It's a magnificent seven!

Waverley beat Wood Street... and the weather...

Despite the best efforts of the weather, the fixture against Wood Street somehow avoided becoming the third rain-related cancellation of the month (due in no small part to the home side's enthusiasm to get a game in). Unfortunately for the visitors, skipper Matt Du Gay ("Doogs") had already played the rain card and decided against recruiting an eleventh man for the fixture. The remaining nine were James Wright ("Mongo"), Chris Beanland ("Beanie"), Jamie Harris ("DJ Teabag"), Nick Farr ("Griff"), Simon Brewer ("KV"), Peter Brewer ("Mr B"), Sam Tempest ("Troy"), Dan Litwin ("Chuckie") and Adam Carmichael ("AC").

Having won the toss and elected to bat first in this 40 over game, on what was a spongy pitch, Waverley lost a wicket in the first over when Beanie slashed at a wide one and was caught behind off his first ball. Teabag, in the mood to bat, strode to the crease at number three and immediately set to work building a partnership with the ever-reliable Mongo. Before too long Mongo began to assert himself against the Wood Street bowling and Waverley were maintaining a steady run-rate of a little over five an over. Mongo soon racked up his fifth half century of the season, but just as it looked like he might have his eye on another ton he holed out to the bowling of Stone. At 88-2 Waverley were well-placed and Griff joined Teabag at the crease. Teabag's score was ticking along nicely, but eventually the urge to jug-evade was too great and he was back in the pavilion with a score of 42, also caught. Griff and KV continued Waverley's march, with the run-rate still hovering at around five an over and the boundary still being found on a regular basis. Griff's workmanlike innings was ended when he was castled by A Grist for 26 and when Doogs skied one to the keeper, Waverley had wobbled to 155-5 with six overs to go. A flurry of boundaries from KV saw vital runs added to the board but he was eventually caught going for one boundary too many, having made an important 37. Two quick wickets in the final over removed Troy and Chuckie to leave Mr B and AC 4* not out and 0* not out respectively, Waverley having posted a score of 186 from their 40 overs.

After tea (one of the finest of the season), Chuckie and Troy looked to break the back of the Wood Street run chase with some early wickets. Both bowled well and this exerted pressure on the batsmen, which bore fruit when a mix-up allowed Doogs to return the ball to KV and complete the run-out of Leach off the bowling of Troy. One soon became two, as Chuckie found the edge of the bat to send Lunn back to the pavilion. With both Troy and Chuckie completing their eight over spells, AC and Mr B were introduced into the attack. AC made an immediate impact when L Binfield was stumped by KV in his first over. Mr B continued his wicket-taking season when A Binfield swept to fine leg, only for AC to cling on to a reflex catch at leg-gully. Some punishment was meted out J Grist as the short boundary suffered a pounding; however Mr B used all of his cunning to bring a potentially dangerous innings to a premature end: J Grist castled for 23.

With the score 102-5, Waverley had the advantage and Wood Street's chances of winning appeared to vanish when AC bowled Williams. Mr B immediately followed this up by taking a simple return catch to dismiss T Grist. AC then induced another stumping and the very next ball, a top-edge from Ram saw Teabag dominate Troy to take the catch. AC was unable to complete his hat-trick but the hosts had collapsed to 118-9. Griff was introduced to the attack and won the game for Waverley in his second over, Ewins edging behind to KV to give the visitors a win by 58 runs.

The Man of the Match Hat was awarded to Mongo for his half-century on a difficult batting track (although there were honourable mentions to Waverley's bowlers). Initially the Pink T-shirt was going to be awarded to Teabag for ducking out of the way of the ball; however it was swiftly re-allocated to Beanie for complaining about how cold the showers were (to add to his TFC award). Not that Teabag escaped punishment - he was awarded the *Anchor Hat for trying to persuade the skipper that it should be awarded to ECB (a child) for throwing a tantrum...