Waverley too strong for Wood Street

Runs and wickets abound...

The last game of August saw Waverley travel to Wood Street Village, home to the only surviving maypole in Surrey (apparently). Waverley's dance troupe consisted of Adrian Day ("Mog"), James Wright ("Mongo"), Russ Golding ("Raoul"), Simon Brewer ("KV"), Jamie Harris ("DJ Teabag"), Matt Du Gay ("Doogs"), Chris Beanland ("Beanie"), Peter Brewer ("Mr B"), Sam Tempest ("Troy"), Matt Pride ("Pride of Waverley") and Adam Carmichael ("AC").

Waverley, batting first on a green pitch, set about trying to build a commanding score with Mog and Mongo at the crease. The partnership was short-lived as Mog, frustrated by the leggy-nature of the bowling he was facing, swished at a straight one and was castled without scoring in the eighth over. Mongo continued to score at a healthy clip and looked odds on for a half century, but feathered the ball behind to the keeper when poised on 42. However, at 59-2 the visitors had every reason to be confident with in-form batsmen Raoul and KV occupying the crease (even if the former was reportedly "hanging" from too many adult beverages the night before). KV, fresh from four centuries in five games, went off like an express train and dealt almost exclusively in boundaries as he raced beyond the 50 mark. But just as the spectators were considering the possibility of a fifth century, KV holed out off the bowling of Slyfield and was back in the pavilion with a score of 86. With seven overs to go Raoul and Teabag were untroubled by the home side's bowling attack, Raoul having time to bring up his own well-deserved half-century. He finished on 57* not out and along with 18 useful runs from Teabag, Waverley had posted a score of 218-3 from their 40 overs.

After an excellent tea (and a very disturbing conversation about biscuits), grumpy quicks Teabag and Beanie looked to make early in-roads to snuff out the home side's run chase. Beanie could have had a wicket in his first over, but AC's catch was chalked off because of a no ball. The home side's reprieve was short-lived as Teabag castled both openers inside four overs. By the time Teabag and Beanie were withdrawn from the attack, the visitors were 65-2 and falling behind the required rate. Mr B and Troy came into the attack and the wickets continued to fall, Troy getting his name in the book courtesy of an excellent slip-catch by Mog. Mr B followed this up with two quick wickets of his own, bowling J Grist and Mog pulling off another top-draw slip catch to send A Grist back to the pavilion. Wickets continued to tumble with further bowling changes, AC and Pride of Waverley picking up two wickets apiece to leave the visitors 87-9. There was resistance for the tenth wicket, Smith and T Grist adding 23 runs to take the home side into three figures. The final over of the game saw skipper Doogs try some off-spin (with questionable success) but by then the result had been beyond doubt for some time, Waverley winning by 108 runs.

KV deservedly won the Man of the Match Hat for his destructive innings, with the *Anchor Hat being awarded to Raoul for sledging the skipper's bowling (although Mongo ran him close for first refusing to go and umpire because Katie was there, then texting whilst umpiring). The Pink T-shirt went to Pride of Waverley for a string of offences, perhaps the most serious being his admission that his new-found love had put him "in touch with his emotions" and brought out his feminine side...