Theale & Tilehurst Friendly XI vs Warfield 3rd June 2001

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Report by Mr Ed

Its always a good idea to let the opposition know that you've arrived, and Brian Cooper certainly made sure of that at the Warfield ground by taking out half the fencing in the car park.

James Codd elected to bat first, and himself and Alex Moore shared in a confident opening stand of thirty-six. James has started many of his innings this year with a series of aggressive shots and this was no exception. However, unfortunately again he was unable to play the longer innings and was dismissed for twenty-five.

Thirty-six proved to be a real stumbling block for T&T and a further two wickets, including mine to complete a 'pair' for the weekend on that score, put us in some trouble against a pretty useful Warfield attack. A further incident occurred with the score on thirty-six, when the new batsman, Khadim Aslam was hit on the toe, and celebrated the event by full reprise of the Ministry of Silly Walks. Khadim and Dennis Robertson however consolidated the innings putting on seventy-two for the fourth wicket. Our position was further improved when Dennis, who went onto score his third fifty of the season, had another useful partnership with John Morris. There was a clutter of wickets towards the end of our innings, but we were able to make 174 in the thirty-eight overs that we received.

With an old ball, on a quick outfield, and on paper a slightly weaker attack than normal this could still have proved a reachable target. However, Mark Mason took the responsibility of opening the attack fully on his shoulders and bowled the Warfield opener, Philpot with a beautiful inswinger. Osman Mahmood duplicated Mark's achievement, dismissing the other opener in similar fashion.

Mark would go on to take a further two wickets, the first rather fortuitously, when a full toss was drilled straight to Khadim at wide mid-on. His final wicket came from an agile caught and bowled. Extracting turn and lift from the pitch, Brian Cooper quickly earned himself a wicket, and with the score at twenty-seven for five, Warfield were in some considerable trouble.

For the first time in three weeks, we were playing a timed rather than an overs game, so the onus was on ourselves to take all ten wickets to win the match. Howse and Ruddle applied themselves well and steered Warfield towards the draw. With overs running out, James, turned to his trump card, myself in a late bid for victory and was duly awarded with a rather predictable wicket, bowling Howse through the gate with my reverse slow-left arm. For variation, my first ball at the new batsman, was a good old-fashioned chinaman, and only the inside edge of the bat prevented me picking up another deserved wicket. By my third over, I was landing the ball on a sixpence; it was just unfortunate that someone kept on placing it on random places on and near the wicket. By the end of my spell it was obvious that the fielders were more in fear of my bowling than the batsman.

In the end, Warfield were able to hold on for a comfortable draw. It was however, an enjoyable game played at a terrific venue. We bowled, batted and fielded well, and James led the side well again.