Theale & Tilehurst 1st XI vs Mortimer West End 4th June 2005

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Report by Fingers

PHIL STEPHENS – WHAT A TOSSER!

After a brief stay in the Premier Division Mortimer West End have made a welcome return to the T&T league fixture list, albeit at times over the years they have proved a bit of a bogey side for us. Following heavy rain on Friday evening both teams were keen to win the toss and have a bowl, having won three out of the first three there was a natural assumption amongst the T&T players that now we had reached a really important one the skipper would lose it. How wrong we were and what a tosser our new skipper is proving to be.

When two balls in the first over from Lemmy bounced steeply and thudded in to Jason Searancke it looked like a very good toss to win. The first wicket wasn’t long in coming when Hamer nicked one from Lemmy to second slip but then Searancke and Jon Bray steadied the innings and batted securely through to the drinks interval.

The drinks interval seemed to have done its trick when Bray chipped the first ball after the break from AJ to mid off but the simple chance went down. No matter though as three balls later AJ yorked him off stump. Magee seemed to have been promoted up the order to try and boost the scoring rate but after one large six he spooned one up in the air that Doc took very well running round from short fine leg (one should not underestimate the role Spike played in this wicket, if he hadn’t moved out of the way Doc wouldn’t have been able to get in to the position required to take the catch).

AJ and Fingers continued to chip away at the MWE batting and at 102-6 T&T were in control. There was though in this period a piece of fielding from Doc that is worthy of note: fielding at deep mid-off to Fingers he was under a high catch which he seemed to have judged beautifully. It was not to be though and the catch went down, to try and get rid of some of his frustration Doc then tried to fizz in the return but having let go of the ball rather than watch it sail towards the stumps he had to retreat 10 yards towards the boundary to where the ball had landed and have another go at throwing the ball in. Fortunately the wicket fell three balls later.

After this Paul Belcher, playing steadily, and Jay Patel, playing eccentrically, formed a useful 7th wicket partnership and got MWE up to 140 and in the game. Patel’s innings ended as eccentrically as it had gone along, bowled off stump behind his legs.

The MWE innings closed at 157-9, probably a few short of what they would have wanted but on a pitch that was still offering the bowlers some encouragement it was enough to get them in the game.

James and Phil opened the T&T reply and after a couple of typically classy boundaries Phil was the first to go, one of those lbws you can almost walk for. The T&T innings then followed something of a similar pattern to the MWE innings, consolidation by way of a good second wicket partnership and then a flurry of wickets. 93-5 seemed to still leave a long way to go.

Enter Tim Sethi (or Cincitti if you look at the results on the Berkshire League web site). There were occasions in the nets before the season started when Tim looked a million dollars but on occasions outside he’s looked like a million lira. However, today was his day. One Patel over was taken for 18 and then the next over from Hamer taken for about 15. In two overs we had got half the runs we needed. All we needed now was for Tim and Spike to stay there but Tim was obviously enjoying himself and even when the quicker bowlers came back he carried on in the same vein, one Searancke over going for three boundaries. In the end over ambition got the better of him and he went for 54, his first fifty for the club which included nine 4s and two 6s.

By the time he was out though we only needed 9 runs and had about 18 overs to get them in. Even after the wobble against Warfield this was comfortable and was easily finished off, Spike carrying on building his reputation as the 1st XI Michael Bevan.

This was our toughest test of the season so far and we came through it well. Momentum is an important thing and we need to concentrate on keeping it going as over the next few weeks we play the teams who are also at the top end of the table.