Waverley Season Opener

Waverley started the season on a surprisingly sunny day at Shalford. Waverley this season are under a new regime, with Captain Jim now in command. Unfortunately, this lead to him losing the first toss of the season, with Waverley being asked to bat first. The side selected for the opening encounter was Jim, Beanie, Ben, Si, Malorie, Kylo, Teabag, Troy, Toby, Loz and PB.

Waverley started off with a solid start, unfortunately in the 7th over Jim missed a straight one and was bowled for 19, leaving Waverley 29-1. This brought Ben Harris to the crease, who went after the bowling on a good batting deck, Waverley were looking well set at 75-1 at the end of the 12th over. Then in the next over Ben Harris was caught for a well-made 43 and in the next over Beanie was also caught for 10. This brought together Si and Malorie to the crease, we each scoring runs in their own way, Si with his usual flow of boundaries, bring up the first Waverley 50 of the season in the process and Malorie with hard running 1’s, 2’s and even a 3! The pair put on 97 together before Malorie was caught for 21, Kyle came and went for 6, and then a couple of overs later Si was caught for a well-made 65. Again Waverly went from a strong position, to a stuttering one, 177-4 to 197-6. Teabag and Troy came to the crease and put together a strong lower order partnership to take Waverley to 234-9. With Teabag making 31, Troy 14 Not Out. In the process Toby got the first duck and golden duck of the season, with Loz also following for a duck off the final ball.

After tea, with Shalford requiring 238 for the win, Waverley were in a strong position. Teabag and Toby opened up for Waverley, both opening overs showed signs of rust but they both got into their stride with Teabag claiming the first wicket of the season. At the end of the 11th over Mr B came on to replace Toby. Unfortunately in the 12th over Teabag dropped a simple caught and bowled, hurt his little finger and let the ball go for 4 (in fairness it was hit quite hard!),and had to be replaced after bowling a control opening spell and meant Waverley were reduced to 10 men. He was replaced by Troy, who along with Mr B kept the run rate under control. At the end of their combined spell, Shalford were 124-2 with Mr B picking up the other wicket. This meant Shalford required 8.1 runs per over to win, but had the wickets in hand. The task fell to Kylo and Malorie to bring home the victory, both bowled well with the batsman starting to chance their arm, particularly Kylo who picked up 2 wickets in the process, another wicket fell due to a brilliant run out by Troy knocking down the stumps with a direct hit, meaning Waverley achieved the victory by 6 runs.

So the first game of the season brought about the first victory, with the awards being handed out post game, Si got the MOM Hat for his well-made 65, Teabag got the pink tshirt for having to leave the field due to an injured pinky, with Si also winning the Anchor hat.