1st XI
Matches
Sat 18 Jul 2015  ·  Division 2
South Milford Cricket Club
1st XI
129/4
128
St Chads Broomfield A
Milford Are Smoking

Milford Are Smoking

John Richardson22 Jul 2015 - 09:18
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Alex Ward kept his head and carried his bat to see Milford complete the double against St Chads A.

A fractious match at the Swan Croft saw a nervy Milford complete the season double against St Chads A. Wicketkeeper Alex Ward, batting with a maturity far beyond his years, steered us to victory with a seasons best of 67 not out.

It seems this year every time we play St Chads there is a bit of trouble during the match, the previous match at St Chads saw skipper Paul Hebden and Stu Morley visit the league disciplinary committee and in the return match St Chads took their disapproval at one particular umpiring decision probably to about the limit. It was at a stage of the game where they looked finally to be getting the upper hand after playing some pretty poor cricket the rest of the afternoon but it soured what up till then had been a pretty good game.

It was a bright sunny day but a strong blustery WSW kept the temperature down a bit. This week saw the return of Peter Batty, Steve Korko and Martin Bramley to the team which had smashed a seasons best 309-4 against Crossgates last Saturday. St Chads though were struggling, most of their Asian players not available this week as they were celebrating the festival of Eid. That short were St Chads that Sue Thomas had to join me in the score box and act as scorer for them.

Chads won the toss and elected to bat and initially it looked a good decision as their openers stormed out of the traps. Both batsmen found the fence early on, the rock hard outfield making the ball rocket past the field. Just when it looked like it was going to be a long afternoon in the field the game turned on its head. Two wickets in two balls stopped the St Chads innings in its tracks. Loz White picking up his first wicket of the day with the last ball of his 3rd over, a thick edge which ballooned up to Pete Batty in the slips, then Steve Winspear matched him the next ball finding the edge which went through to Alex Ward’s gloves.

Steve was now on fire, well there was a lot of smoke drifting across the ground at this stage, perhaps Steve’s other hobby of traction engines made him feel right at home. A spell of 8 overs in which he took 4 for 24 ripped the heart out of the Chads innings. He does seem a changed player this year. Smooth in his run up, delivery and release. The ball zipping through really quickly. With 24 league wickets and a batting average over 50 so far this season he is certainly enjoying his best season with Milford so far.

The demolition of St Chads was helped by some excellent ground fielding by Sam Thomas which saw #4 James Bacon run out for a duck. Two more of his colleagues joined him in the award of the duck before the batting showed any sign of resistance. If any criticism can be levelled at Milford this season it is in the fact that when we have had teams on the ropes we have struggled to kill them off. Hillam and East Keswick been classic examples. Maybe we are missing Elmer Gee’s knack of rabbit hunting (there you go Adam, I get you a mention in a match report even though your not even there).

Mike Pinches, Chads number 7, led the fight back with a well crafted 45 not out. He marshalled the tail taking the score from 51-7 to a semi respectable 128 all out. In fact the best partnership of the innings was the last wicket stand between Pinches and Jonathan Watkins which produced 36 runs. Watkins proving to be a far more competent batsmen than many of those who had gone in before him. He finally fell when Dan Ward had him trapped leg before in the 30th over. Much relief in the Milford ranks as we appeared a bit clueless at that stage.

So and early tea for us to enjoy provided by Steve Winspear this week. Nice selection on offer and the fact he had put a couple of plates piled up aside for the scorers was greatly appreciated. Perhaps trying the hot spicy chilly sauce first off wasn’t the best of ideas but the apple pie for sweet was fantastic. Stuffed full of chunky pieces of apple, not too sweet, with a golden brown pastry dusted with sugar. Pure delight, a scoop of cinnamon ice cream would have made me purr.

So Milford went out to bat full of confidence, having scored over 300 last week 129 would be no problem. Dan White & Steve Korko opened the batting but scoring runs proved far from easy. St Chads fielded well from the off and Jonathan Watkins coming in at the pavilion end was getting a lot of lift. Neither batsmen looked comfortable facing him and when he got one to rise against Dan there was little the batsmen could do but edge it to the keeper. A shocked silence fell around the ground as nobody had expected Dan to be out cheaply with the rich vein of form he is currently enjoying.

Watkins soon followed that up with a repeat performance against Steve but much to St Chads charging the ball hadn’t found the edge. The umpire steadfast in his refusal to give Steve out. One or two of the Chads fielders then had to be reminded this was a game for gentlemen as they let their disappointment at the decision get the better of them. Watkins got his just rewards two balls later though when Steve holed out to cover. The Chads celebrations were a little OTT.

The match was now ‘well fruity’ and when Peter Batty was out LBW the next over St Chads sniffed the chance of a surprise upset. Juniors Alex Ward and Ben White now at the crease batted with a maturity which belied their years and Alex’s smashing of Watkins for 2 fours in his 8th over saw the game swing back into our favour. This seemed to open the flood gates and Josh Wilmer, bowling from the Bonfire end, was smacked for 12 off the very next over.

Chads then made the big tactical error of switching ends for Watkins. Having bowled 8 overs for just 12 runs from the pavilion he moved down to the far end and found no help from the wicket at all. Alex plundered him for a sucession of boundaries. The more frustrated Watkins got the harder Alex seemed to hit it. Even the loss of Ben with the score on 77 didn’t seem to faze him.

Alex smashed 46 runs off Watkins in just 3.1 overs to see Milford comfortably home and himself to his best score of the season 67 not out. Great effort from the young man and his two catches earlier in the day will see him still top of the wicket keeping rankings for Division 2.

Match details

Match date

Sat 18 Jul 2015

Kickoff

13:00

Competition

Division 2
Team overview
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