Theale and Tilehurst vs White Waltham 9th September 2006

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Report by Fingers

With there being an excess of availability for one match this second game was organised against White Waltham.

I’m not sure who won the toss but as Cat was going to bat anyway in a straight 40 over a side game I’ll assume it was him. On a good looking batting surface and a fast outfield Raj and James instantly made batting first look a good decision. Both were able to score fluently and took the partnership for the 1st wicket past 100 and others were starting to wonder if they would get a bat; James was the first to go straight after he had reached fifty and for once it was Raj who kept going. Having raised his own 50 off just 36 balls Raj was then denied the strike as Micky played what could be charitably described as patiently as he struggled to find any timing.

This meant that few of us realised how quickly Raj was progressing towards three figures. With the tension mounting on whether he would fall agonisingly short as he had done once before the White Waltham fielders came to Raj’s aid; he played the ball in to the leg side for what should have been a single to take him to 99 and a new personal best, however the throw back in was not very accurate and not backed up and allowed two further runs to be taken to take Raj through to what was a chanceless maiden hundred. What surprised those of us watching was that despite the fact that it came up in the 31st over of the innings it had only taken 64 balls so effectively had Micky been hogging the strike.

The final few overs saw wickets fall as quick runs were sought and it was Nehal with 41no that was the main player in the final few overs. A final score of 273 represented a good effort with the bat but this was on a day when 230 would have been no more than par for the course.

After what must have been one of the biggest teas any of us had ever seen we rolled out in to the field. Mo and Andy opened the bowling but apparently there is no truth in the rumour that this was only because everyone else needed time to digest the huge quantities of food that they had eaten.

Mo made a breakthrough in the first over when he bowled Elliott and Hencher soon followed well caught by Raj off Andy at square leg. The main partnership of the innings then followed with Smyth and White putting on 77 for the third wicket. However, with the required run rate continuing to rise both were bowled attempting big shots, White to a well disguised slower ball from Paul.

The last few overs were played out with Cat managing to pick up a three-fer and Nehal picking up a wicket in the final over. White Waltham finished on 168-9 to give T&T victory by 105 runs.