Match Report
With rain falling overnight, the Saturday team were once again faced with a showery forecast as they made the short trip eastwards to local rivals Ramsbury. Despite winning their last league game in a ‘squeaky bum time’ finish against Spye Park, Ramsbury were at the bottom of the table so Wilcot knew this would be a must-win game.
Despite some ominous looking clouds, the Ramsbury skipper had informed the captain that the match was to be played on astro. As the two made their way out to the middle, Wilcot’s captain called incorrectly. With the opposition still waiting for a few late arrivals, Ramsbury opted to bat first despite the damp outfield.
As always, the skipper turned to Billy and Ash to get things underway. As Ash probed away at the pavilion end, Billy’s opening spell only lasted two overs as the pace bowler struggled to find grip on the astro surface. This allowed the late-arriving Charlie Maidment to take up the new ball from the 6th over, and strike almost immediately as Barker was clean bowled (28-1 in the 6th). Having promised his captain a world-class spell, Charlie continued to trouble the Ramsbury batsmen, and would have been rewarded with further wickets, had the captain kept hold of a reasonably simple chance at mid-off. However, the run rate slowed, and in the final over of his spell, Ash induced an edge off Babu’s bat to claim a caught-behind in Wilson’s gloves (38-2 in the 11th). Ramsbury’s captain continued to quietly accumulate, but Charlie was rewarded with a further wicket, when a late cut was taken brilliantly by league debutant James Bilderbeck in the gully (57-3).
With Ash rested for later on, Billy was given the ball at the other end, but continued to struggle with his shoes. This prompted several changes of footwear with other members of the team who possessed size 10 trainers, but nothing seemed to make much difference, meaning that Billy had to resort to a shortened run up. By this stage, the dangerous Faizey was looking in ominous form, and had already dispatched a couple of deliveries for six. Ramsbury’s score moved past 100, and so the captain turned to his second league debutant, Jonathan Evans, for a further breakthrough. Bowling left arm around, Johnny bowled a trying mixture of orthodox spin, inswingers and yorker-length darts. Having been pulled for six more by Faizey, a quicker ball from Johnny castled the batsman’s stumps to bring the bowler his first league wicket.
With a further rain delay meaning that the match was reduced to 43 overs/side, the skipper replaced Billy at the pavilion end to see if the astro wicket was conducive to spin. As usual, it wasn’t! However, the captain claimed the next wicket in his first over, as Sarath was caught and bowled. This triggered a mini collapse, as Johnny and the captain shared the next two wickets, leaving Ramsbury 124-7 with 16 overs to go. However, Ramsbury had clearly saved some more experienced batsmen for the lower order, and both Osmond and Gilligan began to rebuild in a steady, if unspectacular, style. At this point, the captain turned to the pace of Charlie and Ash for their second spells. The runs continued to dry up, and Ash was rewarded with his second wicket as he dismissed the obstinate Osmond LBW for 38. The breakthrough allowed the captain and the vicar to mop up the remaining wickets as Ramsbury were all out for 166.
The first part of the job was done, with key bowling points claimed in the removal of all ten wickets.
Tim Holme and Mark Windsor were asked to get the run chase underway, knowing that only 3.9 runs an over were required. The atmospheric conditions were offering plenty of swing, and Ramsbury’s opening pair bowled well, beating the bat on numerous occasions. However, there was occasionally too much swing, with the extra wides helping ease the pressure. Tim had moved on to 9, but nicked off to the keeper, leaving Wilcot 24-1. Sunday batting maestro, Johnny Evans, made his way out to the middle for his league debut and played positively from the start. Though both batsmen rode their luck with plenty of playing/missing, Wilcot kept up with the run rate and were soon 64-1 off 19 overs. Mark Windsor was looking solid following last week’s innings, but he was soon undone by an excellent inswinging delivery from Naushad, as Wilcot lost their 2nd wicket. With 20 overs now played, a result was confirmed, but a further rain delay meant that Wilcot’s innings had now been reduced to 39 overs. A complex recalculation using the D/L calculator meant that if Wilcot finished their 39 overs on 142 or more (with only two wickets lost) the result was theirs. However, the par score would change should further wickets be lost …. complicated.
The returning Dex joined Johnny in the middle for his first match of the season, and got himself off the mark with a well-struck boundary down to long-on. Having ridden his luck early on, Johnny started to find the gaps in the field and run a number of excellent singles, allowing him to reach a well-deserved half-century. However, the quick running soon got the better of Dex, as the returning batsman pulled his groin after completing a single. With the pressure now off, Dex forgot about the running and tried to deal in only boundaries. Having made 22, the hobbling No4 finally nicked behind, as Wilcot lost their third wicket for 130. Unsure about whether the D/L par score had changed much with the loss of the wicket, Ash arrived in the middle and looked to play the Michael Bevan role in finishing the innings quickly with a series of boundaries down to long-off. With six to win, Johnny looked to end the match in style, but was caught on the boundary for a match-winning 71. With the result all but assured, young Konrad was sent out to finish the game promptly, and after a few swings through clean air, managed to find two further boundaries as Wilcot eased home in the 35th over.
This was a strong allround display in what was a must-win game for Wilcot. We chased well against some decent bowling and made the most of the bowling points available. Spye Park’s loss to the Coastal Cobras, means we are now in 8th position, but only a handful of points above the relegation zone. We will go into next week’s final game against promotion hopefuls Swindon NALGO, knowing that a win would almost secure our survival in division 5, but that a loss will mean a nervous wait, hoping that other results go our way!
JC
A Elliott – 9 – 3 – 17 – 2
B Flippance – 8 – 1 – 61 – 0
C Maidment – 9 – 3 – 23 – 2
J Evans – 9 – 0 – 34 – 2
J Chatfield – 6 – 0 – 17 – 3
M Windsor – 1 – 1 – 0 – 1
Extras 23
Ramsbury were all out for 166 in 42 overs.
T Holme – Caught Wkt – 9
M Windsor – Bowled – 18
J Evans – Caught – 71
G Dexter – Caught Wkt – 22
A Elliott – Not out – 13*
K Woodrow – Not out – 8*
J Chatfield – DNB
J Bilderbeck – DNB
W Saraj – DNB
B Flippance – DNB
C Maidment – DNB
Extras – 29
Wilcot scored 170-4 off 34.4 overs.
Wilcot win by 6 wickets (D/L)