E&W Hendred – Victory

At last we’ve had our first victory of the season. We played East & West Hendred yesterday and were warned at the start that they didn’t have a very strong team. However, this should not detract from the fact that we fielded and bowled well.

Hendred batted first and lost their first wicket in the second over to Andrew “Biggles” Barrett. Then they dug in for a bit and defended until the eighth over when Biggles struck again. Both of the openers were bowled for 15 runs, none of which had come from Biggles’s bowling – 4 maidens in a row, two of them wicket maidens! Stewie “Angel” Bulpitt was bowling economically at the other end, but not getting wickets (6-1-19-0). Biggles’s final figures were an awesome 7-5-5-4 earning him man of the match. His last over being a double wicket maiden. This was a stroke of luck as he was only going to get 6 overs, but just as I was about to bring Tweekey on to bowl in his place, the beers that Tweekey had drunk at lunchtime were pressing on his bladder, so he left the field in a hurry, giving Biggles an extra over.

Peachy was only allowed 2 overs as he was too good, taking 2 wickets for 2 runs, a wicket first ball of his first over. Tweekey also took a wicket first ball. At this point Hendred were 29 for 7 after 16 overs. We had to change the bowling to let Hendred get some more runs so that we could at least get a bit of batting practise. Olly “Chief Wigham” Haine came on and after a shaky start, bowled well (4.4-1-30-2) and cleaned up their tail with Tweekey (5-2-11-2).

This allowed Hendred to get 72 runs, all out. Pig’s Ear was awarded for Duncan “Longdog” Wooloff waving at the ball as it passed him on its way to the boundary, claiming that “He thought that there was someone behind him”. Richard “safe hands” Bulpitt got Champagne moment for taking his first catch for the club at mid on. Also worthy of note were two dropped catched by Colin “Naboo” Mercer who was fielding at short mid-off. This was only worthy of note because most people would not have come close to getting a hand to them, let alone catching them.

It was a good all-round performance in the field. Well done team!

Naboo opened with Longdog. First ball, Naboo drove the ball to the cover boundary. Anyone who has seen Naboo bat, knows that it’s unusual for the ball to leave the square, let alone reach the boundary. Longdog was bowled for a duck on his second ball. Carl Galvin lasted 9 balls before going for a duck too. I came in 4th and lasted a while before getting the ‘red mist’ and starting to swing at the ball and getting caught for 6. Naboo and Graham “Gorgeous” North finished the game with 36 and 15 not out respectively. Naboo scoring 3 more boundaries! I think it helped that the square at Hendred is at the top of a hill, so the ball can roll down it.

Anyway, we got 74 for 3 after 18 overs to win.