Old Wilsonians CC – 3rd XI vs Bickley Park CC – 3rd XI

Report

Having finally all found the ground, Bickley lost the toss and were asked to put on a decent looking track at Old Wilsonians. The lush outfield meant that shots along the deck were not always fully rewarded, and Vish took the aerial route from the outset. He and Marcus again looked assured when the OW opener Le Conte produced an absolute Jaffa to tickle the top of off, much to Vish’s amazement. Marcus and Jack Cooper then played the anchor roles to take the score to over 90. Marcus looked frustrated as the 1st change bowler haemorrhaged runs for an over, before settling to a great spell. Jacks calming influence seemed to have done the trick before Marcus was bowled for a promising 34. Simon Melaniphy, returning to cricket after a few years away, entered the fray in the midst of a great spell from OW’s Kennedy and called upon his experience to battle through to 16 before falling to a wonderful reaction catch, which left Simon, bowler and fielders all laughing. It was one those! Matt Russell, nursing a damaged tendon in his wrist struggled and he and Sunny fell in quick succession. Chris Jacob biffed and scampered, and with Geoff Williams at the other end they boosted the total to 134 from our allotted 35 overs. While it didn’t seem like a massive total, the OW’s boys were honest enough to say that anything much over 100 would be a hard chase, and so it proved to be…….

Tea was, well, tea was long. The idea of everyone having a tea for the first time in 2 seasons was anticipated, and to be fair it was just nice to have another step towards normality, but the technicalities involved meant the interval was considerably longer than was planned. (considerably longer!)

When we did get back underway, Sunny made the initial breakthrough, sending openers Clifford and Mascarenhas to leave the home side reeling at 14-2. Spanish Geoff picked up his first wicket, before Sunny removed the only Wilsonians batsmen to show aggression (Kennedy for a swift 17).  A brief water-based interlude – or as it’s commonly known, rain – only postponed the capitulation for a short while (and an over longer for Melaniphy) as Geoff finished his spell with a wicket from his pan-ultimate ball, reducing the innings to 38-5. With the weather now looing set fair for the rest of the afternoon, Jack Horner replaced Sunny and took 3 for 2 off five overs to leave OW’s at 43-8. CJ carried on where Geoff left off with extra bounce from a good length causing the batsmen to smother and have a real dash at anything short that sat up too much. Bright bowled a couple of overs, before Chris J combined with Coops to whip off the bails. Horner returned to concede another whole run before Vish, trying his hand at off spin managed to rip one (seemingly unintentionally judging by his reaction of “what just happened?) into off peg to finish OW’s resistance to 84.

It was lovely to see President Ramsey out for a beer and a wander, but please can we have our players back in time to start next time, Jules!   This was a great all round team effort on a wicket which looked better than it played. Great bowling from everyone was supported by the fielders, keeping the ball dry and getting through the overs swiftly. Another solid contribution from Marcus supported, particularly by Vish and Jack also showed the benefit of pacing the innings and having wickets in hand. 20 points in the bag and Sidcup at the Warren next!