Scorecard

Great Waltham Cricket Club 1st XI v Rayleigh Fairview 1st XI on Sat 25 Jul 2015 at 1 p.m.
Great Waltham Cricket Club Won by 4 wickets

Match report The Bamboo has finally had a growth spurt, yes a victory to celebrate. A fine all round team performance gave us a well-deserved, much sought after victory by 4 wickets against Rayleigh Fairview.
In recent weeks, I have asked for supporters, club members and most importantly, players, to keep the faith, keep believing, continue to perform with determination. Yesterday we had control of the game from start to finish; the margin of victory will indicate a hard fought victory and a tight game.

Winning a crucial toss, Josh and Tucks gave us the perfect start with a couple of early wickets, including the visiting captain J Lawson, driving to Duggers at cover. We continue to apply the pressure on a wicket that had been soaked the previous day, soft, not ideal for stroke play. A day to keep our patience, bowl with discipline and hold our catches, does this sound like déjà vu?
At drinks, the visitors were 63-2 off 23 overs, eventually Sam Harman, providing the vital break through when Webster (30) ‘shouldered arms’ to one that nipped back off the seam and hit the top of off. Other than the odd loose delivery, huge credit to all our bowlers, all bowled with consistency and to a plan which was backed up by our best fielding performance of the season. A mention for Ryan, who stumped Warship (10) with a direct hit standing back to Josh. For Duggers, running back at mid-on, leaping like a fresh-water salmon, to pluck a one-handed catch to remove Barnes (3) off JT and to Sam Harman, who is a joy to captain. Yesterday I asked him to bowl at the back end of the Rayleigh innings, just as the opposition were getting ambitious; he bowled with great skill and control to finish with 3-28 off 10 consecutive overs.

We sat at tea needing 143 to halt our losing sequence. Can our batters consolidate our position? The visiting captain opening the bowling was the early threat, It was essential we didn’t lose early wickets. He bowled a testing line and short of a length, he’s partner at the other end, Johnston, however couldn’t back him up and my recent good form, allowed us to get off to a solid start. Just as I was thinking, see off Lawson, I feathered one off my glove to the keeper, 37-1 off 8 overs. 10 runs later Simon was LBW.
This season, Sam (Harris) has looked like as good a batsmen as any in our league, his innings of 84 two weeks ago against Hornchurch (current league leaders) was sheer class on a beautiful wicket, yesterday required application on a completely different wicket. Together with the ever improving Ollie, as a captain it was pleasing to watch both of them fight hard and show application. Having taken us to 96, Ollie was caught at backward point, two overs later, Sam was caught in the covers with one that ‘stopped’ in the wicket, 103-4 off 28 overs. With Jason back in the side, playing on his fifth game of the season, added much needed experience to our middle order and with Duggers heading the batting averages, surely we could muster another 40? Not without a hiccup, we got home when Ryan drove to the long-on boundary. Relief, all the positive talk about belief and giving 100% had finally come to fruition. We are off the bottom, however still 26 points behind Rayleigh. With five games remaining we must find one more win more than Rayleigh. At the very least we must go into the last game knowing a win will keep our Division two status.

A huge thank you to all who played yesterday, you clearly have the talent and I’m convinced we will remain in this division. Next week, we travel to Writtle. Earlier this season, they completely outplayed us at home and possessed the best opening attack. A good time to ensure they don’t complete the double. Thank you also to all the supporters, you watching and cheering really makes a difference.

Enjoy your week, I’m off for a little R and R in Surrey.

AP

“Victory is sweetest when you’ve known defeat”
Malcolm Forbes

Rayleigh Fairview 1st XI Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
4nb 9w 1b  
for 8 wickets
14
142 (45.0 overs)		     
J Webster ct  Brown b Tucker 1
J Lawson* ct  Duggan b Fitzwater 7
G Webster ct  Richardson b Harman 30
A Ames b  Harman 25
A Keating ct  Brown b Taylor 20
D Lawson ct  Patel b Harman 12
N Warship st  Brown b Fitzwater 10
S Barnes ct  Duggan b Taylor 3
A Faires Not Out  17
L Hayward Not Out  3
S Johnston  

Great Waltham Cricket Club 1st XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Joshua Fitzwater10.0523211.502.30
Lewis Tucker10.0224124.002.40
Matt Duggan9.032600.002.89
Sam Harman10.032839.332.80
James Taylor6.0038219.006.33

Great Waltham Cricket Club 1st XI Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
6nb 11w 7b 2lb 
for 6 wickets
26
146		        
Atul Patel ct  wk b J Lawson 29 6 1
Simon Richardson lbw  Johnston 7 1
Samuel Harris ct  b J Lawson 44 8
Ollie Fitzwater ct  b J Lawson 9 1
Jason Todd ct  wk b D Lawson 15 2
Matt Duggan b  D Lawson 5 1 2
Ryan Brown Not Out  8 2 2 1
Sam Harman Not Out  3
Lewis Tucker  
Joshua Fitzwater  
James Taylor  

Rayleigh Fairview 1st XI Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
J Lawson10.031535.001.50
S Johnston8.0058158.007.25
A Faires5.012800.005.60
D Lawson10.0425212.502.50
Webster2.00700.003.50
Hayward0.20400.0012.00

  • Umpire :
    shared
  • Scorer :
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Photos and video of Great Waltham Cricket Club 1st XI v Rayleigh Fairview 1st XI on Sat 25 Jul 2015 at 1 p.m.

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Dan, Lewis, Ryan and Sam unable watch Ollie Fitz batting

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JT "Mum, scoring really is very exciting"

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Sam Harris batting, J Lawson (Rayleigh Captain) bowling

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Ollie Fitz batting, D Lawson bowling

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Sam Harris batting, J Lawson bowling

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Duggers batting, J Lawson bowling

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Duggers drives through the covers, Toddy looks on admiringly

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Ttext book defence from Jason Todd

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Jason Todd batting

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More Jason Todd batting

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Lewis "wake up Janet, we're about to win"