Theale & Tilehurst 1st XI vs Mortimer West End 24th June 2006

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Report by Fingers

Having won last week this was an opportunity to cement a mid-table position. Cat won the toss and following the early morning rain elected to bowl on the grounds that if there was going to be anything in the pitch for the bowlers it would be there first thing.

T&T were able to make an early breakthrough when Chris had Jason Searancke caught in the gully but unfortunately we weren't able to follow this up as Dave Hamer and Tom Prinn played well and got through the new ball period. Hamer was the more fluent of the two and was able to punish any loose balls that came along.

We weren't able to maintain the standards in the field we had set last week against Shinfield with the half chances that came along not being taken but also luck not going our way. Hamer made it through to an excellent fifty but then seemingly nicked one behind, the only person on the ground not thinking he had hit it being the umpire. What made things worse was that at the drinks interval that followed soon after Hamer was happy to tell anyone prepared to listen that he had got a touch on the ball but doesn't walk any more as he's had too many poor decisions; this was not an announcement that helped the equilibrium of the game.

When Prinn was dismissed Jon Bray came in and struck the ball very cleanly as he went to a very rapid fifty and Hamer made it through to his century (or second fifty depending on what way you want to look at it).

As it was MWE made it through to 262-5 which was a sizeable total but a similar target had been chased last Sunday off five fewer overs.

However, what was not going to help the T&T reply was that during the fielding both James and Chilly had picked up foot injuries which meant two of our top three had to drop down the order.

Cat and Paul opened up with Paul the first to go to a caught and bowled off a leading edge. Meady got a start but then tamely drove to cover and our best chances rested on two of Cat, Crofty and Jamil getting going. All made it in to the 30s but unfortunately were then dismissed looking for big shots to stay up with the run rate.

The advantage of Chilly and James being down the order was that we had an insurance policy if wickets did fall. When the score reached 184-5 the only option was to secure the losing draw and as many points as we could. Fortunately Chilly was going well and at one stage put one over the road, when asked by Chris if that counted as a six those watching were able to confirm that it did.

There was some momentary fun when James joined Chilly at the crease as both had runners but unfortunately James wasn't able to bat for long and had to retire hurt. We then offered what has seemingly become our traditional late innings pointless run out before safely securing the draw.

This was one step back after two forward last week and we need to make sure we get back to our best next week for the game against Swindon NALGO, one of the teams looking like being near the bottom of the table for most of the season.