Match Report
Following another match abandonment the previous weekend, Wilcot travelled out to Westbury aiming to get back to winning ways. The return fixture in June had been a high scoring affair, with Wilcot coming out on top. However, it was very clear that the Westbury team were unrecognisable from our previous match; whether this was a good/bad thing remained to be seen!
As the captains walked out to the middle, Westbury’s strip looked in excellent order, but with some rain around it may have been a good toss to lose. Fortunately, Wilcot’s captain called incorrectly, which meant that we were put into the field. With Ash Elliott nursing a sore tummy, Andy Smith was asked to open the bowling with Billy Flippance. Both openers started well, with Andy dealing exceptionally well with the strong headwind. With some hooping swing at his disposal, Andy was finally rewarded after an outside edge was parried ‘skillfully’ by Doug in the slips, only to be taken low to the ground by Wilson at second slip (36-1)! Billy claimed his first scalp shortly after, by clean bowling the Westbury no3 to make it 46-2. After the completion of their opening spells, Doug Perrins and Luke Flippance continued to plug away, with Doug trapping Clare LBW to make it 65-3. This brought J Dark to the crease, who had made a quickfire 90 in our return fixture earlier in the season. Wilcot were mindful that a number of opportunities had gone down in the previous match, so they remained true to form as two further chances to dismiss Dark were missed in the field. With the score moving swiftly on to 164-3 (32 overs) yet another rain break meant that overs would now be lost for both sides. The Skipper brought himself on to find a further breakthrough and was rewarded in his third over when Andy held on to a chance at midwicket to claim the wicket of the aptly named A. Elliott. However, Dark and Knott continued to score freely, despite the introduction of the young Bertie Perrins; kindly stepping in at the 11th hour to replace the ailing Ash.
As the innings entered its closing overs, the returning Andy Smith finally claimed the wicket of J Dark (93), which helped stem the flow of runs. Chatfield (x2) and Billy (x1) claimed further wickets as Westbury tried to hit out towards the end, as they finished their allotted overs (43 a side) on 238-8. Though this was a gettable score, Wilcot were frustrated that one key partnership had allowed the opposition to take control of the game. Rain returned during the innings break, which meant that the captains had to get together and work through the D/L method in order to calculate Wilcot’s required score. Sadly, for a chasing team, the score is always calculated to be chased at a higher run rate, due to the bowling team’s ‘handicap’ of having fewer deliveries to take 10 wickets. After a complex calculation, Wilcot now needed 213 off 34 overs; which was not a straightforward task!
Tim Holme and Ed Mardon got things underway, with Tim finding the boundary early on with some fine dabs through backward point and third man. With the lightning quick outfield now slowing due to the excess rain, the once ‘billiard table’ outfield was indeed slower than the first innings. The score had moved to a comfortable 38-0 (9 overs) before Tim was strangled down the legside; falling for 28. Ed followed shortly after having struggled to find his timing, before Darayan was triggered LBW for a duck, leaving Wilcot teetering at 41-3.
Having frustrated Wilcot with the bat, Westbury now turned to J Dark with the ball, and an economical spell followed as Dark completed his 7 overs for a tight 2-16. Chatfield (7) and Bryant (6) didn’t hang around for too long, but Doug soon found some form and dispatched a number of deliveries to all areas of the park to bring up his 50. Though ably supported by Wilson Shabbash Saraj, Doug was finally dismissed for an excellent 57 as Wilcot struggled to keep up with the run rate. With some tidy fours from Luke Flippance towards the close Wilcot finished their allotted overs on 141-7 (34 overs), comfortably short of Westbury’s imposing total.
Sadly, this was another game where we fell well short with the bat. With three games left in the season, Wilcot will have to be at their very best if they want to avoid the drop!
We welcome friendly foes Spye Park to our ground next week, where the home team will be looking to repeat their performance from earlier in the season.
