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Great Waltham Cricket Club

Scorecard

Goresbrook 2nd XI v Great Waltham Cricket Club 1st XI on Sat 03 Jun 2017 at 1pm
Great Waltham Cricket Club Won by 5 wickets

Match report I'm not really sure where to start for Saturday's game. We flitted somewhere between the exceptionally good and the exceptionally bad. That equated to a (relatively) comfortable 5 wicket victory, continuing our stretch at the top of the table. It was a long, long drive to Goresbrook, which most of us turned up late to, myself included, and perhaps that left us under prepared in the fielding department. Perhaps it was just one of those days. All that can be said is that the game would have been over considerably quicker if we had held all our catches.

Si won the toss (don't travel with the fitzes) and chose to bowl first despite the overhead conditions. The rain the day before had made the pitch a rather damp affair and bowling first seemed the most logical choice. We had the ideal start when Tucks struck with his first ball, top of off pegged back. Next he bowled Gillingham round his legs (apparently the 4th times in 5 innings, make of that what you will). Goresbrook were already looking shaky, if only we could get their other opener. I think we dropped him 4 times. I can't remember to be sure. To say he lived a charmed life, would be generous but he made us pay compiling 41 runs. Before he had Curley caught, Chappy had Scott LBW and generally bowled tightly in partnership with Swanny, restricting scoring opportunities and creating chances.

The introduction of Ollie brought about the start of the Goresbrook demise. JT, in as a specialist fielder apparently, caught a 'skier' to get rid of of Greaves, who was looking well set on 32. That was one of 3 catches for JT, a new PB and a jug. Duggan was held back and used his role to great effect as he mopped up the tail of Goresbrook. 3-7 in 5 overs wasn't far off the VC's prediction of 4-11 off 7. Goresbrook were eventually bowled out 128. The 4th time we've achieved that this season. I'll write about the plethora of dropped catches later.

128 was not such an easy target to chase as it would first seem. The pitch was keeping very low, was very slow and this was a very similar team that had collapsed to 80 odd all out last year at the same ground chasing a very modest total. The chase wasn't going to be much fun. It turned out to be somewhat of a slog, boundaries were at a premium and steadfast concentration was required to see us through.

The returning opening partnership of Dave & Si started strongly but just as Dave had started to get going he left a straight one off the dangerous (in more ways than one, as Duggers will attest to), erratic and all round enigmatic Ochwo. Simon and I struggled on, knowing that the closer we could get to the total, the more demoralised the Goresbrook bowlers would become. Unfortunately Si was dismissed in very similar circumstances to Dan against Horndon, a half tracker barely getting above shin high and only being able to be patted to a delighted fielder. The Goresbrook bowlers were offering very little in terms of threatening deliveries, minus Ochwo. An inspirational change of ends from Ochwo, spelled a change in fortunes for the bowler. Finally able to find his rhythm and line, Ochwo attacked the stumps, bowling Dan, Swanny and I in quick succession. Fortunately the other end was considerably easier to face and last week's finishing partnership was able to see us home once again as Duggers and Ollie, showed their all rounder nature.

Thoughts
1. Our ground fielding was good, our catching essentially atrocious. I couldn't be bothered to mention the 10 dropped chances above but they probably should have some attention paid to them. I'd suggest 80% of those should have been taken. This year I would suggest that performace was an aberration, an outlier, however in the context of the previous few years I'm not sure it can be dismissed as such. We desperately need to improve that aspect of our game if we plan on being successful this year.

2. I thought the bowling throughout was exceptional. Especially those through the middle overs who could have succumbed to irritation at the dropped catches. We could have had 20 wickets in 40 overs. I'd say that was pretty good going on a pitch which lacked any sort of ace and bounce.

3. The batting was tedious and boring but everyone did their job in grinding out the victory. It probably made for dill viewing from the sidelines but every batsman realised how tough it was to bat out there and adjusted accordingly. I think we've been lacking that aptitude in the last few years.

VIVO perfect catch of the match: JT for not 1, not 2 but 3 catches. Can't ask for more as a specialist fielder

YES BANK Maximum sixes: None, not one was hit all day. We scored 12 fours in our entire innings. Sticky

FBB stylish player of the day: Err, none. We all looked scratchy.

MOTM: Cheating, but the bowling department as a whole. Everyone picked up wickets apart from Swanny (who had a couple of drops). Stuck to their task well all day

Muppet of the day: The catching. At least we won. Shows how far we've come. Can complain about the catching and still win.

Big game next week. Little Waltham at home. Moma Harris on teas.

Goresbrook 2nd XI Batting

Player name		Runs
extras TOTAL :	5w 4b 4lb for 10 wickets	13 128 (40.4 overs)
C. Irving	b L. Tucker	1
J. Curley	ct J. Taylor b M. Chapman	41
D. Gillham	b L. Tucker	3
A. Scott	lbw M. Chapman	11
S. Greaves	ct J. Taylor b. O. Fitzwater	32
L. Jones	ct S. Harris b O. Fitzwater	14
I. Ochwo	ct J. Taylor b M. Duggan	4
M. Friend	b M. Duggan	7
O. McDowell	b M. Duggan	0
B. Winsley	b J. Fitzwater	2
B. Smith