The second team train rolled in to South Woodham Ferrers this weekend on a warm but overcast day.
After much deliberation over should we bat or bowl, the decision was inevitably taken out of our hands and we were invited to field. We were aware that one of the SWF openers scored a ton last week and he looked a good touch early on, clipping Matt to the boundary regularly in the first few overs. DQ was having more luck against the other opener, beating his outside edge on many occasions, but the home side still managed 45-0 off the first ten. This should have been 45-1 but Banny dropped a dolly off Materna, the man in form, when he was on 16. Pace needed to be taken off the ball so who better to call on that POTY Chadwick in this situation? Clearly the openers found the slow, straight deliveries difficult to get away and the tempo changed immediately. No longer was the ball finding the boundary and the batsmen were becoming frustrated, clearly unsure what to do with John, and finally he got the breakthrough, Hawkins caught by Banny. Jackman was bowled by John in his next over and then, finally, came the wicket we wanted, Materna (74) smashing a long hop down Nob’s throat at Long-On. 3 wickets for John and we’re back in the game. Eyebrows were then raised when McVicar replaced POTY Chadwick (3-23) but the captains faith was repaid when he struck in his second over and again twice more to give him figures of (3-54), by this time SWF were behind par and relying on Royce to get them to where they needed to be. Matt bowled him for 55 and got a run out from the last ball of the innings as the home side finished on 205-8. I thought we were very good in the field, Banny’s catch and one or two midfields aside we were excellent, bowled to our fields and played sensible, disciplined cricket to leave us with a very chase-able target. Most pleasingly, just 7 extras! Surely a record for us.
Tea was good. Any tea with honey and mustard sausages, chicken nuggets, fruitcake and strawberries will get a good score from me. 8/10.
Stroker opened up with John and both have us a quick start, pouncing on anything loose and dispatching to the boundary, one cover drive from Stroker was particularly handsome. How he did it I’ll never know as he slept through 45 overs of fielding. Both fell in quick succession in their 20’s leaving Nob and Josh at the crease. Anyone who’s seen Josh play this year will know he’s been very out of nick, but this week, after a few close calls, he began to look in control again. Dispatching bad balls and running hard he cruised us towards victory, drawing mainly on support from Banny who redeemed his dolly drop with a good innings of 22 and we were in complete control. Matt MacDonald came in to smash 19 off 12 balls but all credit for that chase must go to Josh, he paced his innings expertly, read the situation perfectly and guided us home like a season pro with more than 3 overs to spare.
An excellent team performance, contributions throughout, batting and bowling were very good, but for his knock of 79 not out, Josh is this weeks star man.
