Theale & Tilehurst 2nd XI vs Mortimer West End 13th May 2006

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Report by Chef

The day started off reasonably well with Micky winning the toss and choosing to field.  It was down to Micky and Chef to open and it was Micky who made the first break thru bowling Thomas.  The other opener was obviously doing a lot more swinging than was visible as he had to leave the field for what can only be described as a unique injury.  Cramp of the thumb is not one I have seen anyway.

Micky then took another and Chef then joined in.  The saying one wicket brings too couldn't have rung more true.  On three occasions during their innings MWE lost two wickets with no runs.  This brought to the crease Steve Honour.  He's a big ol' unit, hits it hard and times it well.  Micky then took another shortly afterwards.  We looked in a good position with MWE at 44 for 4.

It was then left to Matt Dawes and Steve who put together a partnership of 67 until Dawes was caught by a fantastic diving catch from Matt at square leg with the score on Nelson.  With quite a few overs left MWE looked in an ominous position but they never really seemed to get going. 

In a a move more reminiscent of Berkshire County Sports we swapped our keeper who then preceded to bowl.  Actually he bowled very well but don't let him know that.  Whilst Honour comfortably passed the half century mark and was looking dangerous Rags was managing to strangle the scoring and was taking wickets in the process.

With 5 overs to go and the score on 173 we were expecting a big score.  Particularly as the opener had come back.  The three wickets we needed looked a long way off, however Rags skittled over the opener and the number 10 and with Honour trying to increase the runs played round a good ball and was bowled.  Rags had bowled beautifully and earned the 5 wickets he finally ended up with. We had bowled them out for 182 and with one over to spare, leaving us 46 to chase down the total.

Unfortunately Eddie was soon dismissed but Rog and Mickey got us a good start with a partnership of 58 until a bizarre run out ended up with both batsmen at the same end.  Mike then joined and batted well with Micky who was bowled by the pacy Turner then Mike followed shortly afterwards.  This brought Nehal and Rags to the wicket.  Nehal and Rags ran well with Nehal making most of the runs. then Will followed soon after.  Chef came in with just under 80 needed and put together a decent partnership of 35 for the 7th wicket.  I was adjudged LBW with a ball that I felt pitched outside leg and was going down legside.  A shake of the head from Nehal suggested he felt it wasn't out either or he could have been showing his disapproval for my cross batted pull, it was hard to tell.  I don't think I have ever been fairly given out LBW yet anyway back to the game.

The game looked as it was falling out of our grasp.  We had 3 wickets remaining and needed 40 runs.  Hamad came in and with three innings under his belt for 2 runs I have to confess I didn't hold up much hope.  However he and Nehal put together a match winning performance.  Hamad was fluent and played some fantastic text book shots.  Nehal was persisting with the cut shot and consistently missing, which is strange considering it's his bread and butter.  It didn't stop him scoring though and reached a deserved 50. With 6 needed off the last two overs we were in a great position.  Hamad managed to get a two, then another two but ran one short, then a single at the end of the over. The extra over we gained from bowling them out proving vital. Needing 2 off the last over the first ball was a dot.  Hamad then dropped the ball just in front and Nehal called for the run, Hodgson picked up the ball and gently threw it at the wicket with Hamad barely across the halfway line.  It missed and so it left us needing one to win off 4 balls.  Hodgson dropped it a little too short and in a flash Nehal was onto it and despatched it for 6 to finish the game in style.  Hamad and Nehal had put together a match winning partnership of 45.

It was a fantastic win and the 30 points sets us off on our way.  It was a good game and it was played in a good spirit, what was even better was the result went our way.  Now I just need to look forward to the aches and pains on Monday as they typically come two days after a match.  I get the feeling I will not be alone as there was significant amounts of rust all round.