The start of the second fixtures brought Great Waltham to the home of cricket in a ‘promotion’ clash.
Nob was very confident he would lose the toss and be invited to bat, so confident in fact he already had his box and thigh pad on. His hunch was correct and he and John strode to the middle, eager to beat their previous 3 opening partnerships which read 0, 1, 0. A T20 start followed, thanks mainly to wayward bowling, some iffy fielding and the visitors young keeper who had a difficult time behind the stumps, Totham had raced to 72-0 off 10. The openers did hit the odd decent shot, but unfortunately they both departed within an over of each other, bringing Foxy and Josh to the crease. Watching Foxy bat this week was different, he seemed to be struggling to get in to position and kept missing the ball. Questions were being asked in the pavilion, the main one being ‘Did he drink all of the wine last night?’. After some trademark shots, and many close calls, he finally departed for 44 and when he came to sit down it was apparent the reason for the un-fox-like display was a nasty looking broken toe clearly hampering him, suffered on his first ball. We looked in danger of throwing away a good position after a series of quick fire wickets but Snail resolutely steered the ship to to 248-9 off our allocated overs with extras the top scorer on 63.
Teas by Mrs Kendall this week and the finest selection of sandwiches we have seen this season. If I am going to be constructive in feedback, as I am paid to do, I would say it was missing some savoury such as cocktail sausages or sausage rolls. But I am not complaining. 8.5/10
We took to the field full of confidence, albeit a bowler short, searching for early wickets. Matt’s first spell was like he had just returned from a 3 day bender but again it was DQ who caught the eye, his first two overs beat Waltham opener Patel’s bat on numerous occasions until he finally laid a glove on him and was caught behind. Headon and Dhanjal consolidated at a decent rate and Totham required the experience of Kendall and part timer Willingale to restore some control and slow the run rate, 104-1 off 24.
What I am about to describe to you, was so magnificent I just won’t be able to do it justice in words. Luckily eleven 2nd XI players were there to witness one of the finest moments bull meadow has seen in recent years. DQ, bowling from the top end has delivered a leg stump full toss and Dhanjal, our conquerer last year, has seemingly flicked it for 6 to fine leg, which is exactly what it deserved. Enter POTY Chadwick. John has started running to his left, clearly to retrieve the ball from the grass in front of the nets. Then a surprising turn of pace, like he thinks he might be able to stop it, surely not. Running full pelt, arm outstretched the trajectory of the ball and John’s hand align perfectly and the ball slaps in to his palm. Queue disbelief, queue delirium: this was the game changer.
And so it proved to be, the next over Kendall took the wicket of opener Headon for 50 and Elles thanks to catches from Dicko and some sharp work from Dan Allen. We were now on top and the run rate was climbing. Some good batting from Tanner, Carroll and Robinson threatened a charge but wickets from Ducky, John, Kendall and DQ kept our noses in front. DQ and Dan Allen threatened a two man tag team on a visitors player who hit the cover off one and didn’t walk, he probably didn’t hear the nick through the terrible chat he was producing all game. DQ claimed his wicket with an excellent caught and bowled (send off included) and followed that up with a yorker to dismiss Carroll in an aggressive spell, and with that disappeared the visitors chances. The Chadwick’s combined for the last wicket and a topsy-turvey game had finished in favour of the home side.
A real team performance with contributions throughout. John (26 & 2 wickets and not a bad catch), Foxy (44) and Kendall (3 wickets) were standouts but once again DQ takes the star man award with a fast, aggressive spell of bowling returning 4-48 including key wickets at crucial stages. He’s hungry for wickets and it shows.
We still sit third, one point below our guests and with availability picking up, we could be in for an interesting end to the season. Fellow promotion candidates South Woodham next week.
