Having won all four of their games in June, Wilcot ventured to the drab Penhill estate of NE Swindon as they looked to make it 5 in 5. Though not the most picturesque ground, the visiting captain was pleased to see that our opponents have recently purchased a new set of covers via the ECB fundraising scheme. Despite this, the pitch was almost glass-like due to some overnight rain. However, with only 10 players and the prospect of a late arrival from Ash, the captain called correctly and chose to bat first.
With a few regulars out for a multitude of reasons, Mark Windsor and Tim Holme were asked to open the batting and get things underway. Things started steadily, and the opening pair had taken the score to 58 in the 17th over, before Tim was well-taken at extra cover. Unfortunately, one became two, as Mark was undone by an excellent delivery from the left-arm pace of Rajat (61-2). As per last week’s game, the bowling attack remained consistent after the openers had completed their spell. Tom Clare and the captain began to rebuild, but the wicket was sticky in places, which meant any straight deliveries were very hard to get away. Eventually, Tom was next to fall after trying to push the score along, as a catch was well-taken in the deep. Aussie gapper, Ben Leach was next in, and after some ironic cheers were heard from the stands after surviving his first ball, the youngster could only inside-edge the ball directly into his box to bring a painful break in play. After being assessed and ‘assisted’ by the opposition physio, Ben manfully continued, but the break in concentration led to further wickets, as the canny Imran Dastigar found Ben’s edge and claimed his second wicket.
As the opening bowlers returned, Wilcot’s batsmen tried to up the pace, but after finding a couple more boundaries, the captain could only slice a cut to backward point to fall for a sluggish 26. At 107-5, Wilcot continued to lose wickets at a rate of knots, as Wilson, MFG and Billy shortly followed with only 2 batting points claimed. WIth Andy and Charlie now forming the ninth (and final) wicket stand, some well-judged singles allowed Wilcot to creep to 126-8. It was at this point that Charlie once again called Andy through, but the sharpness of the run took its toll as Andy became yet another Wilcot player to fall to a calf injury; last man out (run out), as Wilcot’s innings collapsed in a whimper to 126-9.
With Ash unlikely to make the 2nd innings, Wilcot still had plenty of self-belief, as the memories of defending 108 (with 10 men) at Marlborough came to the front of players’ minds. The wicket was not an easy batting surface, and with the in-form Maidment and Flippance champing at the bit, Wilcot sensed an early breakthrough.
Despite the need to build up some momentum from the start, the Nalgo captain, Jamey Nair, was clearly in a hurry. Having promoted himself from No6 to opener, the confident captain expressed himself from the very off, with drives, pulls and cuts flying to the boundary in all directions. Though Charlie was able to dismiss the other opener with the score on 23, Nair didn’t let up, and was already past 50 in the 9th over. Having reached his milestone, Maidment finally claimed his man after Nair played one back footed pull too many, as the leg stump went cartwheeling with Nalgo on 80-2. With Billy out of the attack, the captain turned to the reverend’s dibbly dobblers to see if he could extract anything from the wicket. The vicar was rewarded in his second over, pinning Tarun lbw for 7 as the team sensed a late opportunity for an upset. Despite this, the next batting pair continued to play their shots, and despite a late wicket from the captain (bringing the team’s second bowling point), Nalgo reached their target on the last ball of the 15th over to wrap up a convincing win.
This was a disappointing performance from our side. Despite starting on the backfoot with only 10 available players, we fell comfortably short of a competitive total against some very accurate bowling, meaning we were very much second best on the day.
We welcome Wroughton Wranglers to the Old School Ground next weekend. Having had our return fixture rained off in May, Wilcot will be hoping that a lot has changed since the teams last came together in the summer of 2005, where Wroughton skittled out an 8-man Wilcot for 17 – our record lowest score!