Waverley finish on a win

Jim leads from the front on the pitch and in the tea queue

Despite it being the final game of the season a range of poor excuses and awful holiday planning (Du Gay) saw us struggling to raise 11. In the end after much hard work, phone calls, emails and desperate pleas by the skipper we managed to get 11 including a surprise return to the team of 81 year old Ken Parham, 9 years after his last and 53 years since his first appearance. Matt Pride also made a welcome return from injury after breaking his wrist. However due to a communication problem one member of the 11 didn't know he was playing and no-one picked him up so we were back to 10. It is not the job of the match report to apportion blame for this but it's clear where it lays (Du Gay).

Captain Wright was thus leading the following: Simon Brewer, Peter Brewer, Sam Tempest, Matt Pride, Adrian Day, Ken Parham, Dave J from Liss CC with Andy Mcpherson and James Harding from Alfold CC appearing for us too for which we are very grateful.

The conversation ended up with Hambledon batting in a 40 over game with Jim also managing to get the opposition to supply two new balls despite us being the visitors as he had not been provided with any of the club ones. It is not the job of the match report to apportion blame for this but it's clear where it lays (Du Gay).

The Hambledon openers started aggressively but openers Tempest and Day held their nerve and their line with Day also keeping a full, probing length. Tempest was rewarded when he picked up both openers as their luck ran out and with Day picking up two wickets at the other end, one courtesy of a cracking catch at cover by Dave J off a ball that was otherwise screaming to the boundary Waverley began to take control. Having bowled out Day and Tempest were replaced by Pride and Peter Brewer who generally kept a tight grip of proceedings whilst cutting through the Hambledon batting. In the end only the four bowlers were needed as Hambledon were dismissed for 174(ish) without using all 40 overs.

After a tea that featured some excellent cake, Wright and Mcpherson opened up. The Hambledon opening pair bowled good lines at a decent pace and despite their reputation for big hitting both batsmen started in a circumspect manner. As they settled the runs started to flow despite a steady rotation of the opposition attack and they both reached 50 without looking troubled. It was a surprise then when Mcpherson was dismissed in a comical fashion. Having advanced down the track he missed the ball and in trying to get back he tripped himself and ended up rolling back past the stumps ending up on the ground on his back, rather like his bails.

Harding strode to the crease and after a brief period to get his eye in he proceeded to demolish the oppo skippers over by hitting 4 successive boundaries to win the match and end the season on a positive note.

I can't recall the award winners but there were some. Again it's undoubtedly the skippers fault.