Waverley battle to Ebernoe draw

Waverley secured a draw against a competitive Ebernoe side

The Mighty Wave managed to draw their Saturday encounter with Ebernoe on Saturday in a highly competitive match. Arriving at the ground in high spirits the side consisted of Andy Minshaw, Marcus Carmichael, Simon Brewer, Adrian Day, Kyle Moxham, Sam Tempest, Matt Du Gay, Pete Brewer, Andy du Gay (who had a bad leg but hardly mentioned it), Loz Brewer and Bob Moxham.

Fielding first on a warm June afternoon, Waverley made early inroads. The overnight rain had added extra bounce to the track and the opening attack made maximum use of it in the opening overs. M Du Gay struck second ball to remove the opening batsman for a duck, a mistime drive being spooned straight back to the bowler. Two balls later and another rabbit was back in the hutch without troubling the scorer, this time a straight ball scattering the stumps. Both Du Gay and A Day kept things tight with the ball and were eventually rewarded with a third wicket. More impressive bowling by the Waverley captain led to his opposite number edging behind to A Minshaw who eventually held the catch at his third attempt. The game began to ebb back in favour of the hosts though with a solid partnership between Morrish and D Whittington. As the batsmen settled the boundaries began to flow but the bowlers stuck at it and eventually the introduction of young Kyle Moxham created the chance. A good length ball just outside the off stump was edged to A Du Gay (who had a bad leg but hardly mentioned it) at first slip but the chance was put down. The very next ball though the youngster bowled an identical delivery that was again edged to Daddy Doogs at first slip but again the chance went down. In fairness to Daddy Doogs, it later transpired that he had a bad leg but this wasn't widely known at the time. The impressive 4th wicket stand continued and after some lusty blows D Whittington passed his half century and not long after Morrish did as well. Eventually the wicket came, A Minshaw holding on to a chance off the bowling of A Du Gay (who had a bad leg) to remove D Whittington for an impressive 75 breaking up a 4th wicket stand of 147. P Brewer dismissed Morrish for 58 soon after and Waverley began to take control of the game again. Brewer claimed another wicket and S Tempest clean bowled Hawkes to leave Ebernoe 186-7 at tea.

An excellent tea was followed by the Waverley innings. A Minshaw and M Carmichael opened the Waverley response. The variable bounce posed some early problems for the opening pair but both soon adjusted and began attacking the bowling. Minshaw exploited the shorter of the boundaries with impunity and some quick running between the wickets by the pair had Waverley well in the chase. The opening partnership was broken up shortly before the drinks break though when A Minshaw mistimed a drive and was caught on 34. S Brewer got off the mark in typically restrain fashion with a big 6 over the long-on boundary but was bowled by A Reed after drinks, a year long quest for revenge realised after Brewer smashed the same bowler for 30 off one over last year. A Day came to the crease and looked to keep the score ticking over but was bowled for 9 and was joined back in the pavilion very soon after by M Carmichael, top edging Reed's delivery through to the keeper, for a career best 43. Waverley then suffered a mini-collapse and the tie shifted back in favour of Ebernoe. K Moxham played around a straight delivery for 0 and some hearty strikes of the bat by M Du Gay saw him score 11 before getting a leading edge and lofting a catch to the waiting fielder. P Brewer mistimed his cut shot and played it straight down the through of gully and with the end of the game approaching a draw was now the best result Waverley could hope for. A Du Gay attacked the bowling (despite suffering from a bad leg) and made 24*, which included a 6 in to the pond of the neighbouring house, and saw off the remaining overs with S Tempest who made 5*.

A hard fought game but a fair result in the end. Man of the Match was awarded to M Carmichael for his runs with the bat while the Anchor hat was awarded to A Du Gay for dropping 2 consecutive slip catches of K Moxham's bowling (although it turns out he had a bad leg which hadn't been mentioned during the day). No poofery was observed during the game and the pink T-shirt was not awarded.