Scorecard

Great Waltham Cricket Club 1st XI v Waltham Wanderers on Sat 25 Jul 2020 at 1 p.m.
Match was Abandoned

Match report It’s Gary Bloom’s world and we’re all just living in it. Well it felt like that for some of Saturday afternoon as Gary brought up his 100th, 200th, 500th (?) ton but most importantly the first GWCC ton of the year, reclaiming the little man. It’ll be handed over by Bloom Jnr, which in a Covid ravaged season feels like a nice touch from the cricketing gods.

The batsmen were very much looking forward to batting at home after the pitch, and new groundsman, got rave reviews from select members of the 2s and Sunday XI. Having won the toss, using the pitch first and batting was the only option. The untested partnership of Bloom Snr and Snicks opened up in a game reduced to 30 overs, designed to combat the impending wave of rainy doom later in the afternoon which looked like a foregone conclusion. The new opening pair started well, racing along to 50 without loss after 8 overs. There were even a couple of 3s thrown in for good measure. Wickesy, well set for a big score, let Rafiq sneak one under his bat and departed for a promising 22 off 25 balls.

22 overs left, when’s a good time to go? How much batting have we got left? What’s a par score? Is that Joe just turning up to the ground now? Why has Jamie shaved off all his hair? All these questions running through the mind of a captain on the edge. Fortunately, Gary answered some of these more pressing questions by smoking the ball down the ground for six on a couple of occasions. Originally thinking 210 – 220 would be a decent score, the revised WASP, as calculated by JT, was steadily on the rise. Gary and I found our stride and after 20 overs, both with half centuries to our name, had 162 on the board. Time for the last 10 charge. Finally, the moment came, Gary found backward point hanging on the edge of the circle (unsurprising, considering the successful number of reverse sweeps played), jogged through for the single, raising his bat to the air in triumphant jubilation. But what’s this? JT is shaking his head unashamedly, indicating that Gary is still one short of a well-deserved hundred. Both meticulous counters, perhaps we’ll never find the true answer to their numerical differences, perhaps it was a communication error, Gary mistaking three finger for two. Maybe we’ll never know.

Gary reached his hundred the very next ball to a limited yet nevertheless jubilant crowd. The only shame of the day was the lack of fans, especially the old boys bench, on local derby day. I padded my stats for a bit before throwing one up in the air to let Ollie have a quick go. Using a new piece of willa’ (14 off 6 balls) he propelled towards our final total of 286-3, well above my mental par figure and probably WASP. Gary continued accumulate boundaries and runs, though I’ll have to take some credit for this not making him run a single 2 for me during our partnership, leaving him fresh. Gal finished on 128*, a brilliant effort off just 30 overs with a strike rate in the mid 140s.

Alas it was all for nothing as the aforementioned rain came tumbling down. As we hid in our well-made gazebo whilst (accidentally) letting the opposition struggle under the burgeoning weight of a gazebo poorly designed for the rain, the captains met to come to the decision to call the game off. It did rain for the next 3 hours straight so I think we were vindicated in that decision. Waltham Wanderers had started with a bang and I wasn’t particularly looking forward to chasing the ball (metaphorically with my horrible field placements) for the next 25 overs. As far as games called off in the rain go, I was fairly pleased. We got to bat first and didn’t have to field, every batsman’s dream. So on to next week (tomorrow, if you’re reading this ‘live’), Tillingham away. Everyone’s favourite journey.


Great Waltham Cricket Club 1st XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 12w 4b  
for 3 wickets
17
286		        
Graham Wickes b Rafiq 22 25 4 88.00
Gary Bloom Not Out  128 87 15 4 147.13
Samuel Harris ct & b F. Mahmood 107 64 15 4 167.19
Ollie Fitzwater b N. Mahmood 14 6 233.33
Matty Reed Not Out  1 1 100
Harrison Elles  
Jamie Carroll  
Joshua Fitzwater  
Rhys Chapman  
Joe Reed  
James Taylor  

Waltham Wanderers Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
F. Mahmood6.0047147.007.83
Rafiq6.0042142.007.00
B. Nasir6.005300.008.83
A. Nasir4.004200.0010.50
N. Mahmood6.0066166.0011.00
Tahir2.003000.0015.00

Waltham Wanderers Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 6w 1lb 
for 0 wickets
8
42 (4.0 overs)		     
W. Mahmood Not Out  14
Tahir Not Out  16
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Great Waltham Cricket Club 1st XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Joshua Fitzwater2.002600.0013.00
Ollie Fitzwater2.001500.007.50