The final game of the season, saw the indoor team face highly placed Wickford. Victory would still mean relegation, so a chance for some pride was the only issue at stake.
John won the toss, were our fortunes changing? We fielded first & Joe & Pooky had 4 overs, in which we had taken one wicket, courtesy of an LBW given out by Diggers, from Joe's bowling. Jamie came on to bowl & started well, then John turned his arm over & was surprisingly better than previous games, with only one boundry. John soon tempted the star batsman into blasting the ball for a potential 6, but, wait, Pooky showed great athleticism to intercept the ball & take a great catch. John followed this later with another tempter, which Joe took at the second attempt. In the final 2 overs, Joe bamboozled the batsman with a slower delivery which grazed the wickets & everyone groaned with amazement. Sadly, so did Nick, forgetting that the batsman was miles out of his crease. Nick redeemed himself a few minutes later with a great catch from Pooky's bowling. Drew hit the stumps with a throw from mid-off to give us a run out. Wickford finshed on 144, a good total, but was it reachable?
Nick & Drew opend the innings, Nick returning to the balcony/pavillion after one ball, catching out Joe, who wasn't padded up by this point. Drew & Joe moved the score on, but we were always behind the run rate. Joe was out to a fairly tame catch & Pooky joined Drew at the crease. The run rate accelerated with Pooky's attacking intent, including the predictable reverse sweep (which actually went down the leg side). Drew retired & John came in. The score moved on nicely, but we were still a bit short. John was caught on the boundary & Jamie came in, trying to raise the run rate. Pooky retired, Drew came back in & was out soon after, Pooky did the same & it was left to Jamie to try to score 40 from 2 overs, against high quality bowlers.
A challenging season sees us relegated, but there are some very strong teams in the Premier division & we did well to win a few games this year.
Many thanks to all who played during the indoor season, representing Gt.Totham well.
