Wickham Park CC – 2nd XI vs Bickley Park CC – 3rd XI

Report

The fourth game of the 2019 season took place at Wickham Park CC on a day where jumpers were not required. Talking of being Sunny, the skipper, and Simon (the Vice Captain) were both back in the team. The toss was duly lost, and we were put into bat on a wicket which looked better than Warren, so the openers attempted to capitalise.

Vishesh and Marcus opened, and got off to a good start as Vishesh punished any short balls. However he was not able to push on as he was bowled and Marcus caught at the wicket. Jack Cooper came to the crease and looked in good form as anything full was put away with a quick (and uneven / bouncy) outfield bringing many boundaries, before he was caught behind for 42.  Chris Eaton was unluckily dismissed when the ball bounced off the keeper’s pads and rolled back onto the stumps, only just nudging the bails off, with Chris still out of the crease.  Simon scored quickly, but was running out of partners, as wickets continued to fall steadily.  With still 15 overs to go, a good partnership between Simon and Richard was formed,  before the former was dismissed for 31 timing a push to the covers too well and finding extra.  Richard and last man Barry added valuable runs as they both dealt in boundaries during a 30 run partnership leaving BPCC with a respectable 184 all out after 38 overs.

After a great tea (including warm chicken nuggets) BPCC went out to field with Vishesh and Simon opening the bowling. Two quick wickets fell as one was chipped straight to cover, and the other was caught behind. Richard replaced Vishesh , and started with some impressive leg spin, before switching to pace the next over leaving the batsmen looking very confused.  Wickets fell regularly, including a brilliant direct hit run out from Tom at point – A wicket off Marco’s first ball AGAIN – and debutant Leo claiming the prized wicket of the opener, as leg stump was pegged back. Barry took another brilliant catch as he grabbed the ball, which was fizzing over his head and a certain 4, out of the air.

All this meant Wickham Park required 20 off the last over (with one wicket in hand), which was bowled by Richard.  A hit and run situation led to an inevitable run out (again by Tom) resulting in BPCC winning by 16 runs.

Stand out performances were from Jack Cooper, Simon and Barry with the bat and Vishesh and Richard with the ball. Great captaincy from Sunny in the late stages of the game means the 3^rd team are now 4 wins from 4!