Theale & Tilehurst friendly XI vs Cookham Dean friendly XI

29th May 2011

Report by Alec

The day started promisingly as we arrived at Cookham Dean to find the pavilion locked and everyone waiting outside. Whitey was summoned for the toss and lost, resulting in T&T fielding first. Following brief consultation with both Holder and Bozarth, James finalised the decision to open the bowling with Bozarth. Controversially Bozarth opened from the Pavilion end which, Holder got 8 wickets from on his last outing at Cookham. Holder took the lefty first after some steady run scoring whilst Bozarth failed to make an impact as he was clearly bowling from the wrong end. This opening spell saw the rotation of our specialist mid on and mid off fielders, Roj and Bobby respectively, which eventually led to Roj coming onto bowl and the run rate dropped, the resulting pressure was enough to grasp the second wicket. Sadly this is where it began to go wrong with batsmen 3 and 4 established at the crease, a change in bowling just allowed them to open up and play more freely with some juicy half volleys.

The bowling was soon becoming very expensive much to Alec and Bobby's disappointment; it wasn't until Bozarth came back on that the 3rd wicket partnership of 191 was broken. This left Brian to bowl Castleden which saw the arrival of the Aussie pro. He came in to conclude the Cookham Dean innings, playing some hefty strokes off Bozarth, having edged down the track. Cookham Dean finished on 289 - 4 off 40 over's which, for a friendly were way too many so we decided the draw was the only option. Following a vague decision at the toss it hadn't been discounted entirely so we went for it.

Although this seemed to be the common thought amongst everyone the opening bats men must have thought quite the opposite following Wiggy's exquisite timing of the ball down the ground and Arslan's swinging in the first over, which inevitably was his downfall as he edged behind early on. Bozarth joined Wiggy at the middle and proceeded to maintain a steady run rate.

Wiggy stayed focused as he passed 50 and lost Bozarth, Sri and White cheaply as the scoring began to slow. Roj follows as he is caught off Churchill's bowling. Holder makes it to the crease and plays some wonderful shots around the ground as Wiggy looked like he was beginning to chase as he reverse swept Paddy immaculately, which led to Holder trying to run him out just before he made it to the 100 marker. Wigmore attempted a second reverse sweep which went wrong as he injured his shoulder, however following a quick question 'How many am I on' encourages him to finish off his century with a few singles before retiring hurt. Shotter and Brian close out game at the crease following a good run chase by normal Sunday friendly standards. T&T close on 217 - 5 off 40 over's, a disappointing result however we have the captain to blame for agreeing the wrong format at the toss.