Theale & Tilehurst Friendly 1st XI vs Eversley 2nd XI

15th August 2009

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Report by Fingers.

In many ways this was a more important game for Eversley than us; if they failed to win their interests in promotion would be likely to be over for the season.

The need to maximise points for Eversley was perhaps shown when they won the toss and elected to bat.  The Eversley innings got off to a relatively sedate start with Taylor the first to go after a protracted five.

After Cookie and Weston's opening bowling spells it was the spin of me and Crofty that kept a check on the scoring rate.  South and Ford both seemed to prefer pace on the ball and fell to big shots.

David and O'Kelly then consolidated the innings for Eversley.  I think it's fair to say that during this partnership that David was the more convincing of the pair although the genuine chances did come off his bat.  Finally Weston took a good catch to get rid of O'Kelly and Rylatt followed caught at point off a reverse sweep.

The final few overs of the Eversley innings were dominated by David as he struck several sixes to really accelerate the Eversley innings.  For quite a while 220-230 had seemed the likely total but David's clean striking took the score significantly past that.

However, on a very good batting surface at the excellent tea we still felt that we were very much in the game.

With the T&T slower bowlers having been most effective it was perhaps no surprise that Eversley started with the old ball.  It was perhaps surprising though that they started with such a defensive field which to some extent allowed Cat and Wiggy to keep the early score ticking over and put on 63 for the first wicket.

It was the taking of the new ball that brought the first wicket as Taylor got his first ball through Cat's shot to bowl him off stump.  There then followed a series of cameo innings by the T&T top order that briefly threatened to put us in a strong position but ultimately failed to do so.

At 170-6 Eversley must have thought that they were in the stronger position.  However, with Wiggy at the crease we had a chance and in combination with Cookie the decisive partnership of the game was played out.  Together they put on 85 for the 7th wicket in just over ten overs; one Wiggy six in to the pond being a mighty hit.

Just as we looked like closing the game out though there was a final twist to be played out.  Three quick wickets fell to leave us one short of the Eversley total with one wicket in hand.  Fortunately Wiggy was on strike and from the penultimate ball he played a trademark cover drive for four to bring up the winning runs.

This was Wiggy at his finest.  It was his second league hundred and fourth hundred of the season overall and in total came from 136 balls and featured fourteen 4s and three 6s; coming as it did with the pressure of both a big first innings score and wickets falling at the other end it was a great performance.