Forgot password?
Register
Login

Great Waltham Cricket Club

Scorecard

Hornchurch Ath 1st XI v Great Waltham Cricket Club 1st XI on Sat 09 May 2015 at 1 p.m.
Great Waltham Cricket Club Won by 28 runs

Match report An outstanding all-round team effort, a belief...and a feeling ensured we notched our first victory of the season away to Hornchurch Athletic (who incidentally were challenging for promotion last game of the season last year), by 28 runs.

The margin of victory doesn't reflect the ebb and flow of fortunes throughout an entertaining afternoon's cricket. Missing a number of regulars, we were invited to bat on a flat, however slow wicket. As is customary, Dave injected a boundary feast in the early overs, forcing the home captain to make an early bowling change. Crane came on was finding it difficult to hold Dave, so it was a surprise when a short ball was mis-timed to mid-on, gone for 39, 49-1. Yours truly was still scratching around for form mindful that we not lose quick wickets and hand the initiative back to Hornchurch. Slowly with Bloomer we began to tick the score along. The timing of the mid-innings drinks was unfortunate and soon after a horrendous mix-up ended up with both of us at the striker's end, I walked off reluctantly for 22. Fortunately Bloomer (65) was able to hold the innings and together (one beautifully drive six of the spinner was a picture of grace) with the new 2015 Ollie Fitzwater, a crucial (30) we managed to bat our allocation and set a competitive 194-7 at tea. The spirit and fight shown by all batters was a delight, on similar occasions last season we would have subsided to a much lesser total.

At tea I told the team - "I gotta a feelin'" - it was the sort of total that will require someone to play a substantial innings. At this level a score of 190 plus is always going to test the side batting last on this type of wicket. My feeling was still positive even when the home side were 60-0. If we could just get one, we'd a get another. Fortunately Dave managed to get one to hold in the wicket and took a simple caught and bowled, Davis departed for 34. Two more soon followed, Samarasekara smartly taken by Ollie low at backward square and Tucks holding one at mid-on to get Swanie off the mark this season. 60-0 became 93-3. Then followed a 45 run partnership between the home captain Raftery and Porter. Ollie cursing himself for every bad ball he bowled, managed to squeeze one past Raftery's outside edge and nick the off-stump. This was our opportunity, captain gone for a fine 63, did the rest of the Hornchurch batting have the talent, more importantly the mental resolve? Did we have the discipline and remain positive and keep our energy in the field? We held our nerves and our catches, Hornchurch losing their last 4 wickets for no addition. Did I mention "I gotta a feelin".

Ollie had capped a fine day with 5-40, a couple of catches and a crucial 30. This season he looks like a player desperate to do well for the club, there is a noticeable improvement in his batting, the bowling too has improved. I am particularly grateful to all who played yesterday, especially those who were called up last minute, your efforts are noticed and you helped us gain a crucial victory. A mention for Dave who finished 3-51 and Swanie 2-30. The captain had made a intelligent decision to bowl out all the front line bowlers, hoping we would not require the back up bowlers.

Next week, more London opponents Havering-atte-Bower. Maybe batting first is the way forward.

Have a good week, AP

"Individual commitment to a group effort - that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work"
Vince Lombardi

Great Waltham Cricket Club 1st XI Batting

Player Name		Runs	Ct
extras TOTAL :	for 7 wickets	0 194
Atul Patel	Run out	22
David Clout	ct Hunt b Crane	39	1
Gary Bloom	ct & Bowled Davis	65
Neil Harman	b Hunt	4
Simon Richardson	ct & Bowled Davis	9
Craig Swan	ct Raftery b Davis	3
Ollie Fitzwater	b Raftery	30	2
Ryan Brown	Not Out	6	1
Lewis Tucker	Not Out	4	1
Joshua De'ath			1
Adam French

Hornchurch Ath 1st XI Bowling

Player name	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets	Average	Economy
J Coote	8.0	2	0	0	0.00	0.00
L Gil	3.0	0	0	0	0.00	0.00
P Crane	10.0	3	21	1	21.00	2.10
A Davis	10.0	3	0	3	0.00	0.00
S Hunt	4.0	0	22	1	22.00	5.50
S Klein	6.0	0	0	0	0.00	0.00
R Raftery	4.0	0	20	1	20.00	5.00

Hornchurch Ath 1st XI Batting

Player name		R
extras TOTAL :	2w 5b 3lb for 10 wickets	10 166 (36.3 overs)
A Davis	b & Bowled Clout	34
R Raftery	b Fitzwater	63
S Samarasekara	ct Fitzwater b Clout	1
S Klein	ct Tucker b Swan	9
L Porter	ct & Bowled Fitzwater	28
R Lane	ct De'ath b Swan	7
J Coote	b Clout	10
L Martin	ct Brown b Fitzwater	0
L Gil	Not Out	0
P Crane	b Fitzwater	0
S Hunt	b Fitzwater	0