T&T Classics: Like Father Like Son (2) Alan Why

Report by Fingers

Many of us will have noticed the name A Why on the honours board for the 1991 bowling award but few of us were there to see the performances that won the award. Below are a couple of scorecards that show what a destructive bowler Alan was in that period and what a season he had.

First up is the opening game of the 1991 league season that saw Theale away at Kidmore End. Theale won the toss and put Kidmore End in to bat. Opening the bowling for Theale were Mark Hayter and Alan and whilst it seems that Warmsley stood firm at one end Alan and Mark made swift inroads at the other.

Once on the slide it seems that the Kidmore End innings never recovered and even when Alan and Mark finished their opening spells the introduction of Bedding in to the attack gave no respite as he quickly took 3-13. The star with the ball though had been Alan who in taking 6-31 had ripped through the Kidmore End top order.

Theale closed out a comfortable opening day victory with current club president Eddie Ellis leading the way to a ten wicket victory with 52no.

A few weeks later Theale were hosting Goring; again the team winning the toss put the opposition in but this time that meant Theale were batting first. Theale made a steady start but got stuck in the middle overs of the innings. Waiting to bat at number six Mr Ellis would have been very concerned when the score was only 77-1 at the 30 over mark.

A late push got the total to 146-7 from 47 overs but at tea Goring could well have been the happier of the two teams; that was if they hadn’t noticed a large Geordie probably complaining about batting at ten and wanting to take his frustrations out on something, or some people.

Alan’s opening partner with the ball was again Mark Hayter but initially the Goring innings got off to a good start. At 34-1 from 15 overs they might have thought they’d seen off the opening attack.

Indeed it was the change bowler Charlesworth that took the second wicket when he had Nicholson caught behind in his first over. That opened up the middle order and Alan took advantage in the second half of his unbroken spell of 15.2 overs.

35-1 had become 60-9 when fittingly it was Alan that took the final wicket to complete personal figures of 7-26 and leave Theale winners by the comfortable margin of 86 runs.

Amongst Alan’s other performances that season in the league were 5-40 against Knowl Hill, 5-36 against Cold Ash and 51 with the bat against North Maidenhead.

No doubt Alan will be hoping to have such an impact as a player as he takes over the 3rd XI captaincy for the coming season; even if his performances are now more likely to come with the bat than the ball.

And if bowling is genetic it might explain Rob’s talents with the ball even if there isn’t much in common between being a tall quick opening bowler and not so tall leg spinner.

SCORECARD
Home Team		Kidmore End 3rds						Away Team		Theale
Date of Match		4th May 1991						Played at		Kidmore End

		Team							Result	Team
Result		Theale							beat	Kidmore End 3rds

1st Innings of		Kidmore End 3rds
	Name	How Out			Who			Bowler		4's	6's	Score
1	K Warmsley	ct			B Barefoot			A Why				20
2	S Rush (Snr)	ct			A Charlesworth			A Why				2
3	N Griffith	bowled						M Hayter				1
4	J Merrick	ct & b						A Why				8
5	S Rush (Jnr)	ct			A Charlesworth			A Why				9
6	J Potter	ct			J Gray			A Why				15
7	D Bathgate	ct			N Ferguson			A Bedding				0
8	C Butler	ct			P Desbois			A Bedding				10
9	J Butler	bowled						A Why				0
10	N Bishop	bowled						A Bedding				1
11	H Middleton	not out										0
							Byes	0
							Leg Byes	0
							Wides	9
							No Balls	0
									Extras			9

							Wickets	10	Total			75

Bowling			O	M	R	W
1	M Hayter		10	1	31	1
2	A Why		14	3	31	6
3	A Bedding		5.2	1	13	3
4	H Messer		1	1	0	0
5
6
7
8

Fall of Wicket
	Score	Outgoing Bat				Stand of
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10




2nd Innings of		Theale
	Name	How Out			Who			Bowler		4's	6's	Score
1	E Ellis	not out								4	1	52
2	P Desbois	not out								1	0	18
3	M Hayter
4	A Why
5	A Bedding
6	A Charlesworth
7	B Barefoot
8	H Messer
9	J Gray
10	I Bradley
11	N Ferguson
							Byes	4
							Leg Byes	2
							Wides	1
							No Balls	0
									Extras			7

							Wickets	0	Total			77

Bowling			O	M	R	W
1	N Bishop		9	1	29	0
2	H Middleton		7	2	16	0
3	N Griffith		3	0	9	0
4	J Potter		2	0	11	0
5	C Butler		2	0	6	0
6
7
8

Fall of Wicket
	Score	Outgoing Bat				Stand of
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

SCORECARD
Home Team		Theale						Away Team		Goring
Date of Match		15 June 1991						Played at		Theale

		Team							Result	Team
Result		Theale							beat	Goring

1st Innings of		Goring
	Name	How Out			Who			Bowler		4's	6's	Score
1	M Hayter	bowled						S Wright		5	0	23
2	P Desbois	bowled						S Plumb		1	1	29
3	H Messer	ct			S Plumb			S Wright		2	0	35
4	R Pickford	bowled						S Plumb		2	1	21
5	J Ferguson	lbw						S Plumb		0	0	0
6	E Ellis	bowled						S Wright		0	0	13
7	B Barefoot	not out								0	0	4
8	N Ferguson	ct			M Edwards			S Wright		0	0	1
9	A Charlesworth	not out								0	0	0
10	A Why
11	J Gray
							Byes	12
							Leg Byes	5
							Wides	3
							No Balls	0
									Extras			20

							Wickets	7	Total			146

Bowling			O	M	R	W
1	S Wright		21	8	47	4
2	J Ross		10	1	31	0
3	S Plumb		13	2	32	3
4	G Johnstone		3	0	19	0
5
6
7
8

Fall of Wicket
	Score	Outgoing Bat				Stand of
1	36	1				36
2	93	2				57
3	117	3				24
4	117	5				0
5	132	4				15
6	144	6				12
7	146	8				2
8
9
10




2nd Innings of		Goring
	Name	How Out			Who			Bowler		4's	6's	Score
1	G Nicholson	ct			N Ferguson			A Charlesworth		3	0	21
2	R Fuller	lbw						A Why		0	0	1
3	M Kerevan	ct			P Desbois			A Why		2	0	11
4	D Kent	bowled						A Why		0	0	0
5	J Ross	bowled						A Why		0	0	1
6	S Wright	ct			P Desbois			A Why		0	0	0
7	G Johnstone	bowled						A Charlesworth		2	0	14
8	M Edwards	ct			J Gray			A Why		0	0	7
9	S Haines	ct			P Desbois			A Charlesworth		0	0	0
10	S Wicks	bowled						A Why		0	0	0
11	S Plumb	not out								0	0	0
							Byes	1
							Leg Byes	3
							Wides	3
							No Balls	0
									Extras			7

							Wickets	10	Total			62

Bowling			O	M	R	W
1	M Hayter		7	1	25	0
2	A Why		15.2	6	26	7
3	A Charlesworth		9	4	7	3
4
5
6
7
8

Fall of Wicket
	Score	Outgoing Bat				Stand of
1	19	2				19
2	35	1				16
3	39	3				4
4	39	4				0
5	44	6				5
6	54	7				10
7	55	5				1
8	58	9				3
9	59	10				1
10	60	8				1