Three games remaining and three wins required for promotion, this week we visited Purleigh, our bogey side.
After losing the toss we were asked to field on what looked a flat, dry deck, covered from the previous nights rain. DQ and George opened up and were both denied wickets by drops from Nob and Phipps, Nob’s sitter will be featuring on ‘Cricket Howlers 2019’, meaning Purleigh were 47/0 from 10. Pace came off the ball in the form of POTY Chadwick and Jonny Hewer and the run rate dropped as wickets began to fall, one each in their first 4 overs, both bowled as clearly we cannot catch. At the half way point Purleigh were 81/3 with their best batsman, Freegard, at the crease. POTY Chadwick and Jonny finished their economical spells with 2-29 and 2-36 respectively, Jonny’s being ruined by a poor last over, but we had control of the game and Kendall still to bowl. In the middle of this innings we had a spell of about 20 overs where we were excellent in the field, this included a smart catch from Will Morrell and several good bits of work in the outfield, however aside from that we were again very sloppy. Kendall bagged three wickets, all bowled, turning the batsmen inside out, as the home side finished on 182/7 from their 45.
Teas. The less said the better. I don’t want to be too harsh as someone obviously went to some sort of effort to do these but when the highlight is an orange club you know it’s not been great. 3/10
So 183 the target against a side with more injuries and immobility than Olly Kendall on a Sunday morning we started slowly, very slowly. Losing John also didn’t help, nicking one down the leg side for 2. Phipps and Snail rebuilt, Phipps playing the kind of innings he’d threatened to for a while, even putting the cut shot away. Snail was his foil and they saw off Patel who was causing problems with his pace and generally cruised towards the 4 an over target. Snail was stumped off the grenade launcher, bringing Banny to the middle and he launched his first ball for six, but I’m sure he’s already told you that at least once. His stay was short so Nob joined Phipps at the crease and they ran hard and punished balls balls to score the remaining 60 runs in just 8 overs to see us comfortably home.
A pretty routine win in the end, earned by some good bowling and a chance-less innings by star-man Phipps who carried his bat for 79*. We gained 22 points from this game but Great Waltham bagged 25, meaning the gap is just 2 points. We must win the next two, gaining as close to maximum points as we can to claim second spot and division 3 cricket next year.