by, a beautiful delivery from Charlie clean-bowled Faizey for a well-made 43. Wilcot sensed this was the key turning point, and despite some resistance from the swashbuckling blade of Babu, Charlie and Doug made light work of the tail as Ramsbury were skittled out for 93.
This was a brilliant bowling performance from the side, and having initially felt that 209 was very much gettable, all four of Wilcot’s bowlers were able to build on the momentum of Wilcot’s wagging tail and claim 25 points as they secured their fourth successive win.
We travel to Swindon NALGO next weekend as the season nears its half way stage. With all four matches in June falling Wilcot’s way, the side will feel that a fifth successive victory is within their grasp.
