Match report Wanborough vs Corsham 3s July 25th 2015

Corsham 3s continued their losing streak with a 9 wicket defeat at Wanborough, the sixth defeat on the bounce, all the more painful as the 1s, 2s and 4s were all proud victors on the day.

On paper the starting line-up looked impressive, a mix of experienced pros…..Skippy and Rowey, young bucks Sumsion (Capt.), Da Costa, Kumar and Hyde, elite apprentices Sayers, Freeman and Overton…..and two specialist fielders Sayers Snr and Overton Snr (hampering) bolstering the XI. The squad met at the club, and it was pretty clear that most team members felt that travelling with two specialist fielders was tactically naïve, so we phoned Jack Humphreys mum to see if we could add a little more quality, but Jacks mum said no. Upon arrival at Wanborough events took a turn for the worse, Da Costa was carrying a beer injury…….it looked serious……would he be okay to start the match?

Summo lost the toss, and we were put in to bat on a slow track. Summo and Skippy opened cautiously with Captain Sumsion leading a charmed life, dropped twice, at extra cover in the second and behind the stumps in the third over. Skippy pulled through square in the fifth, swept to third man in the seventh, and slammed through midwicket in the eighth and tenth to put 30 on the board. Summo succumbed in the eleventh chipping to mid-off (30-1). Hydey came in at 3 (Da Costa was sleeping in the changing rooms) to preside over two maidens before opening with a boundary through deep backward square. Skippy got out in the sixteenth (39-2) caught at gully. Ben W0MAD Da Costa shuffled to the crease, and frankly slept for four overs, waking in the twentieth with fours to square and cow to get 50 up. The bowling was tight, entertainment was in short supply until in the 26th WOMAD went big, 6 over long on and four more to cow for our biggest over, and 71 up. Hydey was dropped behind in the 29th, and BDC was reprieved by a sporting Wanborough fielder who held onto WOMADs boom over midwicket, but stepped on the boundary rope and signalled a six. The hundred came in the 33rd, and WOMADs 50 followed in the 36th with a long on four. Hyde and WOMAD went together in the fortieth (139-4), Hyde caught and BDC trapped lbw, replaced by Rowey and Kumar respectively. Rowey singled and outed to bring George ‘Morgan’ Freeman to the middle. Kumar led the way with 26 off not many including two big sixes to long on in 44th. George was run out last ball of the innings, with 173-6 for Corsham 3.

Corsham batting; Ben Da Costa 76, K Kumar 26 n.o, Skippy 23, T Hyde 21, Summo 10.

Kumar opened the bowling with Double O Overton, and kept things tight (very tight for Kumar), with Kumar’s first spell 9-4-11-0! Will Sayers took first change from Olly (good to see Leo back), as Wanborough openers seemed immovable, reaching 50 off 17. Morgan took the ball from Kumar as Wanborough started to push the rate, reaching 80 off 22. Morgan got the breakthrough in the 23rd over bowling McMurray for 50 in a moment of confused controversy (80ish-1). The batsman and square leg umpire were unsure, thinking Hydey had gloved on to the stumps; Skippy was crystal clear, a perfect expert witness. Hydey then explained the laws of physics to the batsman…….explaining the gravitational effect of the moon and a demonstration of the Hadron Particle Collider……it was settled, the bails were behind the stumps and not in front…..therefore ball + bails = out, simples.
BDC took a five spell as Wanborough reached 100 off 27, and then the Captain stirred…….bringing himself on for a two spell of bearded pace, before handing back to Kumar with Wanborough closing the gap on 138 off 32. Kumar immediately stemmed the flow…..if only he could’ve bowled 45……Rowey took over from BDC as the game slipped out of our grasp, 150 up game off 36, and Wanborough bought it home with six overs to spare and just the one wicket down.

Bowling stats for Corsham:
K Kumar 12-5-20-0, O Overton 6-0-20-0, W Sayers 5.5-0-32-0, G Freeman 5-1-26-1, B Da Costa 5-0-29-0, L Sumsion 2-0-16-0, J Rowe 3-0-18-0

A game of two innings……..a damp one and a dry one. A big thanks to Martin Freeman for scoring, and to Wanborough for a fine spread of tea and tiffin.