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Great Waltham Cricket Club

Scorecard

Springfield 2nd XI v Great Waltham Cricket Club 1st XI on Sat 14 Jul 2018 at 1pm
Great Waltham Cricket Club Won by 26 runs

Match report Oh wow, lookie here, a win. Just as my last match report requested. I would love to say what a wonderful performance this was and how we played Springfield off the park.
Narrator: They did not.
This was a game seemingly played between 2 batting line ups bereft of confidence and awestruck by how many runs they should have been scoring on a decent track and a lightning outfield. On a track that should have seen at least 400 runs scored on it, if not 500 both teams combined for 218. From a Waltham perspective the day was lit up/ salvaged by a masterful performance from both Fitzwaters, who, in a position of no hope turned the day around quite spectacularly. Make no mistake, we won this game very much despite our performance with the bat and despite the mistakes we made which were numerous and included smashing the ball down mid off’s throat, reverse sweeping and a senseless run out. That was just in the top 6.

Again having won the toss I eagerly chose to bat, looking forward to the batsmen’s paradise I was hoping the pitch would be. We made an inauspicious start as both Dave and Si departed early leaving us 2-2 after 3 overs. The pitch seemed to be playing much tougher than I’d imagined as despite its hardness and pace, the bounce was variable, especially from the top end. After a few edges, plays and misses and dropped catches, Dan and I had started to look more comfortable. A flurry of boundaries ensued and just as it looked as though we were beginning to get the upper hand I called for a crazy single and ran myself out. Ollie made his way back to the pavilion shortly after being bounced out and we were once again staring down the barrel at 40-4.

A Bloom and Bloom partnership is always fun to watch and both father and son set about their job in eager fashion. They saw off the openers who, impressively, got through 15 overs in the baking heat and then began tucking into the spinners. Dan in particular played some lovely late cuts showing his touch and class. Then came the collapse of English proportions. 90-4 became 91-7 in a matter of 16 balls. Suddenly the position we had fought so hard for had dissipated and we were once again looking to the tail to get us up to something defendable. Personally I was hoping for 160 odd. We got nowhere near that. Duggers played well for his 22 but was left running out of partners towards the end and failed to make it back in time after a suicidal second. A couple of… errr… odd decisions led to a very much below par 128.

I have to be honest, I feared the worst at tea. As a batsmen there was nothing I could do now to influence the game, it was in the hands of the bowlers. I was going to type something along the lines of sometimes Cricket has a funny way of coming up to surprise you. However I’m not sure this is fair as this would attribute our eventual win to luck. Obviously playing any sport there is a small amount of luck involved but I don’t wish to detract from the opening spells of both Josh and Ollie. Both were utterly superb. Plus we created enough chances to take 14 wickets including dropped catches, missed chances and a stumping that wasn’t given.

After a surprisingly lengthy tea break, Josh ‘set-up’ the opening batsmen by swinging one back into his pads. Ollie dismissed Frost first ball with one of his deceptive non – half volleys and when he induced the no. 3 to knick it to Dave via Simon, the Springfield top 3 were all back in the hutch for 0 and suddenly we were back in the game. I wasn’t counting Duggers’ chickens just yet though as I’d seen the same thing last week against Hornchurch. A small partnership ensued between Williams and Northfield, mainly due to our missed chances but the good news was that we were still creating these chances. These continual chances created the atmosphere of pressure from which the batsmen couldn’t escape. You could sense they never felt at ease or comfortable chasing a low total.

Josh produced an absolutely beauty to get rid of Northfield, swinging in and nipping away to clip off stump, to restart the Waltham party and when Ollie stooped low to snaffle a return catch and remove Jasani, it felt as though Williams was the only one standing in the way of a surprise Waltham victory. With JT and Duggers both warming up, there was one last hurrah for each brother as they neared the end of their spells. Ollie finally ended a brave resistance from Trim before Josh took the key wicket of Williams, who had persevered whilst wickets tumbled around him. Both wickets went to Ryan who took 2 sharp catches in the gully. In the ages where 12 over allocations were allowed I’m sure both Fitzwater brothers would have taken 5 each, perfectly balanced as all things should be, but as it was both JT and Duggers were licking their lips to get in on the bunnies. Both of them did their job expertly as it took them a combined 15 balls to get the last 2 wickets.

And suddenly we had survived one. We came out on top in a close fought game and when it really counted we were able to get ourselves over the line. It’s been a reoccurring theme during this season of early wickets followed by letting the opposition back into the game. Maybe we need the added pressure of no runs on the board.

VIVO Perfect Catch of the Match – The Si to Dave combinations works a treat
TATA Nexon Super Striker of the Match – Kiwi Clutch
FBB Stylish Player of the Match – Dan showed touches of his form from the last 2 years. I think he’s getting back to it
BSW Marquees Muppet of the Day – Me for running myself out
Man of the Match – I can’t choose between the opening bowling partnership of Ollie and Josh. Call it a cop out but I’m gonna give it to the two of them. They can share, like good siblings.

NB Congratulations to to the 2s and to the 3s who also won this weekend. I heard the 2nds was an epic game. I believe this is the first time that Great Waltham has had 3 teams win on a Saturday so congratulations to the club, the chairman and those who have facilitated the colts set up to bring the 3s to life.

Great Waltham Cricket Club 1st XI Batting

Player Name		Runs	B	4s	SR	Ct
extras TOTAL :	11w 2b for 10 wickets	13 127
Simon Richardson	lbw Northfield	1	8		12.50
David Clout	ct Frost b Northfield	0	6		0	2
Samuel Harris	run out Brown	26	33	5	78.79	1
Daniel Bloom	lbw Brown	31	63	4	49.21
Ollie Fitzwater	ct Swann b Northfield	0	1		0
Gary Bloom	lbw Brown	25	27	5	92.59
Ryan Brown	b Brown	0	1		0	2
Matt Duggan	run out Hunt	22	24	5	91.67
Joshua Fitzwater	lbw Tyler	6	9		66.67
Jamie Carroll	b Brown	5	12	1	41.67
James Taylor	Not Out	0

Springfield 2nd XI Bowling

Player name	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets	Average	Economy
Northfield	10.0	0	45	3	15.00	4.50
Arain	7.0	2	21	0	0.00	3.00
Tyler	8.1	0	38	1	38.00	4.65
Brown	6.0	0	19	4	4.75	3.17

Springfield 2nd XI Batting

Player name		R
extras TOTAL :	9nb 10w 1b 3lb for 10 wickets	23 91 (22.3 overs)
Freestone	lbw J. Fitzwater	0
Frost	ct D. Clout b. O Fitzwater	0
Hunt	ct D. Clout b O. Fitzwater	0
Williams	ct R. Brown b J. Fitzwater	34
Northfield	b J. Fitzwater	19
Jasani	ct & b J. Fitzwater	5
Tyler	b J. Fitzwater	1
Trim	ct R. Brown b J. Fitzwater	2
Swann	Not Out	4
Arain	b J. Taylor	3
Brown	ct S. Harris b M. Duggan	1