Report by Wiggy.

First XI winning streak continues

After a long drought there were a few sleepless nights before our first league game of the season as it tipped down all night. Despite this the ground looked perfect and dried really well which enabled us to start on time.

The first XI were primed and ready, last minute nets were had the night before, there were fielding warm ups, two rousing speeches in the Crown, but we all knew that the day was only about one thing with Jenks needing only one wicket to be the first man to 300 dismissals for the club. Jenks was on top form all day - up at 7 30 buying the tea clearly unable to sleep at the anticipation of the milestone to surely come (more on the tea later). He was at the ground for 11 15 for the pitch inspection and the confirmation we were on despite the rain.

I won the toss and as usual decided to bat. We built a steady start against their seamers reaching our 50 in quick time, and Sunny especially looking very good. There was a fair bit of swing with the overnight clouds still about but the game changed with the introduction of the Reading leggie who produced a series of very good deliveries with turn and a lot of bounce off the famous Theale ridge to reduce us to 106 for 5 at around 30 overs. Lemmy and Cooky then played out the crucial partnership of the innings to take us to a good total of 196.

Jenks then produced a tea which would definitely set the standard for the season:

Menu

Tuna Nicoise Salad
Chilled pasta sea shells with garden tomatoes and red, yellow and green peppers,
Iceberg lettuce drizzled with mustard and olive oil dressing
4 choices of quiche
Slaw of shredded cabbage
Hula Hoops

Followed by a range of J. Sainsburys’ finest desserts

Back to the cricket - I think 196 would always have been a tough chase on a pitch offering bounce for all the bowlers but we started very well with both Lemmy and Cooky getting wickets with the new ball to blast out the Reading top order. The crucial moment in the field was fittingly Jenks’ 300th dismissal as Lemmy removed the opposition captain with a sharp lifter which was well taken behind the stumps. He was clearly the linchpin of the Reading batting who looked to play through the innings while the other more aggressive players batted around him and his exit seemed to take all the heart from the Reading chase.

Chris and Chris finished their spells with Reading 60 odd for 6 and victory seemed to be a formality, however Seeburg and Tucker batted much more sensibly than their top order colleagues to keep us waiting for 25 overs. Bondy who had been bowling well for no reward finally removed Tucker (sweeping), a player who had pretty much exclusively been playing annoying mistimed sweeps up to this point to him and it was fitting that he finally fell in this manner. Seeburg then followed caught well by Sunny in the deep and we wrapped up the victory with a few overs to spare.

25 points in the bag was a great start to the season, and well done to all with special congratulations to Jenks for his 300th dismissal.

Man of the match: Chris Lemm for getting us to a decent total and then defending it