Great Totham Indoor Team was facing Hutton this week & started off badly by losing the toss yet again. But, the opposition chose to bat first to Great Totham’s delight.
James Hay & John Chadwick opened the bowling. James bowled a tight first over & John bamboozled the batsmen with some straight, slow deliveries. One such delivery had a bit of bounce & an edge by the Hutton opener was juggled once, twice, three times by wicket keeper Nick Phillips, who had to dive full length after the third juggle to actually take the catch. The 2 opening bowlers continued to bowl economically & John managed to bowl the number 3 batsman around his legs as he attempted to pull the ball & played the shot a little (a lot!) early.
Olly Cheeseman & James Pook took over the bowling after 6 overs & Cheesey started with a maiden. Pooky tried some spin which was great until a couple of half-trackers. Great Totham continued to bowl well, keeping the runs down. Both Cheesey & Pooky prevented runs being scored with some accurate bowling & the fielding was excellent. Nick took another catch & a stumping. Cheesey was wicketless, generally because the batsmen struggled to get a bat on the ball & Pooky finished up with 2 wickets. The best bowling of the season so far restricted Hutton to 65 off their 12 overs.
Chasing a modest total Nick & Joshua Chadwick started confidently & with no need to rush the score ticked along nicely until Nick decided that Hutton needed some catching practice. Cheesey moved up to 3 as a reward for his performance in the last game. But, with the skipper at square leg umpire, a risky single resulted in a run out. James Pook came in at 4 & he & Joshua moved the score up towards the total. Joshua retired on 25 & James Hay graced the crease for a few minutes before his wicket fell. John came in with Pooky with a view to finish the game. John decided on a no risk approach, which meant he didn’t run very much, but the score did move slowly towards the target. Pooky was then run out & Joshua returned, 3 runs from 4 balls required. As planned, the skipper hit the winning run in the final over, keeping the crowd & the rest of the Great Totham team interested until the end.
Next week, a late game v quality opponents, Wickford
