On the back of two straight wins, Wilcot went into their final game knowing that a victory against second-placed Swindon NALGO would ensure their place in division 5 for 2024. Over the course of the week, Wilcot’s odds of staying up had been made easier after Westbury 2s were docked 12 points for a series of level 2 offences; effectively putting our rivals in the relegation zone.
With concerned eyes on a number of division 5 fixtures, Wilcot’s captain went out to the middle and took note of a flat (yet dampish) surface, which promised to dry out over the course of the day. With another lush outfield, runs would be hard to come by, so when the NALGO captain called incorrectly, Wilcot’s skipper opted to bowl first.
With such an array of fast bowlers at his disposal, the captain turned to Ash Elliott and Andy Smith to get things under way. Both of NALGO’s openers batted steadily, but tight bowling from both ends meant that the score had only reached 29 after eight overs. It was at this point that Ash made the first breakthrough, trapping the opposition captain, Nair, LBW for 16. With both bowlers being rested after 6 overs apiece, Billy Flippance and Doug Perrins were brought into the attack and bowled consistently from the off. Billy was rewarded with the wicket of Raghu in his second over (50-2), which brought key man Prashant Joshi to the crease. With NALGO’s number four yet to score, a rare full toss from Doug saw Joshi swipe the ball to short-midwicket, where the fielder was unable to keep hold of the chance; a moment which would prove to be key for the remainder of the innings.
Billy, Doug and Luke continued to bowl valiantly, but Wilcot’s luck deserted them as a number of mistimed strokes continued to fall into no-man’s land and evade Wilcot’s fielders.
Despite NALGO’s opener retiring hurt on 61, the change of partnership brought no respite to Wilcot’s bowlers as NALGO amassed a further 146 runs off the final fifteen overs. However, there was a moment of cheer in the final over of the innings, when two successive batsmen lofted the ball to Mark Windsor at long-on, bringing Wilcot another crucial bowling point. With Billy on a hattrick, and only one ball left, the bowler was unfortunate in not making it 3-in-3, when his final delivery was inside-edged past the stumps! NALGO completed their 45 overs on 245-4; certainly a decent score, but with a drying outfield and flattish Wicket, a victory was not outside the realms of possibility.
After what seemed like a slightly prolonged tea break, Wilcot’s openers, Tim Holme and Mark Windsor walked out to start the team’s response. As always, the duo made a steady start, taking the score to 28-0 after the first 10 overs. However, Tim edged behind for 14 in the next over to give NALGO their first breakthrough. Despite Doug and Mark making promising starts, both fell for 16 and 24 respectively as a change of bowling saw Wilcot wobbling on 66-3 (and still short of scoring significant batting points). With the captain joining Kenelm out in the middle, the Salopian batsman began to find the boundary, as well as a number of well-run threes! The score was now past 100 (2 batting points) and Kenelm had accelerated to 43 in no time at all. However, there was to be no 50 for Wilcot’s number 4, as an ambitious drive back over the bowler’s head was calmly taken at long-off (112-4). As Ash joined the captain in the middle, Doug was able to communicate some important info to the middle; that Avebury had defeated relegation rivals Spye Park, meaning that Wilcot needed to reach 150 to be sure of staying up. Despite the optimism, Wilcot’s captain got a little carried away by the promising news, and cut a short ball to point (122-5). With plenty of work to do, Wilcot’s resident Trinidadian, Darayan joined Ash and played positively from the start. A few boundaries started to flow, and Wilcot passed the 150 mark in the 41st over to claim their seventh point of the game. With victory well out of reach against a competent bowling attack, Wilcot finished their innings on 164-6 – ending in a rather anticlimactic style when Wilson saw out a maiden in the 45th!
Despite the reasonable margin of defeat (81 runs!), the match was played in great spirit under sunny skies – conditions which have been reasonably absent for the past couple of months!
Wilcot were confident they had scored enough points to stay above Spye Park and cement their place in division 5 for yet another season. However, slightly more drama was to follow. Having entered the Avebury v Spye Park result, it was confirmed that Wilcot had evaded relegation by a single point. Despite this, upon ‘confirming’ the result, Spye Park’s score increased by a further 2 runs, giving them an extra batting point. This now means that both teams are level on 203 points apiece. Luckily for us, Wilcot stay above their rivals in 8th position, due to the fact they recorded six victories, in comparison to Spye Park’s four.
