Scorecard

Great Waltham Cricket Club 2nd XI v Great Wakering 1st XI on Sat 14 Jul 2018 at 1pm
Great Waltham Cricket Club Won by 4 wickets

Match report The Bamboo needs nurturing, care and faith. Faith because the growth in the early years is less than half a metre. However, after a few years the growth can be over four metres - standing tall and strong, resisting the fiercest conditions. Yesterday on another sunlit day with the backing of raucous crowd (observing silence like the Wimbledon Centre court as the opposition bowlers ran in), 44 required in 24 balls. Our own bamboos were showing signs of growth, Harrison and Cameron. Exuberant running peppered with the occasional boundary, left us with 20 off 8 balls. Our side does not possess a Clout, Swan or Bloom, with all mature/experience/not so quick players dismissed, Harrison pull-drove over mid-wicket fence (6) and followed with flatter strike squarer (4). The roars bellowed from the home supporters, 10 required off 6 balls, six of the Great Wakering players gathered, wondering how did the divisions' top side allowed a relegation battling side to be on the verge of an genuine upset.
Cameron was run-out going for a improbable 2. 9 off 5, Matty's drive through the covers allows a 3. 6 off 4, Harrison holes out with the batsmen crossing, 6 off 3. Cometh the hour, the final act, pièce de résistance - Matty Reed, stepping inside the line to drive over the long on, six! Pandemonium , hysterics, disbelief, joy and probably tears of joy (yours truly), players hugging players, players hugging supporters. Ah and that's why we play this beautiful game, for days like this.

Earlier Robbo won the toss and a bit like Kohli prefers to chase. Bunce intend on playing in T20 mode had stroked 5 boundaries when Joe finally bowled a straight full shaping in yorker. Two overs later the other opener was dismissed inside edging a full toss onto his stumps. Nindi then defecting a firm drive onto the stumps to have Cooper stranded, 55-3, Smith looking like a batsmen who should be playing in a higher division deposited Nindi effortlessly into the cow fields. Having raced to 33, the repeat stroke found Luke catching more casually than Gower! 98-4 wickets fell at regular intervals, however I've not known a side who want to constantly hit boundaries with little regard for singles (that's not Pro-per Crick-ket). The runs flowed and our bowlers were making a valiant attempt to limit our target. Some notable figures Joe 3-44 off 8.4; Harry 3-60 off 7 could have had 4 (see Isla's match report); Robbo 2-34 off 10. A special mention to our Bamboo's (Cameron, Harrison and Joel) who all bowled some important overs at the innings that prevented us having to chase 300+.

So at tea, 269 to beat the table toppers. The wicket was good and the outfield as fast as I've played on. With Nindi, having pulled a hamstring, my opening partner was Luke, who is not shy of teeing off. Sadly for us Luke mistimed to mid-off. Nindi marched in, little time to rest the 'hammy' and played..well like he has all season, beautiful stroked boundaries. he had raced to 28, we were 59 off 10 overs when he was dismissed in similar fashion to Luke. Enter the 'King of Essex' Phil and together with yours truly, we were able to maintain within touching distance. We'd added 131 with the opposition arguing with each other seeing us nearing our target, Phil top-edged to cover. With Harrison we'd crossed past 200 and on the home straight when I edged the returning opening bowler Mayhew behind. Scoring runs is such a lovely experience, however always feels hollow in defeat.
Thankfully our bamboos are standing tall and asking to be noticed. A note to Robbo, who I thought should have batted at 5...what the hell do I know. Now what was I saying about keeping the faith.

What a marvelous weekend for the club with victories for the 1st and 3rds. Let savour this moment, next week is a long way. Long may this Indian summer continue, ah the Indians are here:)

ap

ps I'm always looking for volunteers to write match reports - to read Isla's version (Robbo' Daughter) click this link: https://gwcc.secure-club.com/gallery/galleryid_18553/IslasMatchreport.aspx# - brevity is key

Great Wakering 1st XI Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
8nb 5w 13b  
for 10 wickets
26
268 (44.4 overs)		     
G Overall b  J Reed 12
L Bunce b  J Reed 25
A Cooper run out  (Dhanjal) 10
N Smith ct  Tanner b Dhanjal 33
C Short ct  Tanner b Duncan 35
J Cooper b  Robinson 10
D Overall st  M Reed b Robinson 30
D Deadman ct  Robinson b Duncan 24
R Accelton b  Duncan 9
R Wigins b  J Reed 22
A Mayhew Not Out  18

Great Waltham Cricket Club 2nd XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Joe Reed8.4144314.675.08
Harry Duncan7.0060320.008.57
Nindi Dhanjal7.0038138.005.43
Neil Robinson10.0034217.003.40
Cameron Brown5.003800.007.60
Harrison Elles3.001700.005.67
Joel Barker4.001900.004.75

Great Waltham Cricket Club 2nd XI Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
3nb 21w 2b 4lb 
for 6 wickets
30
269		        
Atul Patel ct  wk b Mayhew 106 13 1
Luke Tanner ct  Mid-0ff b Wiggins 3 2
Nindi Dhanjal ct  Mid-Off b Wiggins 28 6
Phil Whettell ct  Cover b Deadman 37 4
Harrison Elles ct  Point b Mayhew 40 2 1
Cameron Brown Run out  11
Matty Reed Not Out  9 1 1
Neil Robinson Not Out  0
Joel Barker  
Joe Reed  
Harry Duncan  

Great Wakering 1st XI Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Mayhew9.4153226.505.48
Wiggins5.0040220.008.00
Overall10.005100.005.10
Deadham10.0042142.004.20
Appleton10.007600.007.60