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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TWCC v Moulscombe Wanderers May 11th 2008
New skipper Richard Brock led the way to another Twineham and Wineham victory on a bright and breezy Sunday when Moulscombe made the journey across country to take on the might of New Twineham. Our over-rated team of investigative reporters have failed to find out who won the toss, but Moulscombe were first to bat and TWCC's most successful captain for a season put the new ball in the hands of Matt Steinke and Jim.  Matt troubled the Moulscombe openers for his entire spell, picking up an overdue wicket towards the end of a fine performance, ending with figures of  9 overs 1 for 10. Jim, meanwhile, stiffening up before our eyes, managed a whole spell with no wides and very little else, unless you're a connoseur of 6's and other bold strokes. All was not lost for the ageing Jim, however, as he did manage to dismiss both Moulsecoomb openers. One, S. Branford with a slower ball to present a catch to Steve-of-the-gloves, and then, with lightning reflexes (getting out of the way), by diverting a heavily driven ball onto the stumps at the bowler's end to run out a suitably upset Kevin Cooke. On came the Skipper from the Pavilion End and with his very first ball he provoked a sluggishly mis-hit drive that was caught at mid-on, and then, with Steve standing up, managed to engineer a stumping with his third ball. Next over, another catch and Brock senior's spell was over with the heart torn out of Moulsecombes upper-middle order. The Editor asked Richard if he'd like to write the match report, which he was initially keen to do, but then realised that there would have an element of modesty attached to the reporting of his own spell and he quickly declined. Thus it falls to the Gazette's staff reporter to be modest for him; it was quite a good spell: 2 overs, 3 for 0.
Moving on; TWCC kept up the offensive with Jonathan (6 overs 1 for 17), Ollie (4 overs 0 for 15) and Mikey, bowling with his usual bravado, ending with 4 overs 2 for 6. Now we come to a welcome - to Rob who wandered over from Wineham Lane - and most welcome he is too. Although it has never been a pre-requisite for TWCC newcomers to have done so, all the signs are that he played cricket before andRob's impressive bowling (2 overs, 0 for 1) augers well for the continuing health of the side. Unlucky with a couple of flukey run-outs Moulscombe ended their innings ahead of schedule all out for 73.
Twineham opened before tea with James and Steve, who moved through to tea in the face of some agressive and high quality bowling from Danny Sherwin, moving the ball away at pace. James's innings, characterised by a classy understanding of what he was about; stroking rather than hitting, only came to an end when he cut a bit loose and was caught at point for 13. Steve, who initially faced less of Danny Sherwin's deliveries than did James,  was also out for 13 which included two fours, and between them Twineham had moved substantially towards their target so that the outcome of the match, by the time TWCC's openers had played their part, was already decided. Jonathan, confident and able, top scored with 17 and eventually fell to another generation of Brock (1 over 1 for 7) and Jim added to the total and Ollie came in at the end to see the home side... home.
Twineham and Wineham march on, and although the run of luck was not with Moulscombe I think it fair to say that the better side on the day won the match.
Given the shortened nature of the match it was a shame for the local fans that they didn't see Tony, Edward, Rob and others wielding the willow, and only seven(!) TWCC players bowled, but a win's a win, and a convincing win's a good win and will only fuel the competetive fire of all when these two well-matched sides face each other again on August 10th. There was strength of batting and bowling never tested in this game, but of note, and noted, was the excellent wicket-keeping of Steve who made light of all chances, including the Brock stumping, and who took 2 (I think) catches with no fuss or demonstrance of any kind. No football team can ever challenge for a league title without a class goalkeeper, and in the same way no cricketing side can hope to achieve success if their keeper isn't up to scratch. Well done Steve.

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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. 

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 Clark 69

S Rogers  Ct B Colombine 0

Brock  Ct  B Driver 10

E Bunn:  Bowled Driver 6

Middleton  Ct B Driver  0

M Steinke Ct B Williams 0

Jones: Bowled M Driver 0

D Rogers Ct B J Clark 3

O Bunn: Bowled Driver 1

Honsa Ct B Williams 4

P Steinke not out 3

TOTAL 104 ALL OUT

LONDON UNITY

J Driver ct E Bunn Bowled P Steinke

D Adey  Ct S Rogers B Middleton 32

Sammurgh  Ct and Bowled P Steinke 1

Gare:  Ct S Rogers Bowled P Steinke 14

Murray Ct Honsa Bowled P Steinke 0

J Williams not out 6

J Roberts Bowled Middleton 7

M Driver Ct Middleton Bowled P Steinke 13

Colmbries Ct D Rogers Bowled P Steinke  3

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

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 19^th tee

Pounds up was the ancient defender

The game it did change for the time had arrived

To dispatch to the village of Twinstead

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 Worthing A and E

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 Suffolk win

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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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 4^th legal ball clean bowled their number 8 and the 5^th 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                  5

TOTAL   171-7   (30 OVERS)

BOWLING

Wilson              6-0-12-0

Kumar              6-0-39-2

Geer                 5-1-17-1

Alister              4-0-29-0

N Reed            4-0-25-2

Woods             4-0-34-1

Haddow            1-0-7-1

WISLEY INNINGS

Haddow                       Bowled P Steinke            68

Swan                            Run Out                  22

Fletcher                        Run out                        30

Snelling             Bowled P Steinke            0

Grist                             Bowled P Steinke            5

Geer                             Bowled Brock               24

Snelling             Bowled P Steinke                      0

Reed                            Bowled Brock               0         

 Calvin                          Not out                        1

Kumar                          Bowled  Brock   0 (GD)

Woods                         Not out                         1

TOTAL 167-9   (30 OVERS) 

TWCC BOWLING

M Steinke                    6-1-26-0

Middleton                     6-0-19-0

Hunter                          4-0-27-0

Trollope                       3-0-25-0

Brock                           6-0-40-3

P Steinke                      5-0-22-4

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A rampant TWCC side took to the field once more, this time away to Staplefield, hoping to continue their impressive mid-season resurgence. Somewhat daunting was the sight of a posse of lively 20 year old sporty types leaping about in Staplefield colours, bandying balls about with, it has to be said, gay abandon. Confidently including, in the face of this virulent display, no less than three of our younger youngsters in the TWCC mix, skipper Brock strode to the middle and lost the toss.
TWCC, fielding, began well and both Matt and Jim contained the top order effectively, unselfishly preparing the way  for Phil and Richard to come on and take all their wickets. Not that this report need trouble itself with any other bowling performance than that of Phil, who, once again, was rewarded for his tight and skillful work with the ball, getting it to duck back in to the right-handers as they increasingly swished across the line in their eagerness to see the score advance at all. Once satiated, Phil was replaced by Ollie, George having come on for Richard, and this move allowed Staplefield creep up to a total of 108 all out.
The slightly early tea, notable for some particularly nice egg mayonnaise sandwiches, was soon inside our proud TWCC bellies, and the reply began. Only two notable performances; first of all James, who carefully negotiated his way through the opening spell and then, playing the anchor role, went on to a match-winning 41 before surrendering his wicket in a lapse of concentration, and Edward, seeing off the fast boys with confidence, and who, predictably, fell to the slow bowling of Peterson, but not before advancing the cause by 24 runs. 
Shots of the day? Two-fold; James's straight six off the faster bowler - picked up early and fully swung through to bounce on the road; a truly big 6, and Edward's four through the covers, not played off the back foot really, but hit through the line of the ball as he moved forwards, the rising ball crunched off the middle of the bat and leaving no chance as it traveled, all along the ground, to the cover boundary.
Man of the Match? No contest; Phil, setting up another victory as he has so often this season. Did our recent dip coincide with Phil's injury-absence? I think it might have... 

So the triumphant TWCC marched on to a home fixture v Henfield.  Surely the recent excellent run couldn’t continue through another tough match?  Erm, no it couldn’t.  The clue was in the preparation:  we could only muster 10 players, two of those were boys and another team member was a guy Richard plays football with.  So bad omens:  worsened by the crash of the wasps nest.  Phil had come in during the week to finish off the blighters who’d taken root in our teacup cupboard.  We arrived to find the nest had disintegrated on the floor, a few stragglers were clinging onto life whilst most of their friends had suffered in the Hunter/Steinke genocide.  So the cupboard was moved outside, the skipper continued his unhappy habit of losing the toss and on the hottest afternoon for cricket so far this year, we went into the field.   Well, for the first hour or so, we were smacked around by the shot-making opener Eason and patted around by the gentler Griffiths.   They rode their luck but the result was the same:  they were into the 70’s, having seen off Paul and Phil before Richard finally feathered the off bail from Mr Eason’s stumps.  The run rate then slowed dramatically and James – sparingly used so far this year – got his line and length to keep them reasonably quiet.  Indeed he picked up two quick wickets too, catches to George – an outstanding take on the boundary - and Richard, and what was at one stage looking like a 200 plus target was starting to come down.  Jonathan bowled well from the pavilion end but the sensation was young Matthew Brock.  Brought on by his dad at the far end, Matthew (11) bowled an excellent five over spell at the end of the innings when the batsmen were trying to pile on the runs.  Only a tough dropped chance from Paul prevented the young maestro from getting his first wicket for TWCC – but even so, it was a superb spell of bowling and showed great promise for the future.   Henfield finished on 181-4, their opener had batted through and it was a tough two and a half hours in the field.  The reply could hardly have started worse.  Paul was clean bowled from the fourth bal l.  But there followed an excellent and spirited innings from the increasingly impressive Jonathan.  James stayed with him until the score was 39 when he was bowled – but then Jonathan and Steve turned up the heat with quick and dominant scoring to take us to 89.  There Jonathan gave the merest whiff of a touch to the keeper but sportingly walked (a lesson to us all, James.)  20 overs kicked in and we were left requiring 97 to win, but looking dangerously frail in the tail.  Steve fell next – though Graeme Flower, again a welcome addition and someone we hope to attract back on a more regular basis, took a six as his first scoring shot.  Regrettably it was almost his last.  Another single and he was gone.  This left the skipper at one end – never a good start in a defensive fight – and George at the other.  Rather like his father, George looked to the leg side once too often and was bowled around his legs.  Next in was Graham, Richard’s football playing mate.  After he was shown which side of the bat to use, he kept out a couple of balls until th e skipper remarkably and utterly stupidly called him through for a bye from the final ball of the over.  For a young man called G Scott the next over will stay with him for ever.  It went dot, dot, dot, bowled, bowled, caught.  His hatrick finished the match and we had lost by 63 runs.  Many congratulations to him, and actually congratulations to all those who turned out for TWCC on this day.  It was very hot, very hard and with a much weakened team, it could have been far worse than it actually was. 

SCORE CARD
Henfield won the toss and elected to bat
HENFIELD INNINGS
S Eason Bowled R Brock 53; C Griffiths Not Out 83; T Hills Ct R Brock B Trollope 2; L Knott Ct G Hunter B Trollope 4; J Wake Bowled Rowland 26; R Wadey Not Out 10; TOTAL 181-4.
TWCC BOWLING
P Hunter 5-1-29-0; P Steinke  7-2-19-0; R Brock 10-1-38-1; J Trollope 9-1-33-2; J Rowland 5-0-24-1; M Brock 5-0-33-0; G Hunter 1-0-10-0.

TWCC INNINGS
J Trollope Bowled Thomson 16; P Hunter Bowled Howick 1; J Rowland Ct wkt bowled Silverson 43; S Rogers Ct Silverson Bowled Scott 22; G Flower Bowled Silverson 7; R Brock Not out 6; G Hunter Bowled Silverson 10; G Cuthbert Bowled Scott 1; M Brock Bowled Scott 0; P Steinke          Ct Wkt B Scott 0.
TOTAL   118 ALL OUT
Fall   2-2, 39-1, 89-3, 101-4, 103-5, 117-7, 118-8, 118-9, 118-10.
HENFIELD BOWLING
J Howick 8-0-46-1; J Thomson 6-1-23-1; D Silverson 7-3-17-3; G Scott 6-0-21-4.
Henfield win by 63 runs

Henfield v.Twineham and Wineham  July 29th 2007

Twineham's Summer Horribilis rolls on with yet another close game ending in defeat. The match is somewhat painful to go into in any great depth, and, just in case readers are in doubt about the TWCC skipper's ability to win anything; he lost the toss as well and Henfield chose to bat.
With Nigel only driving a 12 litre Toyota V16 48 valve quad-cam mid-front-back-engined alloy everything Supra-Doopra he was the best part of an hour late, and so Twineham opened with Matt Smith who steamed in down the hill and served up quite a zingy spell that immediately showed what the wicket had in store for all players; the ball stopped, started and generally deviated in ways that bowlers can generally only dream of. It was hard to get the ball away, as players have found on many wickets this season (including, oddly, on our artificial pitch), and it was clearly going to be another low-scoring and difficult game. Phil opened at the Pavilion End and soon settled into his usual excellent rhythm; tight and difficult to get away as always. Matt, 6 overs, 2 maidens 0 for 10, was replaced by Nigel whilst the ball was still new, and he and Phil continued for some time, nibbling away at the Henfiled side with the odd wicket here and there, and generally doing an excellent job of keeping the home side's innings in check. Phil ended with figures of 13 overs, 5 maidens 2 for 20; the two wickets being those of the opening batsmen, including that of Ian Torkington, who was, perhaps mercifully, dropped early on, and for whom this was his last game for Henfiled after 35 years of playing for the club. An early exit would have been unfortunate which is why we dropped the catch.
Jim repalced Phil and, finding the pitch distinctly favourable he bowled better than of late, ending with figures of 7 overs, 1 maiden(!!!) 0 for 13. As Henfield were not finding it at all easy to score, the bowling wasn't tampered with too much, and Nigel bowled a lengthy spell of 12 overs 4 maidens, 3 for 28 - another excellent performance. Paul took over from Nigel, and with the slope favouring his natural action he soon caused trouble, taking 2 wickets in his four over spell, for 13 runs. These wickets, together with one form Mikey Pearce who had just one over when Jim came off, kept the score down as the batsman were unable to get anything going in the final passage of the Henfield innings. Mikey's over built on the short spell he had on the previous week, with figures of 1 over 1 for 2 - a caught and bowled - we at the Gazette are looking forward to seeing how he does with a longer opportunity to get into trouble.
Ominous signs, then, for any side looking to overhaul 94 on a sticky wicket, but even Twineham and Wineham's hopes were high as the players sat down to tea and joined in the applause as Ian Torkington was presented with his long-service awards.
An assured tread to the middle signalled adequate steel and resolve in the bosom of Paul and James, and, for a while all looked well as both opening batsmen scored off the odd poor ball and TWCC benefitted from some early, and atypical, wayward bowling. In no time there was 31 on the board, which was more or less a third of the way to the required total, but Henfield had an ace up their sleeve in the youthful form of Jack Parsons who, using the slope and the conditions to his advantage, was soon causing problems with his classy off-spin.  James was the first of many to succumb, and he was bowled by a turner for a valuable 16, which included 3 fours. Paul was, however, on his way too and TWCC still looked good for a win as we had plenty of batting to come. Next in; Matt Smith, looking good as always as he got forward and didn't look too troubled by the conditions. Unfortunately Matt was the victim of a run-out which is always sad to report, especially when it involves an in-form batsman of such promise. However, out for an untimely 0 Matt was all too soon back in the pavilion, frustrated but honest in his assesment of how he had thought the fielder didn't have the ball in hand when he did. Even then it was a direct hit or he would have been home. In at No. 4; Scott Simkins - playing his first game for Twineham, and who should probably have been given a bowl. Starting well, with a three, Scott soon also fell early, and this was the start of the rather predictable slide. However,
manning his Twineham and Wineham Swingometer, James was continuosly monitoring  the prospects of his side, and it still leaned distinctly towards a Twineham victory as Twineham had plenty of batting lurking higher up the order. But first Mikey, then Dave Rogers, then Steve, then Jim, then George, then Nigel and lastly Phil all played their part, scoring 11 runs between them. Paul, on the other hand, with 47 runs already in the bank, (1 six, 6 fours), and who clearly found it all a bit easier than everyone else, rather let the side down by getting out when, surely, it wouldn't have been too much to ask for him to have scored just another six runs to see his side home? The Gazette have emplyed a statistician on this; the other ten batsmen would have had to have trebled their contribution in order to see Twineham home. Paul, on the other hand, only needed a 12% increase in his score to secure the victory. The crowd were, I'm afraid, quite dissapointed by Paul's lack of commitment and team spirit.
Apart from Paul, the main fly in the Twineham ointment was, of course, Jack Parsons, who ended with figures of 15 overs, 6 maidens 5 for 24 and who won the match for the home team. Jack is clearly already a fine bowler, varying his length and pace in subtle ways. When a batsman found the shorter balls easy to pull to leg, Jack pitched them up onto a fuller length, and when a batsman found the ball that climbed up from short of a length to be threatening; Jack bowled it that bit shorter again. Remarkable figures and clearly Jack was the difference between the sides.
Another loss for the Gazette's adopted team. A better loss than some, and an enjoyable game, but still a loss. But the longer TWCC go without a win, the more likely is the next victory - that's how we choose to look at it in the office.

Phil went out to the wicket to toss the coin, looked at the sky, noticed the clouds disappearing, had a look at the wicket, won the toss and decided to bat to the horror of the batsmen who gave him a long stare as in previous seasons TWCC had been put into bat and lost both games. Things didn't go to plan as Richard Brock was bowled by Ty Bradford for an unlucky 3. However Steve Rogers and Tony Pearce steadied the ship putting on 98 for the second wicket. Having played well against some agressive bowling from Danny Sherwin and Ty Bradford, a change of bowling brought the end of Steve's innings as a slow full toss from Wayne Harris forced an error and he was caught and bowled.
It was the turn of Edward Bunn to put some runs on the board which included 2 sixes and three fours in one over. He soon reached 50 when he was stumped going down the wicket for a big hit. Meanwhile Tony was on his way to a hundred - finally out for 120, which included 6 sixes and 16 fours! Twineham closed on 254 for 5.

When Twineham came out to field Phil opened with Nigel and himself and Nigel was soon amongst the wickets as Andy Flower was brilliantly caught by Tony for 5. Phil had a tidy spell of 7 overs 0 for 16 - oddly for him not amongst the wickets and he couldn't find the edges. He took himself off and on came Dave Jones for a spell of 4 overs, 37 for 0 - quite expensive but it was clearly a high-scoring period of the game. Nigel, however, was kept on, finally getting his second wicket (caught behind) and ending with figures of 16 overs, 2 for 77. Moulescombe 48 for 2, but after that the home side eased away, putting on over a hundred for the fourth wicket. Other bowlers chanced their arm, and Edward took the only other wicket to fall, and, whilst the game's climax was exciting, with Moulescomb needing 29 to win off the last over the match ended in a draw.
Nigel's long and productive spell was clearly most valuable, but the man of the match has to be Tony Pearce whose 120 and superb catch stands out.

TWCC
S Rogers ct and bowled Harris 33
R Brock bowled T Bradford 3
T Pearce bowled T Bradford 120
E Bunn Stumped, bowled Harris 50
R Turner bowled S Bradford 7
P Langman not out 4
N Ingram not out10
O Bunn DNB
D Jones DNB
P Steinke DNB

254 for 5

Bowling
D Sherwin 7 overs, 3 maidens 0 for 36
T Bradford 8 overs, 0 maidens 2 for 63
S Bradford 8 overs, 1 maiden 1 for 32
J Bowen 5 overs, 0 maidens 0 for 42
W Harris 7 overs, 0 maidens 2 for 55
Smyth 3 overs, 0 maidens 0 for 22

Moulescombe
A Fowler ct Pearce bowled Ingram 5
S Bradford bowled E Bunn 83
T Bradford Ct Wkt S Rogers bowled Ingram 8
K Redmall not out 87
P Browder not out 35

233 for 3

Bowling
N Ingram 16 overs, 1 maiden 2 for 77
P Steinke 7 overs, 2 maidens 0 for 16
D Jones 4 overs 0 maidens 37 for 0
E Bunn 6 overs 0 maidens 1 for 41
R Brock 6 overs 0 maidens 0 for 50

Match Drawn

An Autumnal air greeted Twineham’s current Cricket Correspondent of the Year as he surveyed his estate on the morning of the 6^th. For the first time in the season there was an early mist over the Field of Dreams, but the day was clear and bright by the time the teams arrived for a 2.30 start. True to form it was nearer 3.00 before a ball was bowled, and, although I don’t know who won the toss, I do know that Twineham and Wineham found that they were the team bowling it.

The afternoon turned out to be a very warm and humid one, and fielding was warm work in the sticky atmosphere as Nigel steamed in to deliver his six overs. Fiery and difficult to hit, Nigel was again a little unlucky as many deliveries passed the bat, and even unluckier as quite a few of his deliveries hit Joe Phillip’s bat squarely in the middle before galloping off to the boundary.

Opening at The Downs End after an absence of some weeks, Mat Steinke was soon amongst the wickets, the first of which brought to the crease an unusually small No 3 batsman. Closer examination revealed that the batsman was more of a batsboy – an unusual and quite disruptive Captain’s move from Il Presidente. Mat, whose early wicket meant he was up against the youngster, successfully moderated his approach to the small personage, and no runs were scored for a few overs off his bowling. At one point he had figures something like 2 for 0 off several overs, figures regarded with some jealousy at the other end as Nigel found himself bowling more or less exclusively against the free-hitting Joe Phillips, and Nigel’s figures of 6 overs none for 22 show how much he was bowling at the better batsman. Jim replaced Nigel at the Pavilion End, and very quickly found what Nigel had been up against as his very first ball was hit for four through the off side. The next couple of deliveries gradually homed in on the stumps, culminating in what the bowler still regards as a slightly over-pitched yorker (but which some uncharitable team-mates were heard to refer to as a full toss) that bumbled into the stumps ending an impressive innings of full-blooded ball-striking; many punched shots off the back foot having headed for the boundary at some rate of knots.

Mat finished with impressive figures of 8 overs, 2 for 11, and Jim, whose accuracy began to desert him by the end of his spell, finished after 7 overs with 3 wickets for 29 runs, many runs coming off the last two of his overs as a Mr A George effectively put bat to ball on his way to a valuable 37.

The oppressive atmosphere was notable, and, though the temperature wasn’t anywhere as high as we had already experienced during this hot Summer, the conditions were described in the Press Tent as being quite soporific – nothing to do with the nature of the game, of course, as a series of players of differing sizes wandered out to the middle. One player, in particular, caught the eye, as, clearly uncomfortable in pads and gloves, he all but assumed his stance facing the wicket-keeper and, on turning round, appeared to have one eye completely obscured by a flop of deeply fashionable hair. This cut no ice with Hunter P. who callously took the proffered wicket – claiming to have done so out of sympathy.

Catches were sticking during this period of the game, and wickets fell bringing Captain Sutcliffe-Smith to the crease. Richard structured his innings very effectively, living up to the Sutcliffe portion of his name and not getting tempted by some unnecessary bowling being served up from the Pavilion End by the Editorial Team. Unfortunately, however, it was temptation after all that led to his downfall as, clipping a ball towards Square Leg, he set off shouting “Two!” but should, technically, have shouted "one and a half!" as Tony sheepishly removed the bails to run him out.

Further highlights of Twineham’s fielding effort included the bowling of George Hunter and Mikey Pearce – two capable youngsters; George taking a wicket with figures of 3.3 overs 1 for 8, and Mikey with 2 overs no wickets for just one run.

However it is with some regret that I have to report a dropped catch in the deep, but because Edward wasn’t feeling too well I don’t think I should mention who it was that dropped it. The only other wicket-taker was James who came on at the Pavilion End and took just one over to sort out a free hitter, and Twineham ended up with a target to chase of 118. Not a huge challenge, the casual observer might think, but that observer would only be casual about it if they didn’t know just how good we can be at getting ourselves out.

At the end of the President’s XI’s innings we were forced into an immediate turn-round - for the rather prosaic reason that the urn wasn’t hot enough to make tea. Our Captain, who has better access than most to the scorebook, and who is clearly worried by burgeoning averages in the batting line-up, gave both Edward and Mat the opportunity to get out as cheaply as possible by sending them in at No 1 and 2. They both disappointed our leader by not being out by the time the water had boiled, and Edward only capitulated some time after tea by spooning a ball back to the bowler after scoring a calculating 25.

Meanwhile, at the other end, Mat showed great control in choosing to hit what needed hitting, feathering about what needed more respect and blocking anything that might have got him out. His innings was chanceless, as far as I can recall, and featured particularly watchable smooth leg glances off the full face of the bat, caressing the ball so fine down the leg side as to always bring runs. Some shots were played forward of square, but mostly the runs were scored on or behind square on the leg side, with just the occasional off-side push for one in front of a retreating field. Having gone in upon Edward’s demise, Richard Brock took up the cudgel, supporting Mat’s inspirational batting effort with an equally chanceless 32, and Twineham reached the target with just loss of one wicket.

Nigel’s attempt to reduce Mat’s average to more manageable proportions having clearly backfired, he now faces the problem of what to do with a player who returned after some weeks away to take 2 for 11 off 8 overs and who carried his bat through the entire innings for 51.

It would be wrong to read into the above that the bowling served up by The President’s XI was particularly easy to face – rather I feel that there is about Twineham this season a deep vein of confidence, both within individuals and in the team as a whole, that relaxes us at the crease. Several times we have successfully chased totals, admittedly not many of them of great magnitude, but nonetheless we have held our nerve, batting second, through to several victories that in previous seasons might have proved a challenge too far.

Retiring to the Royal Oak, to find Tim still in his whites keeping wicket behind the bar, we finished off the day with a couple of pints of Harvey’s and all was well with the World once again. All players, both those victorious and those defeated, enjoyed reliving their afternoon in the Sun playing in front of a significant crowd, some of whom, upon close questioning, might even have professed to have been watching the cricket.

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Generally speaking the Editor’s courgettes and runner beans like nothing better than an occluded front or two passing through, Mondays to Saturdays inclusive. This allows the Editor and his Wife watering-can-free days, and also fills up the water butts for them to use on Sundays, when, of course, it doesn’t rain because of cricket. It was with some surprise, therefore, that The Editorial Team woke on Sunday 13^th August to find the day dawning in a decidedly grey and downbeat manner. The phone rang a number of times during the morning, and on several occasions it was indeed Nigel, but, in spite of hardly being able to hear him over the noise of the teeming rain, there appeared to be no mention of calling the cricket off. We feared, therefore, one of those pavilion-bound afternoons when two teams of light acquaintance while away an hour or two until tea can decently be taken, after which everyone goes home. Such afternoons, in my experience, appeal to a minority of players whose home life must be particularly uninspiring.

Fearing the worst we set off with the Editor most properly refusing to credit the rain with enough penetration to warrant anything than an intermittent wiper-response, into the far reaches of East Sussex, to try and get lost on the way to Hadlow Down. Failing even in that we arrived in good time, and, happily, the weather seemed to have a different agenda to that we’d left behind. In East Sussex the Sun seems to hold to its agreement about Sundays, and Nigel lost the toss in what, at the pavilion, appeared to be bright sunshine, although we could only guess at the conditions further up the hill. Hadlow Down cricket pitch, it should be explained, is formed out of a slightly mown Alpine meadow, with ski-lifts provided for the more severe slopes up to the snow-line and beyond to the peaks themselves.

In our standard of cricket the team that loses the toss generally find themselves batting first. There are obvious advantages to batting second, the main one being that, post tea, the ability to run about is severely curtailed. Also, any team batting second faces a finite challenge which is easier towards which to pace a reply, and many teams will testify that, if they’re batting after Twineham, their challenge is even more finite than they’ve any right to expect.

So – to the match itself. Well… it’s difficult to know where to start with this, and it would be easy to blame the pitch. So, yes; I think we should start by doing that. The pitch was, by any normal horticultural standards, poor, and by cricketing standards, awful. The ball was removing cubic inches of soil as it pitched, and deliveries were either stopping, flying high or lying low, in no particular order. I don’t believe that the Mouslcombe bowling was particularly short, it was just that the length that on a normal wicket might have caused a ball to bounce just above waist height was, on occasion on this pitch, causing the ball to fly through at head height and above. We were expecting this of the Hadlow Down pitch, having met with this on our previous visit to the ground, but it didn’t help us in the run-accumulation stakes. James and Tony, however, did manage to see out a respectable number of overs, and to score a few runs, and for a blissful few minutes Twineham seemed as if they may on their merry way. The boundary was close at hand and any shots that missed a fielder almost always went for four. James, however, had got a little lost on his way to the ground and was padded up and sent out to open within a minute or two of arriving, and this rushed preparation may well have contributed to a relatively early dismissal. With James out after scoring an uncharacterisitc 8 runs, we were considering becoming a little worried. 

Then; who was seen walking to the wicket? It was Jim, and the Worry Level was declared critical. He would testify, however, to claim to have been moderately comfortable right up to the moment he got out. I know because I've asked him. But although he might have appeared to have been dealing with the vagaries of the pitch quite well, any serious student of the game would have noted that he never faced a single ball at the problem end of the pitch. Tony was taking these tricky and unpredictable deliveries, some keeping low and some flying about his temples. One particular delivery sticks in my mind, and that was one that was quite well pitched up but which kept very low, and, from the other end, I was very impressed by the way Tony’s reaction to the poor bounce not only allowed him to keep the ball from hiting his stumps, but he changed his shot and pushed it to wide mid-off for two. Very classy I thought.

In the end it was the pitch that did for Tony; a shortish ball stuck in the mud, reared up, and caught him in the ribs as he ducked. The ball then rolled up across and over his back and trickled off onto the ground behind him. In slow motion it nudged agaisnt the base of the middle stump, and a bail dribbled off. Up to this point Tony had dealt with the problem as well as anyone could, and there was nothing wrong with how he dealt with the ball that somehow got him out. Tony was simply unfortunate, as many others were who followed, and left the crease having scored a worthwhile 18 runs that had all the hallmarks of being the begining of a major contribution.

Jim, on the other hand, receiving easier bowling ended up getting a good delivery that he managed to turn into a yorker by trying to repeat an off drive that had brought some runs earlier on. I think it was case of simply missing the ball, which doesn’t help, and the off bail fell. Out for 17.

As we're in danger here of trying the patience of both readers (yes, both of you!) and TWCC's Award-Winning Cricket Correspondent's stamina, it is perhaps best if I restrict myslef now to just a few of the lowlights of the rest of the innings. Many of us were out for not much, and though Nigel, Mikey and a visitor; Jack Lyndsey-Charlton all scored above ten, no-one in the entire innings reached 20 or more. Jack, whose prowess on the tennis courts of Sussex is well respected, came to the crease, with some sort of endangered species of small cat in his helmet with him for good luck, andproceeded to smack the bowling about in a most inspiring fashion. One particular top-spin lob was sent off towards the mid-wicket boundary, so disguised as to leave all the fielders stranded as they ran in towards the net. Mikey, once again, showed great composure with his batting ending up with a joint top score of 18. He also, presumably inspired by the terrain, sparked off an impressive round of sledging.

All out for 119 and, for the second week in a row, a reply to an unconvincing innings was begun before tea. Nigel opened the bowling from the end that had led to much of our difficulty, and immediately got the thing going by alternately finding the bouncy bit and the stodgy bit, and sometimes both with the same delivery. Sam, bowling up the hill also whistled the ball about quite impressively, and both Twineham’s openers were unlucky in that several difficult chances happened not to stick. One appeal, following a successful catch taken in the slips off Sam’s bowling, failed to impress the umpire, and this was off the batsman who went on to score an impressive 74 not out. Sam did take the only (other?) wicket to fall before tea; Kevin of Moulscombe playing the ball onto his stumps, and we went in to tea with the game still there for us to win.

Twineham are, as we know, accustomed to winning, and our belief was still strong as we wrapped ourselves around a few sandwiches. One of the performances of the day, I must mention, came from Mikey Pierce at tea. It’s a wonder that he made it up the hill at all after putting himself about so successfully, and, if there had been bigger plates available, I don’t think he would have been able to move at all.

Eager to continue with our fielding reply, Twineham were up and ready well ahead of schedule, and we carried on where we left off; lots of chances just not sticking – and we began to realise that this just wasn’t going to be our day as catches fell short or just carried over fielders and snicks went for four. Nigel and Sam continued to be aggressive, though I felt that the break over tea can’t have been easy for them. Eventually it became clear that we should try something else, and Nigel tried James. Covering the leg-side boundary as best we could, James valiantly offered up perfectly good balls that stood up after pitching, and which were dispatched over the close boundary by the Moulscombe in-form batsman  who was taking the match away from us. Edward, replacing Nigel, was always likely to be effective from the tricky end, and did put a bit of a break on affairs, but, again, although several chances were created, this just wasn’t Twineham’s day. James’s over was over and Jim bowled for a bit, but by the time Jim and Edward were bowling quite well together the match was over and there was nothing to do but to take our medicine like men and walk off. I think, in the circumstances we should pass over the bowling figures as they make the batting look good.

In the end an unbiased observer would, I feel, conclude that, although the pitch was poor, Moulscombe simply played better on it. Unused to such a wicket Twineham’s batsmen were unable to greet the stopping ball with the tiniest of pauses that was required in order to play effectively. Shorter pitched balls, and they weren’t overly short in length, were slowing down as well as getting high. I think Moulscombe's batsmen, with some experience of playing on this wicket, alowed themselves that little bit of extra time time when a ball was coming up at a steeper than normal angle in which to adapt to the fact that the ball had slowed as well as climbed. The Moulscombe bowling did play on this, but it was also noticeable that the bowler who was asked to be a little less dangerous at one time, was more successful when he pitched it up than he was when bowling short. Our batting became a little desperate in the face of some unusual cricket, and our fortune failed us in the field on several occasions.

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When one wins a game of cricket the day is somehow complete - after a pint of Harvey's of course. There is, as we have known many times this season, a glowing halo of warmth that settles over a successful side as they quietly remenisce about the finer points of a day's play. On other occasions our chosen Sunday pastime is suddenly more about simply enjoying the day; getting out for an afternoon and generally having a good time with friends. This Sunday our match against Bolney proved to be one of these latter occasions when we really just so much enjoyed spending an afternoon in the sun with our mates that the cricket really didn't matter. Grrrrrrrrrr.
With Phil at the helm TWCC took to the field first. Spectators were treated to the sight of the Steinkes working in tandem as our opening bowlers; Phil running up the hill and Mat bowling with the slope in his favour. Initially Phil and Mat were unable to tie the Bolney opening batsmen down, and although Phil took his customary early wicket in his second over with an LBW decision rightly going in his favour - Bolney were  quickly away. Although Phil proved expensive one of the best bowling performances of the day was provided by Mat as he bowled a spell, during which Bolney were scoring freely at the other end, of 10 overs, none for 29. No wickets, but Mat's performance showed a maturity and consistency that Bolney clearly respected. 

After taking his wicket Phil found the opposition getting on top of his bowling and the score ran away to some extent calling for a change. Taking himself off Phil rewarded Richard Brock for some recent good form by putting him on as first change and Richard responded well to the challenge, creating many chances as he boldly embarked on a series of unusual and original bowling experiments. Mid way through his spell he engineered a catch at long-off which Edward took several times, and although Richard closed his spell with an unflattering 1 for 51 off 8 he, together with Mat, tied up Bolney for an important period of the innings. 
It is genuinely a pleasure to mention how classy were some of the shots being played by the Bolney batsmen. Leg glances stroked from off the front foot worth particular mention. Cricket afficianados were heard to gasp and applaud as Jack Wood (92 not out), James Flower (67) and Jack Collins (38) stroked the ball about; three young men, clearly gifted, who deserved the runs they scored.
Twineham adopted a defensive field and Paul (5 overs 0 wickets for 36), Jim (8 overs 1 wicket for 25), and James (4 overs 1 wicket for 31) did what they could to restrict the runs, and, ultimately, I feel, did quite well in stopping Bolney reach a truly unreachable total. Many chances were offered during these spells, and, on other occasions catches would have stuck and the flow of runs would have been lessened as a result of wickets falling.

Of interest was a single over from Sam, at the end of the innings, in which he demonstrated how effective sheer speed can be as he ran down the hill giving it everything. The unfortunate batsman who faced him simply wanted nothing of it and got out of the way to a straight one and he was bowled. Bolney then sent in a youngster which meant that Sam had to bowl his leggies, which was a shame as it would have been nice to see him in full flight for at least a full over.

Tea was taken as Bolney closed their innings at 214 for 5.

TWCC's roving reporter was lucky to catch Paul before he began his innings, (and would have been even luckier to have caught him during it - Ed.), and Paul was clearly looking forward to a long stay at the crease. With this clearly in mind he cracked the third ball of the match for  4 and then fended the fifth up into the grateful hands of mid off and was back in the pavilion before Twineham's reply was an over old. Paul's demise was too quick for The Gazette's photographer and so goes largely unrecorded. Had he been a less equitable soul I suspect we would have heard a bat thudding into the pavilion wall and an expletive or two, but, as he isn't all we got was relative silence for an over and then he was able to put life into it's proper perspective and realise that it only mattered a lot.
Tony, in form and purposeful, joined James in the middle and a period of relative calm returned to the Twineham camp as good balls were treated with respect and poor balls were despatched as they deserved. 

James scored in a typically controlled manner before succumbing to the temptations offered by the slow but persistant offerings from Bolney's young opener, a diminutive A. Bennett, being out, caught, for 23 runs that included 3 fours and lots of well taken ones and twos. 
In at No. 4, Edward began to develop an innings of some stature, which included four fours and a six, and he and Tony looked good all the time they were at the crease, until they were out. Tony, 3 fours and a six, out, caught off the youngster, for 29, and Edward for 38. Edward had resisted all temptations offered by the slow bowling which he doesn't like, and who survived the faster balls of Jack Collins, finally applying a thick edge to a slow ball from S. Bowles.

Jim, having joined the fray as Tony left the middle, found everything quite good fun until, like the others before him, he didn't. Cricket is such a sudden game... Out for 23, plumb LBW, as he tried to recreate a surprising four off a slow ball up the hill, there were a few good strokes but another innings fell short of what might have been.
Sam, in at No. 6, left without troubling the scorers, or even the ball, come to that, and others fell on the way to the game's climax as survival became the order of the day. Brocky fell cheaply, and Mat followed. Then, often asked to shoulder responsibility at either end of a Twineham and Wineham innings, Dave stepped up to the mark and took the brunt of Bolney's pace attack full on the chin like a man. Taking control of the strike Dave saw George through a difficult spell, and was then joined by Captain Phil to try to see us through to a drawn game. Dave fended off over after over of pace from Jack Collins, and then, when joined by Phil as the last man, successfully saw off five balls of the last over of slightly wayward spin from Oscar Delves, only falling at the very last hurdle to a faster ball that turned the other way and which gently clattered into his stumps. Dave's dissapointment was easy to see, and easy to understand, but was really unnecessary; he had survived the difficult stuff, had cleverly managed the end of the innings, and had done well to get us to the point of being able to save the game. It would have been a sweeter pint afterwards had he done so, but much had been achieved during the torrid time he spent at the crease, and it is indicative of the resilience he displayed that Bolney were so elated at having taken his wicket.

So; a Bolney win, on the very last ball. A deserved victory, really, with our bowlers not able to stop the runs flowing too freely, and with our batsmen not able to play for long enough with appropriate concentration and application. Twineham were asked to reply to a total of some magnitude, and fell short. Asked to survive we also fell short, but only just. Opting for a consolation pint at the Bolney ground, TWCC regrouped and realised that life wasn't about cricket anyway - it's about beer and avoiding being in a shop with a woman.
Roll on next week, our second to last game of the season. How soon the season passes - I often feel that I'm just about ready to learn from all my mistakes when it's time to put the bat down and seize up for the Winter. Never mind; onwards - ever onwards!

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