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| 2008 Season April 27th Brunswick Village v TWCC May 4th Streat and Westmeston v TWCC May 11th TWCC v Greys May 18th TWCC v Moulscombe Wanderers May 25th Bolney v TWCC June 1st Ashurst v TWCC June 8th Single Wicket Competition June 15th TWCC v London Unity June 20th to 22nd Tour to Suffolk June 29th Poynings v TWCC July 6th TWCC v Wisley July 13th Staplefield v TWCC July 20th TWCC v Southern Cross and Hornblowers July 27th TWCC v Henfield August 3rd TWCC v President's XI August 10th Moulsecoomb v TWCC 2007 Season April 29th Brunswick Village v TWCC May 6th Streat and Westmeston v TWCC May 20th TWCC v Moulescomb Wanderers June 10th Single Wicket 2007 July 1st 2007 Twineham and Wineham v. Poynings July 22nd Southern Cross and Hornblowers July 29th Henfield v TWCC August 12th Moulescombe Wanderers v TWCC August 19th TWCC v Warninglid September 2nd TWCC v Worthing Foresters September 9th Albourne and Sayers Common v TWCC September 30th TWCC v Brighton Beamers 2006 Season August 6th TWCC v President's XI August 13th Moulescombe Wanderers v TWCC August 20th Warninglid v TWCC 17th September Bolney v TWCC 24th September TWCC v Streat and Westmeston 1st October TWCC v Brighton Beamers Season Retrospective |
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| TWCC 2008 Season | ||||||||
| TWCC v Brunswick Village April 27th 2007 The first match of the season and Brunswick were the opponents. An hour long downpour just before the start meant the grass was wet, the pitch would be unresponsive. We won the toss: and elected to field first. Matt opened with a good, occasionally erratic, spell from the playground end and was unlucky not to take a wicket in a long spell. 10 overs, 0 for 29***CHECK***. Paul, opening at the other end, took the first wicket with a cleverly thought out slower ball. He then handed over to Richard who demonstrated what the word erratic really means. In a 6 over spell, he bowled 17 wides – including four on the trot! Curiously his final figures made rather good reading: 6-0-3-24. His first wicket was thanks to a quite brilliant running catch in the deep by George Hunter, truly earning his TWCC stripes. Wickets continued to fall with regularity but so did the number of wides bowled. Phil had an excellent spell ending with impressive figures of ....****CHECK****. – and mention should also be made of Tony Pearce who made three excellent catches in the slips, none of them easy. But by the end Brunswick hung on to score 143-9 – **CHECK*** of which an unbelievable 46 – yes 46 – were wides. Steve and Paul opened and Steve fell early to an excellent catch leaving us 4-1. Tony and Paul then took us to ....****CHECK****. before Tony fell for 15. Richard put himself up to 4 in the order and he and Paul pushed the score into the 90s ....****CHECK****. before he fell to yet another good catch for 19. The word collapse is said by some to be synonymous with Twineham – this wasn’t one of the great collapses but it wasn’t good. There followed a procession of batsmen failing to make a big impact: Mikey (SCORE) fell on his sword during a run out mix up with Paul, Jonathan (SCORE) showed great promise with some big hits but he too holed out – and the senior section of Rogers and Jones struggled to chalk up anything above singles. In the middle of the mayhem, Paul too was caught for an excellent 59. The required rate rose from 2 an over to 8 needed from the last over with the father and son combo of Matt and Phil at the crease. Matt hit a two then a mighty blow sent the ball scuttling towards the boundary, where an eager fielder dived full length to stop a certain four and effectively save the match. It came down to the last ball: two required to tie, three to win: Matt connected but not well enough and Phil was run out trying to make the second run. TWCC finished on 142-9 – the match drawn. A reasonable start to the season, a match we should have won easily had it not been for that appalling - and probably record breaking for TWCC – number of wides. We put it down to the close season cobwebs, a windy day and cloud cover – and move on. |
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| Streat v TWCC May 4th 2008 On a cloudy, humid day at the base of the Downs Twineham played Streat. Phil Steinke was captain for the day, and lost the toss as usual. But, in the end, it was a good toss to lose as Twineham were put in to bat. On a slow batting strip James soon got into stride after a couple of LBW appeals were turned down. Hitting four boundaries Steve and James put on 30 for the first wicket before Steve edged one to Steve Hancock. However, James carried on, making 24 before deciding to come down the wicket to Stan and getting stumped. Then entered the Pearce boys, Tony and Mikey, who put on 107 for the 3rd wicket, in which Tony scored 80 plus, hitting the bowling to all parts of the ground, hitting 6's off every other ball. Streat didn't have much idea how to get Tony out, with Steve Hancock bowling 6 overs for 61 against him. Mikey played his part, of course, in the 107 stand, playing well against Stan Spiegel, but who was out in the end for 21. Another 60+ partnership between Tony and Jonathan put Twineham in a good position for winning the game. A few more 6's and Tony was out, stumped, for a brilliant 153. Meanwhile Jonathan made a quick-fire 31 not out. Edward came and went for a single, but by then the damage was done; 264 for 5 off 39 overs. After the tea interval Twineham came out to field, with Nigel opening the bowling from the Manor End, and Matt from the Downs End. Nigel soon had Streat in trouble removing the dangerous Simon Barrs and Steve Hancock for ducks, and J Bovill for 2 who decided to come out without batting gloves and was persuaded to go back and get a pair. Matt played his part by removing A Barret with a low catch to James. Nigel, having figures of 3 for 13 off 9 overs, and Matt 1 for 6 off 8 overs. Then entered James to bowl from the Downs end, who, first ball, had Bob Mayston (former Kent player) out to a brilliant running catch at long on by Ollie Bunn. At this stage Streat were 24 for 7. Phil bowled from the Manor End and didn't trouble the batsmen often, and decided to give Mikey Pearce a bowl before being carried off with a hamstring problem. Mikey soon got in the rhythm by removing Bob Griffiths. M Bleson and Stan Spiegel who was brilliantly caught by the much improved Honse. In the end it was a good win for Twineham by 192 runs. And a second report: With uncharacteristic ruthlessness Twineham annihilated a sorry looking Streat. A record-breaking 150 by Tony Pearce thoroughly demoralised the opposition and fantastic catches by Ollie Bunn and Honse capped a stirring display. Never mind that Streat's bowling was friendly and their batsmen, to say the least, obliging, games like this still have to be won. Pearce senior made full use of a short boundary, swiping and smashing until he went a dangerous shade of puce, while Pearce Junior played with textbook correctness collecting one's and two's to his fathers fours and sixes. Well before tea the total looked way beyond Streat's capabilities and so it proved as Nigel and Matt took early wickets, and James and Mikey tweaked out the rest. Strangely, Richard's technical acumen was hardly missed as Phil changed the bowlers cannily until pulling a hamstring when the game was all but won. Ollie's wonder catch came as a former kent county batsman was deceived by James's flight. Ollie raced in from the boundary and plucked it from the sky. Honse, who appears to be made of rubber, caught the winning catch (destined for Matthew until he slipped) flinging himself forwards to hold on just inches from the ground. A few minutes later and the heavens opened. Five catches, a run out and no dropped chances; all that pre-season training had really payed off. And Tony has generously offered to buy the beers for the rest of the season. Top of page |
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| TWCCv Greys May 11th 2007 A hot sunny day for the game against Greys, a good day for batting as
the match, and two men in particular, would prove. TWCC lost the toss and were
asked to field. We spent the next two hours admiring their Australian opener
Covill stack up a chanceless century before he got greedy and was stumped for
109, trying to knock James into New South Wales. In the meantime, Dave Rogers
took a stunning diving catch to get rid of their other opener, but it was one
of those days where the ball avoided the fielders. Our bowlers toiled well for
little reward, mostly going for at least five an over. But Matt Steinke, Dave
Jones and Edward all picked up a wicket with James getting 2-29 at the end.
A good reply by our openers: Steve and James put on 61 before Steve was
bowled for 30, but the foundation was laid. Enter Tony Pearce, he of the 152
last week. It was very soon clear he was determined to continue from last week.
James was caught for 34 with the score at 71-2 - and the next wicket fell at
210!!! A curious but unselfish innings from Edward with 19 singles in the
scorebook before he got any other score. He was bowled eventually for 35 (23
singles, 3 4s) but by that time another magnificent century by Tony had got us
to the brink of victory. His superb innings consisted of 11 4s and 6 6s and
ensured victory by 7 wickets with ten balls to spare. Tony was 103 not out. So
another excellent team performance, congratulations to all, the undefeated TWCC
march on.
Top of page |
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|
TWCC v Moulscombe
Wanderers May
11th 2008 |
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| Bolney v TWCC May May 25th 2008 An undefeated TWCC arrived at the picturesque ground of Bolney, a venue where in recent years they’ve had little reward and occasionally fractious encounters – one might speculate whether those two facts are in any way connected. The skipper won the toss and elected to field on an afternoon promising a bit of swing. And so it was that the first controversial move was to open with Nigel and Jim – a tactic which paid dividends with Nigel coming downhill unlucky not to nick a couple of edges but bowling a good tight spell, and Jim using the conditions uphill to take a couple of good wickets, including their opener for a duck and their number three three balls later, for two wicket maidens in a spell of 21-2. The pressure was kept up on the batting side when Matt replaced Nigel down the hill and put in an excellent spell taking 4 wickets for 37 runs. It was a reward not just for that day but for some recent spells when Matt has bowled well but not got the wickets he’s deserved. Wickets fell regularly and only a late stand of 37 for the 6th wicket got Bolney towards a reasonable score, when they hit out at the spinning combo of James and Mikey. Fortunately when Mikey was getting the treatment his dad stepped in: by stumping the batsman who was trying to slog him onto the A23. It capped an excellent display behind the stumps for Tony, adding to two earlier catches. Bolney finished on 164-8, setting an achievable target. However, it soon became clear it would not be achieved. Mikey spent a long time getting not many and was out for 5, Tony took a short time getting even fewer and was out for 4 – whilst James just took a long time. We made 53 in an hour and ten minutes, unable to get good tight bowling away. James eventually made 27, Nigel fell for 12 – but then, in came Edward. No, not that one – not the one that scored 19 in singles – the other one, the `old Edward`. He set about the bowling and made a quickfire 41 – scoring more boundaries than singles – and suddenly the chase was back on. When he departed we were 98-5, needing 66 from the remaining 12 overs. Unfortunately, we were not up to the job. Jim made 2, Richard a shameful golden duck and William a swashbuckling 0 – though had he have hit one of the many he went for, it would most certainly have landed in Brighton. It was left to the last three batsmen to form a rearguard defence – and what a superb job they did. Dave Rogers and Matt lasted 8 overs, whilst Bolney tried to buy them, bounce them and blast them out with a variety of bowling, including bringing back the pacy opener towards the end. But these two stalwarts held firm until the match was almost safe – when Matt was eventually bowled by said opener. Enter the fray Honsa. With one ball which if missed would lose us the game he faced up like an American baseball player. The ball was good, fast and on the stumps in failing light – but not before Honsa’s magnificent bat came down firmly on it and the match was drawn. We have ourselves a new young hero, to go with our older hero Dave. So the run continues, it was a really plucky performance by those last three batters, good to see Edward back in the groove and a very good display in the field. SCORES BOLNEY INNINGS HIMAL: CT AND BOWLED M STEINKE 39 S ADBY: LBW SIMON 0 I ROBINSON: CT T PEARCE, B SIMON: 0 S BOWLES LBW B BROCK 16 P MARSHALL CT T PEARCE B M STEINKE 30 J MCDOWALL B M STEINKE 4 A BENNETT CT T PEARCE B M STEINKE 8 B GRIFFIN NOT OUT 21 G STANDING ST T PEARCE B M PEARCE 31 M ENGLISH NOT OUT 3 TOTAL 164 BOWLING N INGRAM: 8-2-0-0 J SIMON: 6-2-21-2 R BROCK 11-2-36-1 M STEINKE 11-2-37-4 J TROLLOPE 5-1-25-0 M PEARCE 4-0-24-1 TWCC INNINGS J TROLLOPE: CT ROBINSON B HIMAL 27 M PEARCE CT HIMAL B ENGLIS 5 T PEARCE CT MARSHAL B A BENNETT 4 N INGRAM BOWLED HIMAL 12 E BUNN BOWLED HIMAL 41 J SIMON BOWLED ROBINSON 2 R BROCK BOWLED HIMAL 0 W BUNN BOWLED HIMAL 0 D ROGERS NOT OUT 1 M STEINKE BOWLED ROBINSON 4 HONSA NOT OUT 0 TOTAL 109 MATCH DRAWN Top of page |
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| Ashurst v TWCC June 1st 2008 And
so to Ashurst, where a strong (on paper and only on paper) TWCC XI lost the toss
and were asked to field. The pitch had had a lot of rain and was quite soggy:
and given it's reputation for low balls anyway, we were hoping for a good tight
performance in the field. And this we had - for a while. Nigel and Jim worked
hard in the opening spell: Nigel's figures in particular were excellent:
6-2-8-3. Then Rob Rydon - our newest acquisition, who spotted our advert in the
pages of `Twineham Today` under the `New players wanted for a desperate cricket
team` column – came on a bowled very well, fast, tight, difficult to get
away. With Matt Steinke at the other end
also bowling well it was a very good period of intensive cricket. However, we are all there to play cricket so
the skipper controversially extended the bowling circle to include himself,
Jonathan and Dave Jones. This with a
batsman starting to enjoy himself and get to grips with the conditions. Result:
less appealing bowling figures, a batsman finally out for 74 and a total
about 30 more than it should have been.
They finished on 156-9. That said, the only point of setting an
achievable target is to come somewhere near striking distance – and we
failed. Abjectly. With such riches in our batting line-up,
everyone seemed to subconsciously leave it to the next man. So when Jim, snatching at the opportunity to
open with James (“isn’t there anyone else”) fell for just 2, and our early
season but fast fading hero Tony was also bowled for 9, it was left to our new
champion Rob to bail us out....
Anyway
moving on. After Rob’s 2, others to fail
were Edward (7), Jonathan (1) Nigel and Dave J – scorer untroubled – in fact
only Matt with an unbeaten 22 and James with 29 offered any resistance. We finished on 89-8, a valiant last stand of
32 between Matt and Dave Rogers – but because it was a 40 over game, it has to
be chalked down as a defeat. It’s nice
to see it wasn’t a traditional Twineham collapse however – just a steady torrent
of wickets. And we had our revenge by
creating such mayhem in their scorebook that their victory will have been
indecipherable!
SCORECARD
Ashurst
C
Adams Ct Trollope B Ingram 1
D
Fischell Ct Bunn B Jones 41
Pickford Dt Brock
B Ingram 11
Kennett Ct Rydon, B Simon 74
Mitchell: Bowled Brock 1
Duffett Bowled Brock 0
Harrod LBW
Rydon 9
Holman LBW
Ingram 0
S
Duffett not out
7
T
Syred run out 2
B
Turrell not out
0
TOTAL
156-9
BOWLING
Ingram
6-2-8-3
Simon 7-1-28-1
Rydon
8-2-14-1
M
Steinke 8-2-32-0
Rowland
3-0-22-0
Jones 4-0-29-1
Brock 4-1-20-2
TWCC
Trollope Bowled Kennett 29
Simon: Bowled Duffett 2
T
Pearce Bowled Duffett
9
Rydon: LBW Turrell 2
Bunn:
Bowled Duffett 7
Rowland
Ct... Bowled Mitchell
1
Ingram LBW Kennett 0
Jones Ct
Bowled Syred 0
M
Steinke not out 22
D
Rogers not out 5
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| Single Wicket Competition June 8th 2008 Anyway, away from the
pressures of the big league games, we staged the single wicket
competition. The big names were all
there and let us know it. “Are we the
only three to have each won it four times” said James loudly to Tony and
Edward. Curiously, James was a little
less loud when beaten in the first round by the magnificent Honsa. But his true spirit returned later when
another of the fallen champions, Edward generously suggested that the plate
final should feature George Hunter and Matthew Brock, two youngsters who had
turned up. James promptly rejected the
idea, demanded that he should play Edward in a plate semi final and then take
on the winning boy in a final. And so it
was and George narrowly missed out in the final. We all pass on our hearty congratulations to
James. Meanwhile, the punters took
the bookies to the cleaners. A great
deal of clever money had been piled on Matt Steinke at the start of the
day: and Matt powered his way to the
final where he took on Tony. It was an
excellent final, with Tony eventually requiring 2 to win and 1 to tie off the
last ball: but Matt bowled it well and
Tony couldn’t get a bat on it. So a new
name on the trophy, and just rewards for a young man whose cricket is getting
better and better. |
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| TWCC v London Unity June 15th 2008 And so it was, back to
business and London Unity. This time the
TWCC team looked as bad on paper as it normally does in the flesh – and it
wasn’t long before it set out to prove that.
Apart from James’s excellent innings of 69, holding together an assorted
shambles of batting, only Richard also managed double figures: the second time running TWCC has had only 2
batsmen in double figures. So it’s not
hard to see where the problem lies at the moment. Anyway we got to 104 all out,
just 10 minutes before tea. Unity started well getting
to 56 before losing a wicket. Then came
the fightback – and quite magnificent it was too, Twineham showing their finest
battling qualities. It came with the
bowling change: the recuperated Phil at
one end, newcomer Jasper Middleton at the other. Together these two kept things very tight and
with that pressure came wickets. Phil
finished with a quite superb 7-29, Jasper played an equally valuable part with
28-2. After that first stand, wickets
fell at regular intervals until at the start of the last over, Unity were on
99-9. We needed 1 wicket to win, they
needed 6 runs. It went dot, two,
dot. Then a cross batted slash connected
well and the ball raced to the long on boundary. A great end to a great game, shame they won
and not us. But real excellence in the
field, super bowling, catches taken all over the place, single stopping
fielding – and a very exciting match. SCORECARD J Trollope Ct Williams B Brock Ct B
Driver 10 M Jones: Bowled M Driver 0 D O Bunn: Bowled Driver 1 P Steinke not out 3 TOTAL 104 ALL OUT J Driver ct D Adey Ct S Rogers B Middleton 32 Gare: Ct S J Williams not out 6 J Roberts Bowled Middleton 7 M J Clarke Ct Middleton Bowled
P Steinke 0 J Williams not out 3 TOTAL 105 – 9 BOWLING M Steinke 10-3-38-0 R Brock 5-2-10-0 J Middleton 12-2-28-2 Top of page |
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| Suffolk Tour June 20th-22nd From Twineham came eight men
strong and true Heading East bearing bats and clubs They would meet the 3 where the
sky was blue And plentiful were the pubs Golf first, at Earls Colne, was
their game Standards of each did vary Some were poor, others most tame But old Codgers was quite the
contrary Take the game by the scruff of the
neck did he Seeing off the young pretenders And by the time we had pints on
the 19th tee Pounds up was the ancient defender The game it did change for the
time had arrived To dispatch to the Similar to ours, their name
derived But their players young and virile
not old and overfed The toss it was lost and we took
to the field Fours and sixes to the trees they did
crash To all ends of the field, and the
pink ball did yield To a watery grave, Hunter’s splash It was 20/20 in spirit and score Our fielders fought for each bye The accompanying theme, as each
batsman hit four Was a blaring tune on the hi fi At 158 they were done, thought us
sunk They returned to their dressing
room confident But they reckoned without Hunter,
the man who’d been dunked A point to prove, he’d show what
he meant He opened the innings, waited not
for the spinning `I’ll teach `em to put me in the
pond` A quickfire 24, a chance of us
winning But his luck, with his honesty,
did abscond. Launching into their task with courage
and clout Rogers and Pearce too took on the
bowlers By the time they were out we were
in with a shout 50 up and bring on Rowlers He missed out on the golf and
fielded but half But Jon was soon in the fray 1 six, 7 fours, but we had to
laugh When the ladies, their runs did
delay 14 needed from the last over Surely nothing could make our mood bitter How wrong we were, did we soon discover Two balls to go and enter `the pinch hitter` © Two sixes to win – defeat was portended Batsman Jones chose a mysterious tactic No big heave him, he meekly defended Like his bat was made of plastic Back at the pub, who would be blamed Fines and recrimination Hunter was caned, the skipper was shamed So too Jones for his vacillation The evening wore on, the ale on the go And tour traditions ever more The farting, the smarting, the sincerity did flow And the poker went on `til 4 Saturday morning, grey, not hot And Pearce adjourned to go betting Joined by Jones and Brock, they lost the lot Whilst the rest were barmaid-checking A pretty village Bures, on the border of two counties But strong at cricket, victors last year Defeated, hung over, Twineham expected no bounties Toss won, we took to the field in fear An early run out, but then it seemed to go wrong The catches they would not stick From the tennis court end Nigel and Phil held strong From the river, a quite terrible mix To detail all the catches we did spill Would be an exercise in humiliation So Hunter, Brock, Simon, Rowland et al Can wince from this very publication Another missed catch had an unfortunate end More serious than at first we did see Vinnie’s twisted back put our new found friend, In Jim’s van heading for The score we would chase, 191, seemed quite high `Til Paul and Steve put on 50, good cricket And when Tony joined Paul our hopes reached the sky They shared a century stand for the next wicket And so it continued, four followed four An occasional six thrown in Before we knew it we needed no more We’d managed our first With 11 overs still spare, we’d left Bures bereft To the Swan for footy and glee But we were only an 8, Jim’s ambulance had left We raised a glass to our missing three The evening was a flurry of cards, beer and curry Four hit the table and Nigel the jackpot With no match on Sunday there was no need to worry We left in the morning non-stop And so it was, a rundown of our tour Another memorable one – and a win too! In previous years we’ve had red lights and more But this time the red lights turned blue.
So who were the stars, who had the woes Who would we remember for ever and a day The truth is we toured with 11 heroes Bent on tradition, the TWCC way. OUR PLAYERS There was Phil, mean bowling, his shades so cool The skipper, the fall guy and always the fool Dave Jones – great tourist but defender of the six And Steve: got runs and safe behind the sticks Paul: batting hero, but what did we spy? The ball in the pond - sincerely - he did lie Tony, down on the betting but runs in a hurry Nigel put the wind up them, especially post curry Jonathan – a colossus with the bat, but at running a bit gay And Jim, batting good, but similar running to `J`! Dave Rogers: still the team heartbeat after 300 years on tour And Vinnie: enjoyed his company – erm....next year for more? |
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| Poynings v TWCC June 29th After the away weekend to Suffolk, we returned to our beloved Sussex –
and the Poynings ground nestled in the Sussex Downs. In recent years this has not been a happy
hunting ground for TWCC: frequently the
most enjoyable part of the afternoon has been the drink in the Royal Oak
afterwards. Would this be any different,
bearing in mind we were a scratch team of just 10, including a mate of Richard’s
who has never played the game since school???
The skipper lost the toss and we were asked to take the field, on a
warm but windy day. The wind would
obviously help the bowlers if they could master it – but what about that sloping
pitch? An opening attack of Jim and Phil bowled
exceptionally well kept them pegged right back, and took wickets at regular
intervals. Their figures deserve special
mention: Phil 11-3-16-2 and Jim
9-3-16-2. With bowlers far from
abundant, it was always clear that they would be in for long spells – but these
two made the most of it and gave us a great start. Unfortunately the scorebook doesn’t record
the stands but at one point Poynings were no more than 40-5. They were also scoring very slowly thanks to
some excellent work in the field, interrupted only occasionally by Graham’s
(Richard’s friend) inadequately soled trainers and James (nobody’s friend after
this performance) outrageous dive after the ball had long since passed between
his legs. On the fielding front, special
mention should be made of Steve who, with Tony at slip, managed to let go byes
and catches constantly for the first 6 overs, then stood up for the rest of the
match and was quite brilliant, frequently threatening stumpings, keeping the batsmen firmly in the crease and
whipping the bails off for two runouts from throws by Jim and Tony. So
Jim and Phil took care of four top order wickets. After Phil we introduced Mo, a friend of Phil
and clearly a very classy off spinner, ex Haywards Heath. He and Richard took three wickets during the
next spell: the difference being that
Richard didn’t take any of the three!!
The skipper wisely took himself off to avoid further damage to his
averages – rather too late – and asked Mikey to bowl his medium pacers. It was a masterful performance from the young
gobby one. Frequently passing the edge
of the bat he finished with excellent figures of 3-0-3-1, fully deserving the
praise he heaped on himself. And so it
was at 4.50pm Poynings were bowled out by a hardworking TWCC for just 123.
However, we all know how hard we can make even a moderate chase for
ourselves – and when James was clean bowled for 3, we gave a collective
gulp. But fellow opener Steve and Tony
steered us back on course and past the 50 mark before Tony was caught. Enter the skipper: no bat for him on tour, understandably given
the fact he is crap, but on this occasion he rose above the rather low standard
of bowling being offered. He and Steve
put on runs and then the once-a-year-bloom Graeme Flower showed he’d lost nothing of his
batting panache, including smacking a six and losing the ball. It was Graeme who hit the winning runs and
TWCC were victors by 7 wickets.
So two on the trot and considering the way the team was hauled
together, a great result.
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| TWCC v Wisley June 6th 2008 Wimbledon men’s finals day is always a day to look forward to at TWCC: because it heralds our match against our old friends from Wisley. Many a hard fought game has been played with the spirited Wisley team over the years and always finishing with a well earned pint. So what would this year bring? Rain!!! And more rain. By 12.30 more than half the team and the opposition had called in asking if the match was on. But given that the outfield was bone dry and the pitch artificial, plus a weather report that it would blow over by 3pm we bravely gathered, only for Edward to threaten to go home five times in the first fifteen minutes. Eventually, the clouds parted, the sun came out and we agreed to a 30 over match. The skipper won the toss and elected to bat – the tactics being simply that we didn’t want to field in the wet!! James`s indifferent season continued – he made just 7 – and it was welcome back to Paul – though we didn’t expect to welcome him back that quickly – he made 2! Then the batting marvel of the season continued his astonishing run of form. Tony provided the stability for the middle order to pile on the runs at more than 5 an over, assisted by Jonathan and Steve – and Edward batted too. Tony was eventually out for 78 before Mikey and Richard chipped in with useful 20s to take us to 171-7 from our 30 overs. So Wisley faced five and a half an over – and they started well, their first three batsmen all making good scores, despite good tight bowling by Matt and Jasper. It looked like it would go to the wire in terms of the run chase, not wickets. With a maximum 6 overs per player, Phil was deliberately kept back for the final overs. Paul and James bowled the middle overs, quite respectfully – but extraordinarily the first four bowlers all failed to get wickets, the only two to fall going to run outs.
Enter Phil. His first three overs were really tight, just
ten runs scored and two wickets. The
pressure suddenly piled onto Wisley who were falling behind the rate. Enter Richard. His first three overs cost rather more (problems with the scorebook make it impossible to verify the exact total but around the 20 mark is likely). So whilst Phil edged Wisley out, Richard did his best to keep them in it. However, during this tug of war, Rupert came to the wicket. We know Rupert well from years gone by and he can be ruthlessly destructive. Phil bowled another great over, only singles coming from it. As Richard stepped up for his penultimate over Wisley were up above ten an over. By the end of it, Wisley were favourites! Rupert smashed 17 off the over and the skipper disconsolately asked Paul to bowl his last over. However, what drama was to unfold and an over from Phil which was to turn the match. He took two wickets in the first four balls of his last over to turn the match on its head. Wisley then scored seven runs from the last two deliveries to leave them now requiring seven to win from the last over. Richard thought better of putting Paul up as the scapegoat and took the last over himself. The first ball clean bowled Rupert. Suddenly it was game on. A dot, a single and a wide left them requiring five to win from 3 balls. The 4th legal ball clean bowled their number 8 and the 5th clean bowled their number 10. One ball to go, five needed to win, four to tie, everyone on the boundary. In the event, Wisley`s most senior player walked to the wicket and played a shot reminiscent of Dave Jones` when he required the first of two sixes on tour – it was defensively knocked down the wicket. TWCC won by four runs in a highly dramatic and exciting game and much fun was had by all at the Royal Oak at the end of a fantastic day’s cricket. SCORECARD TWCC INNINGS J Trollope Ct Bowled Kumar 7 P Hunter Bowled Kumar 2 T Pearce Ct Bowled Woods 78 J Rowland Ct Bowled Geer 15 E Bunn Bowled Reed 5 S Rogers Bowled Reed 10 M Pearce Not Out 20 R Brock Bowled Haddow 21 J Middleton Not Out &n |