Theale & Tilehurst Friendly XI vs White Waltham Friendly XI

19th July 2009

Report by Fingers

The knowledge that there are good covers at White Waltham meant that I was pretty confident that we would have a game and it would be on a good pitch; fortunately my confidence was well founded.

Dennis Allen won the toss for White Waltham and in a timed game he had no hesitation in electing to bat. Despite good opening spells from Sharpy and James both Metherell and Harding were able to get the White Waltham innings off to a good start putting on 81 for the first wicket. In the just over 2½ hours that we were in the field we managed to bowl 49 overs. This was helped by what was possibly the shortest over in terms of time taken ever bowled by a T&T bowler. Using a run up that would make Imran look like a long distance runner Trevor bowled six balls on a good line and length that were practically played straight back to him. If the over lasted more than a minute I?d be amazed; I missed two balls as I walked back to my fielding position. Fortunately we were able to keep a check on the scoring rate and with the pitch offering some assistance for the spinners Harry and I were able to make our way through the White Waltham top order. During this passage of play we also had another first for a T&T player as for perhaps the only time in his career to date James behind the stumps was able to tower over one of the batsman, the young and technically proficient Molloy. As time went by the White Waltham players looked to lift the scoring rate and to some extent succeeded but without ever truly breaking free. When the declaration came at 195-6 it felt like it was a few runs short of par on a true surface, quick outfield and some shortish boundaries.

James and Wiggy got the T&T reply off to a good start and as the score approached the 100 mark some of the batters must have feared they might end the game with pad rash. However, Wiggy was to become the first of a series of lbw victims. Having just hit a six that threatened his own car in the car park Wiggy was lbw trying to reverse sweep Haines; after a couple of classy boundaries Jonathon became Haines' second lbw victim as he walked having left a ball that was probably hitting about half way up middle. However, after a slightly scratchy start James was by now in to his stride. A brief rain delay left us needing 95 from the last 20 overs but with James at the crease this was well within reach. A lively partnership of 35 with Arsalan kept the run rate well within reach and 13 off one Long over from James helped as well. At the end of the innings there was a brief worry that James would be left stranded not out in the high nineties. Sharpy didn?t seem to realise the situation and when he hit a stylish straight boundary off Haines must have been somewhat surprised by the reaction on the boundary edge. Fortunately he soon got the message. Fortunately James was able to hit the first ball of the 34th over for a four that not only brought up his 11th hundred for the club (from 107 balls) but also closed out the win.

This was another excellent performance by the Sunday side against a good White Waltham team that also included several talented youngsters. Harry bowled his best spell of spin bowling in senior cricket, James B continued to demonstrate that despite his age he is a genuine front line bowler in senior cricket and James W continues to put in good performances behind the stumps.

However, having just missed out on a hundred last week it was great to see James to the fore and leading us to victory.

THEALE AND TILEHURST CC SCORECARD
Home Team		White Waltham						Away Team		Theale and Tilehurst
Date of Match		19th July 2009						Played at		White Waltham

		Team							Result	Team
Result		Theale and Tilehurst							beat	White Waltham

1st Innings of		White Waltham
	Name	How Out			Who			Bowler		4's	6's	Score
1	C Metherell	ct			A Wigmore			H Osborn				55
2	G Harding	ct			A Wigmore			B Cooper				27
3	D Rosam	bowled						B Cooper				9
4	D Molloy	bowled						H Osborn				4
5	M Earl	bowled						H Osborn				24
6	S Ellison Smith	not out										27
7	D Allen	lbw						J Bozarth				27
8	C Long	not out										1
9	M Chapman
10	M Ring
11	N Haines
							Byes	12
							Leg Byes	6
							Wides	3
							No Balls	0
									Extras			21

							Wickets	6	Total			195

Bowling			O	M	R	W
1	A Sharp		11	3	46	0
2	J Bozarth		8	2	19	1
3	T Greaves		6	1	28	0
4	B Cooper		12	4	38	2
5	H Osborn		9	1	27	3
6	A Wigmore		3	0	19	0
7
8
9

Fall of Wicket
	Score	Outgoing Bat				Stand of
1	81	2				81
2	102	1				21
3	104	3				2
4	126	4				22
5	136	5				10
6	191	7				55
7
8
9
10




2nd Innings of		Theale and Tilehurst
	Name	How Out			Who			Bowler		4's	6's	Score
1	A Wigmore	lbw						N Haines		4	2	47
2	J Codd	not out								13	0	102
3	J Mountfort	lbw						N Haines		2	0	11
4	H Ali	lbw						C Long		0	0	1
5	A Ahmed	bowled						N Haines		1	0	11
6	A Sharp	not out								1	0	6
7	J Bozarth
8	H Osborn
9	J White
10	B Cooper
11	T Greaves
							Byes	4
							Leg Byes	7
							Wides	6
							No Balls	2
									Extras			19

							Wickets	4	Total			197

Bowling			O	M	R	W
1	M Chapman		7	0	41	0
2	M Ring		5	0	30	0
3	C Long		10	0	60	1
4	N Haines		11	0	46	3
5	S Ellison Smith		0.1	0	4	0
6
7
8

Fall of Wicket
	Score	Outgoing Bat				Stand of
1	94	1				94
2	118	3				24
3	139	4				21
4	174	5				35
5
6
7
8
9
10