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Great Waltham Cricket Club

Scorecard

Stock 1st XI v Great Waltham Cricket Club 1st XI on Sat 23 Jun 2018 at 1pm
Great Waltham Cricket Club Lost by 44 runs

Match report Another week, another strong position, another loss for the Great Waltham first XI. We had Stock 76-5 and in a very similar position to Writtle last week and last week repeated itself. As fellow report writer Andy Barker noted, it’s significantly harder to write these reports after a loss and significantly less fun. So apologies for the dour tone thus far but it may continue throughout the piece.

One area we/I could really do with improving upon would be the toss. I’ve lost almost every toss this year and made a bad decision on the one we did win. I only mention this because of how important the toss invariably was on Saturday; on a dry pitch, batting first was inevitably going to be easier. Again we started decently and had Stock 2 down in the first 10 overs, both down to the younger Fitzwater brother who seems to have rediscovered his groove in these past few weeks. Brave enough to pitch the ball up and swing it he prompted Raeburn to nick behind before uprooting the number 3’s middle stump. The next 5 overs were even better as Josh uprooted another stump to make it 2 out of the 3 before JT tempted the opener to drive on the up to cover.

Next came the real show stealer. Imagine Paul Collingwood, Jonty Rhodes or Ricky Ponting. None of them have anything on former school opening batsman Mark Chapman. The trap was set at short extra cover and Haynes fell right into it. JT again induced an uppish drive which seemed destined to scuttle away to the weird shaped boundary before Mike threw out his left paw. Have you ever seen those ninja tricks of catching a speeding arrow in flight? That was Mark on Saturday, snatching the ball out of the air like a ninja much to the dismay of Haynes who clearly hadn’t picked his fielders. That was really as good as it got for Waltham though. Chappy and JT were miserly throughout the middle overs but none of the Stock batsmen looked too uncomfortable.

In complete contrast to Chappy’s catch we had Josh Fitzwater’s attempt. I’m hesitant to even call it an attempt. As the ball flew straight up in the air, Josh regretfully went for it as he realised there was no one else in reach. As the ball reached its peak Josh was gathering in his position below, ready to comfortably take the catch and as the ball started to come back down it became more and more obvious that this might not be taken. Just as it should have been entering his cupped hands it was thudding into his chest with an audible thump. Nothing but chest. Even Ollie’s (the bowler) fury was temporarily abated as he realised the hilarity of the situation.

When Stock had finally stopped laughing they proceeded to amass an above average score of 219. Ryan had a great run out in the deep and Lewis Chapman bowled well considering the onslaught that faced him in the final few overs and the short boundaries, picking up 2 wickets. And surprise surprise we took a wicket with a no ball and although it likely didn’t affect the outcome of the game, it’s still a huge source of frustration to me and to the spectators. 220 walking off at half time was not unattainable, we all knew how devastating Dave could be on such a small ground and the rest of the batsmen were itching to get back in to form.

The chase, as you may have guessed by now, did not go to plan. The pitch deterioration made it harder for our batsmen, balls not getting up as we’re used to at home but that shouldn’t be an excuse for why we didn’t perform as I know we can. All of the top 6 got double figures but none scored above 35. As a batting unit that isn’t good enough, especially on a small ground where 1 or 2 good partnerships could easily sway the game. Dave came and went after hitting a 6 (and a quickfire 20), although I’m sure that he’s as disappointed as I was with the dismissal. Not so fun fact: in all of our losses this year wickets 2 and 3 have fell within a run of one another. Make of that what you will. My take is that it’s instantly putting our middle order on the back foot, no matter what sort of start we get. Dan and I went within 1 run of each other in this instance after a good partnership of 50.

Stock were able to turn the screw and we were never able to truly recover from that situation. Wickets fell at regular intervals and we never really looked like being able to chase down Stock’s total despite some lusty blows from Lewis at the end. There’s nothing more to be said about the batting display in general. It was disappointing to lose in such a manner but we have to look forward to next week where we get to play at home again. #FortressWaltham

VIVO Perfect Catch of the Match – I’ve spoken about Chappy’s catch at length above.
TATA Nexon Super Striker of the Match – DC
FBB Stylish Player of the Match –Lewis Chapman for cameo with both bat and ball
I’ve forgone the MOTM award as I’m not sure anyone deserves it after another defeat.

Stock 1st XI Batting

Player name		Runs
extras TOTAL :	6nb 10w 2b 1lb for 9 wickets	19 219 (45.0 overs)
A. Raeburn	ct G. Bloom b J. Fitzwater	14
L. Norton	ct L. Chapman b J. Taylor	42
Johnson	b J. Fitzwater	0
J. Raeburn	b J. Fitzwater	6
B. Norton	Not Out	81
Haynes	ct M. Chapman b. J. Taylor	3
Cory	ct L. Chapman b J. Taylor	9
Davison	run out R. Brown	25
Mason	lbw L. Chapman	0
Satish	ct D. Bloom b L. Chapman	16
Griffiths	Not Out	2