Waverley thrashed by McRae

AC thrashed by Waverley...

It looked as if summer might finally have arrived as Waverley's elite pitched up at Blackheath. Looking to make the most of the good weather were Adrian Day ("Mog"), James Wright ("Mongo"), Nick Hales ("the Greek"), Russ Golding ("Raoul"), Simon Brewer ("KV"), Kyle Moxham ("Foxy"), Andy du Gay ("Daddy Doogs"), Dan Litwin ("Chuckie"), Matt Du Gay ("Doogs"), Peter Brewer ("Mr B") and Adam Carmichael ("AC").

On the warmest day of the season so far, on one of the more favourable batting tracks that Waverley are likely to play on this season, it was almost inevitable that Doogs elected to field first upon winning the toss. Chuckie and Doogs opened the bowling attack and the pair bowled consistent lines and lengths that gave both openers pause for thought. The breakthrough came in the eighth over when Doogs changed his angle slightly, spearing one in to castle Raderecht. He then trapped Ha Whiteman LBW with his next ball, but saw his hat-trick delivery defended safely. All the while Chuckie was bowling well from the other end, but his spell came to an end without what would have been a deserved wicket. Doogs saw a thin edge snaffled behind to give him his third wicket and saw this as an opportune moment to rotate his bowling attack.

In came Mr B and AC, who couldn't prevent Melhuish from reaching a well made 50. However, the very next ball he walked past a straight one from AC. This brought McRae to the crease and what happened next will doubtless haunt AC for the rest of the season. Just three balls later and having not scored a run, McRae chipped a seemingly straightforward catch back to AC - which he somehow managed to put down. AC was immediately punished in the next over as McRae flayed him for 20 runs. Mr B picked up a wicket from the other end when he rearranged He Whiteman's stumps and there was further respite from the carnage for AC, who had Hill and Roladelli stumped by KV in the same over. At this stage the scoreboard was looking pretty favourable for Waverley, with the hosts 109-7. However, McRae was determined to teach AC a hard lesson about holding catches. By the time Doogs determined that AC had been appropriately punished suffered enough, McRae had passed 50 and showed no signs of slowing down.

Doogs rotated his bowlers in a bid to find a wicket, but by this stage McRae was farming the strike and no bowler (or tiled roof) was spared. When Foxy (bowling with great maturity in difficult circumstances) retrieved a thrown from Raoul to run out Harrison, 99 runs had been added for the eighth wicket - of which Harrison had contributed just ten. Foxy was unlucky not to bag a wicket in his own right when Webb was dropped. McRae soon brought up the most brutal of centuries, with 92 runs coming from boundaries. With Blackheath announcing their intention to declare, Daddy Doogs had the unenviable task of bowling the final over. This did yield the ninth wicket, a booming drive from McRae diverted onto the stumps by Daddy Doogs to run out Webb at the non-striker's end. McRae was then dropped in the deep but by that stage, the damage had well and truly been done. Having been 109-7 at one point, Blackheath declared on 239-9 at tea (whilst AC ensured that every member of the team received a personal apology).

Set 240 to win, Waverley set about chasing down what is a gettable total at Blackheath. Mog and Mongo seemed to have settled into the chase, before both holed out in the space of a few deliveries for ten and 20 respectively. Raoul found the boundary with relative ease and he also made it into the twenties, before playing around a flighted delivery from Sparks. KV's luck looked to be in when he was dropped on the boundary first ball, but his good fortune lasted for only two overs as he was caught for 17. He was quickly followed by Foxy (who played a lovely cover drive for four) and the Greek, who until that point had been anchoring the Waverley run chase with 26 runs. There were similarities with the Blackheath innings at this point, with Waverley 111-6 at the start of the 20 overs. There was still the glimmer of a positive result, with Daddy Doogs looking comfortable at the crease and batting still to come. However, wickets continued to fall at regular intervals as Chuckie holed out for seven. Doogs looked set to add some useful runs to the total, but was castled by a much quicker ball from Whitehouse for nine. Mr B and Daddy Doogs added a creditable 25 for the ninth wicket, but when Mr B was stumped for 13 it looked like the best Waverley could hope for was to salvage the draw. Six deliveries later it was game over, Daddy Doogs skying one to mid-wicket. He finished with 33, with Waverley 171 all out and defeated by 68 runs.

Daddy Doogs was awarded the Man of the Match Hat for his 33 runs with the bat; however he also claimed the Pink T-shirt for the look of sheer terror on his face when passed by a speeding cricket ball in the field. The *Anchor Hat was a foregone conclusion, AC rightly punished for effectively adding 130 to the home side's score.

This week's Captain's Challenge saw further monies added to the Awards Night charity fund - the task being to guess whether a) Doogs would win the toss and b) whether the correct call would be heads or tails. Another dubious highlight of the day was Laura Brewer discussing who would make it into her cricketing "naked eleven"... with Sponge Bob Moxham as the umpire, naturally...