Theale & Tilehurst 2nd XI vs Eversley 3rd XI

6th September 2009

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Report by Speedo.

Before the game we knew we were promoted with us 25 points ahead and a superior wins record compared with the chasers. The only thing to play for apart from the win was enough points to knock Hurst of top spot assuming they slipped up against lowly Marlow Park. It was a strange situation as we were playing at the very familiar Mortimer West End ground and the home team had, as it turned out, never played there before. At the toss we had only 9 present with Ossie and Hammad 'not far away' according to my pre-toss conversation with Hammad. We lost the toss and they elected to bat first on a dry but good looking pitch.  We took the field to warm up with nine safe in the knowledge that it's only fifteen minutes drive from Theale to MWE and our lost boys couldn't be far away since they were armed with an iPhone and its mapping technology. At 12:30 we started with Ram and Jordan both bowling well especially considering the lack of fielders. With Ram bowling Sharpy covered the huge leg side boundary with only Jordan at fine leg for company. Ram struck first when the dangerous Mission was unlucky on three fronts: finding a fielder; the fielder being placed in a strange half cover half point position due to the lack of manpower and Rog catching it. Finally 15 minutes late the Livingstone and Stanley arrived and (fairly) shortly afterwards they joined us although I can't remember if that was before or after Jordan removed the other opener. Just as we finally had 11 men Rog decided that he'd need to leave the field for some strapping but after that we were back at full strength.

By now Ram was beating the edge regularly and Jordan had developed some prodigious swing. Unfortunately Jordan's spell had to end after only five overs due to his age and Rags took over taking the next wicket to fall. Ossie replace the once again excellent Ram and a long period of consolidation began punctuated by Os regularly beating the outside edge. Os removed Ryder after Meady had dropped him a few balls earlier but Carey and Edwards started to break the shackles with powerful drives. Ram replaced Os to quickly remove the well set batsmen and when Os returned at the other end we continued to keep a firm hold on the scoring rate despite some good running from their lower order. In the end they finished just over the 200 mark but with a short boundary; fast outfield and the best of the batting conditions I thought they were at least 25 light.

After tea Rog and Micky started positively before Rog was caught at the wicket. Agers and Micky decided to have a mid wicket conference about the pro and cons of a quick single to short fine leg with the result of Agers being run out having run the best part of two runs. However Meady and Micky were soon looking very comfortable with plenty of singles on offer and enough boundary opportunities as well. Just after Micky reached his fifty he decided he needed to conclude his discussion with Agers about that single back at the pavilion and he spooned a simple catch to cover via an uncharacteristic slog. Sharpy joined Meady and they got down to the business of some serious running. By now the U17 opener had returned and it was a little darker than earlier so the boundaries were a little harder to pick up but the excellent running kept the scoreboard moving. Sharpy got the drive going with one memorable over where he manoeuvred the field to the leg side and then drove through the covers. Meady bought up his fifty and as we looking good to bring the win home Sharpy called for one single too many and was run out by a direct hit. Hammad joined Meady and both found it difficult to get the improved bowling away. The U17 bowler had the same problem as Jordan and at the peak of an excellent spell had to finish. After the scoreboard jumped 2 overs Meady mentioned it to Hammad who responded with a massive straight six to relieve any pressure. After that the final few runs came quickly and we won with 4 overs to spare.

Again we'd chased robustly and won with wickets and overs to spare. Afterwards we found out Hurst had won so we'd finished runner-up. Congratulations to all the squad from the whole season and my thanks for all the support.