Theale & Tilehurst 1st XI vs Swindon NALGO 7th July 2007

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Report by Doc

The Theale and Tilehurst week had started well, with Liz putting in her bid for Club (wo)man of the year by giving birth on Thursday Morning to the lovely Charlotte Grace. Providing our illustrious skipper with an heir to the Stephens millions would not automatically qualify for a vote but letting Phil play on Saturday has clearly set the bar at a very high level. Any wives due to give birth during this and future seasons please note.

Having clearly been blessed with luck already Phil then won the toss and for the second time in nine months there was a successful insertion. Unfortunately Cullum had not read the script and his first two deliveries were clearly less fruitful than our skippers but equally painful to watch. So without a legal ball bowled Swindon were 10-0. However the 'Harmison' factor cut in and he fooled the opener with a straight one and the caught and bowled was taken. So after 1 ball Swindon were now 10-1.

Unfortunately both opening bowlers laboured throughout their opening spell and Swindon moved on to 80-1 at a fair pace. The change bowlers were brought on and wickets began to fall at regular intervals. Having set off at a fair lick a score of 220 + was on the cards but the regular wickets had left Swindon on 132-6. We knew that the Swindon lower middle order was capable of bludgeoning runs quickly and the boundaries ensued. Clever bowling from Os removed the potential danger and Swindon subsided to 178 all out in the 38th over. Os had taken 6 for 43 in a spell that had started on the lower side of average but improved over by over to excellent. My own spell had proved a masterpiece in mind games. In the previous game against Swindon I had swung the ball late, this time I managed to control the prodigious swing and keep it gun barrel straight.

I must bring attention to a scandalous umpiring decision. I bowled one that hit just in front of middle and off that would have hit halfway up middle stump. I launched into a mighty appeal and was somewhat amazed to see that I wasn't backed up by the keeper and slips. The appeal was turned down. The umpire and my teammates informed me that in order to get the decision it would have been helpful if the ball hadn't hit the full face of the bat and never troubled the pad. Whatever!

We left the field to tuck into Bondy's fabulous tea. A disappointing lack of Cheese and Crisp sandwiches but otherwise excellent.

We started the chase well with both James and Phil scoring relatively freely. James straight six and four smashed through point signalled a player in decent nick. Unfortunately James played over a decent one and was bowled and Phil became an LBW victim with the score on 59 and failed to complete his fairytale week. Cullum and Jamil then entered what turned out to be the match deciding partnership. Although both capable of(and providing) some glorious boundaries, they gently accumulated runs until well set and then Cullum went slightly mad and belted sixes and fours everywhere. The partnership yielded 96 runs before Cullum was trapped bang in front. At 155 for 3 with 24 overs left the game looked in the bag and even the loss of Toyer did not bring about a wobble. The target was reached with Jamil unbeaten for an excellent 42.

It was the third win on the bounce and the league double over Swindon. All achieved with a bit of fight from a difficult start and then followed by ruthless efficiency. Well done us. Lets keep it up. Bring on the next victims. Finally I'm sure you will all join me in congratulating Phil and Liz on the birth of Charlotte Grace. And the absolute certainty that Phil will have to deal with more runs before the season is out.