With the captain away on essential drinking business Si Brewer took charge of the team (vice-captain J Wright crying-off before the game with a hurt foot). True to form Waverley lost the toss and were inserted to bat on a very green track. A Minshaw and A Day opened the batting and tight bowling by the Thursley attack meant runs were hard to come by. As the Mincer began to settle in to the game the run rate slowly began to pick up with some well-placed shots finding the boundary and he picked-up his half century shortly before the drinks break. Unfortunately, the subsequent drinks break saw the opening partnership broken the following over with Andy edging to slip for 51. M Carmichael came in to bat and showed some attacking intent in a bid to push the score along (including a tennis shot at an above head no-ball!). With the score still below 100 and with less than 10 overs to go MC attempted to put the left-arm quick in to the next village over cow corner but missed and trudged back to the pavilion for 10. Russ Golding came to the crease clearly still seething that the captain himself had not personally contacted him and requested he play (Si instead bundling him in to his car telling him he was playing) and attacked the bowling with venom and wasted no time in clearing the boundary. A Day started to accelerate his own scoring and was promptly bowled for 39 and was joined just 3 ball later by S Brewer, who didn’t trouble the scorers, leaving Russ and S Tempest to see out the last few overs, finishing the innings 153-4.
After an excellent tea Waverley took to the field and the bowlers found out quickly that despite the greenness of the track conditions were favourable to batting and poor balls were swiftly dispatched to the boundary. Dan Litwin bowled well and was unlucky not to claim an early wicket when an edge through to the keeper slipped out of the gloves of the Mincer. The hosts were scoring runs at a steady pace and were soon at 50. Dan then got the breakthrough when the batsman lofted one to C Beanland in the covers. The opening bowler then got a deserved second wicket when Si took a catch to remove the next batsman a few overs later. Despite the efforts of the bowlers Thursley continued to push the score along by taking full advantage of anything short of a good length. M Pride, fresh from time spent with a bowling guru in Guildford, bowled well but in true Waverley fashion it was possibly his worst ball of the game that took the third wicket, his short pitch ball never quite got up and the batsman’s attempt to give it the treatment it deserved resulted in him losing his off-stump (and getting an immediate apology from the bowler…strangely). For Waverley though it was too little too late and C Smallbone guided the home side to a clear victory with 75*.
Chris Beanland also ‘bowled’ but that is all that will be said on the matter.
Man of the match was handed to Dan Litwin for his excellent opening stint with the ball which Jim was given the pink t-shirt for crying off the game. Beanie was given the anchor hat for his ‘bowling’.
In a further development, Jim has been removed from his position as Waverley’s director of cricket (but we haven’t told him yet so keep it under your hat until our chairman has a chance to have a chat with him!)