The final game of the season, saw the 2 relegated sides, Great Totham & Writtle facing each other in an attempt to score at least one win in the second half of the season. John won the toss & elected to bowl, but, whoops, only 4 players were present when the bell was rung to start play. The rules were strictly adhered to & Great Totham were fined one over for the late arrival of Cheesey & James. A late start saw Issey open the bowling along with John, who quickly removed himself from the attack to bowl James. Issey struggled with direction until he went around the wicket & promptly bowled the opener. Writtle were slowly accumulating a good score, helped by the wonderful wicketkeeping of Nick, running away from the stumps on one occasion to allow 5 wides (made worse as it was off my bowling!!!)
2nd half of the innings saw Cheesey enter the attack to his usual standard. Rewarded in the last over with 3 wickets, Cheesey restricted the run rate, with Writtle finishing on 104.
Last chance to bat indoors & Nick didn't take it (even after Writtle sportingly allowed us the full 12 overs). A big edge skyward ended his season. So, father & son at the crease together again. Son calls for a quick single forgetting that father doesn't quite have the speed he once dreamed of & a run out was the result. Cheesey, Issey & James all scored a few runs, but Great Totham were behind the run rate. However, a chance of winning from the Writtle 4th bowler was there. All tried to hit boundaries & run for everything, but it came down to the final over & Joshua needed to score 34 from 6 balls. It didn't happen, but Joshua hit the top score of the season in trying.
Sadly, none of the game was captured on Pooky's camera, as he wasn't there.
Despite relegation & only a couple of wins, there were some highlights. The start of the season saw Nick, Pooky & Joshua all retire regularly. Issey grew in confidence as the season went on. James bowled some superb deliveries against top quality batsmen & Cheesey was one of the stand-out bowlers in the top division. The skipper called Heads & won the toss on most occasions. Back to some full size cricket until next October, when we are back at Riverside & will try to win the league & gain promotion back to the top flight!!!!
