Theale & Tilehurst Friendly XI vs Marlow Park 21st April 2001

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Report by Mr Ed

One of the most amazing things about this game is that it took place at all. Pre-season friendlies are always diligently booked by the fixtures secretaries, knowing full well that they will inevitably be called off due to inclement weather. On the back of one of the wettest winters on record this game was a write-off as far back as Christmas, the fact that we played and that the pitch held up so well is a credit to the considerable efforts of Brian Cooper and Phil Jenkins.

Marlow Park won the toss and elected to bat and began their innings in their usual belligerent style putting on 48 for the first wicket, in a partnership dominated by the left-handed Salina who went on to make an impressive 63. They were helped by some indifferent fielding which hampered T&T’s efforts throughout. It may be a new season, but there are always comforting constants at this club – Roger Puri still can't catch. The Fantasy Cricket organiser was soon on minus twenty points for the season and this was before he had even come on to bowl.

After the fall of their first wicket, Marlow Park continued to score at a brisk rate but T&T kept on taking wickets at regular intervals eventually dismissing their opponents for 171. All the bowlers took wickets, the pick of whom was Chris Lemm who took 3-21 in his 10 overs.

T&T made a disappointing start in their pursuit of their target and lost three quick wickets. Edward Choules carried on his previous seasons habit of finding new ways to get out. With a new white grip on his bat, Edward was heckled by his own teammates, who accused him of being a blind man needing a white stick. After facing two balls, Edward proved that not only couldn’t he see the fielders, but he also couldn’t hear his partners call of “wait” either and was run out.

The next passage of play was the most encouraging for the new season. Dennis Robertson and Tim Sant first grafted to ensure that no further wickets were lost, and then proceeded to score freely off the bowlers in what should have been a match-winning partnership of 97. This partnership should be a valuable lesson to all who watched it. It’s a well-worn cliché that you can’t score runs in the pavilion, and it’s also true that the longer you’re at the crease the easier batting becomes even in bowler friendly conditions.

Tim was eventually bowled out for 47 heaving across the line with the score on 113, but an quick-fire 20 from Andy Johnson should have be enough to set up an encouraging early win in the season. The fact that it did not was down to some ineffectual batting at the close. It appeared that many of the new batsmen thought that 10 plus runs an over were still required, when in actuality less than half that number were required. Only Dennis who went to make a fine 58 and was undone by a ball, which jumped on him, could be regarded as blameless. In the end 7 wickets fell in the last 8 overs and T&T lost the match by 17 runs with the match ending on a controversial note when it appeared that Bob Williams was bowled whilst he was still taking guard.

Despite the defeat, no one should be too despondent after playing in an excellent game against enjoyable opponents. Everyone got an opportunity, whether it was with the bat or the ball, and many of the mistakes should be easily remedied which is what after all pre-season friendlies are about. There were some good bowling performances, and the partnership of Dennis and Tim showed the benefits of application and time in the middle. Following last years disappointments for the club it is just a shame that we couldn’t quickly get into a winning habit which would have made this game all that more enjoyable.