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THE
SUNDAY CHALLENGE – THE ROAD TO TRIUMPH! The
start of our Sunday campaign was not exactly what I had expected for two
reasons. I had
Neal (Elvis) Perry running around the field slapping his fist with his usual
energy and of course giving out some ear bashings.
The other was Andrew Luck umpiring (!) showing the panel umpires how it
should be done............well that’s what he kept telling me!
Our first win came from our second game of the season
against our arch rivals Wellingborough Town.
Thanks to some tight bowling from Mick
Brown (5-3-20), Simon Driver (9-2-30), Chris Perry (9-1-11) and an
exquisite one-handed catch from Matt Jones at first slip, Wellingborough never
got going and only set a target of 137.
This total was made to look very ordinary thanks to an opening stand of
87 from Simon (54) and Haydn James (31) and we completed the job with 10 overs
and 6 wickets to spare.
Our
next game was at home to last year’s champions Buckingham who always take
these games very seriously and repeatedly bring strong sides.
This was the start of Liam Bates’ prolific season with the bat with a
fine knock of 59. With
Simon Driver falling just short of the half century, the foundation was set to
make a formidable total.
John Pike (23) and Nathan Dawson (16) also contributed to the 198 in 40
overs. The away
side started well with D Harris hitting a quick and impressive 48, but when you
have a bowler like Chris in your side, it makes any game winnable and this was
proven with his match winning figures of 9-5-26.
Buckingham were all out for 144.
After
beating last year’s champions, a winning spirit was finally being felt once
again by the Sunday team. Out
next match was away to Stony Stratford.
As I walked to the square with a burning sun on my back, I thought to
myself that this would be good toss to win.
It turned out in my favour and I elected to bat.
I opened with an in-form Liam and fresh back from suspension Mr A Luck.
Both bats started steadily with the latter
reaching his fifty and the former not far behind on 47.
Then Andy started to play some expansive shots showing power, timing and
a bit of good fortune before he was finally bowled for 91.
With his partner still on 47, this showed how fast the First Team skipper
had accelerated his total.
Not to be outdone, the seventeen year old took over from where his mentor
had left off. In
the 21st over, he hit the first two balls for 6; the next ball went
for 4, followed by three more 6’s !!
This was a RECORD BREAKING ACHIEVEMENT, not only for Wollaston but for
the League too! When
Liam was finally dismissed
for a fine 105, the platform was set for a big total.
Marcus Shelton (34) completing the task, we amassed a score of 291-6-40.
The game was all but won by tea with such a magnificent total to chase.
Stony were never in the game and with a fine bowling display from the
Perry brothers (Chris 9-4-20 and Jamie 8-1-28), Stony fell 112 runs short of
their target. Another “W” in the result column.
)
The
next game was a top-of-the-table clash at home to an unbeaten Wolverton.
We started well with Liam once again reaching 50 and Mark Carter with 47.
But the momentum wasn’t carried forward and we only scored a modest
171. We knew
that against an unbeaten Wolverton, this would be a hard total to defend.
However, even though we did not take all our chances in the field,
wickets kept falling and we were always in the game.
That was until a hard-hitting knock from Wolver ton’s captain Raje (76)
helped Wolverton to keep their unbeaten record and inflict our first loss in a
few games.
Needing
to finish in the top four to make the play-offs, we were sitting comfortably in
3rd place coming to our last game - away to Horton.
Horton’s innings started will with J Wolstenholme taking a fancy to Mr
Driver’s bowling, and hitting an aggressive and quick 30 in 5 overs.
But the mainstay of their innings was M Richardson with a chanceless 86
and Horton finished 211-9 in their allotted overs.
The wickets came from Tim Hudson (6-3-28), Andy Luck (9-3-46), and Matt
Jones (9-2-30). The
highlights for me were Matt taking the scalps of the two Wolstenholmes -’ and
the celebrations that came with them; and Darren Laughton taking two diving
catches at backward square leg........Yes, I said two diving catches!
I am afraid to say that they
the only entertaining
moments from
our innings came from Simon hammering the Premier League bowling of
Wolstenhome all around the park.
After he was bowled for his 3rd Sunday 50 we never looked in
the game and were all out for 184.
Even
though we lost our last match, we finished 4th. That meant that for
the first time in our Sunday Challenge campaign we were through to the
play-offs. Our
semi-final was away to the league winners and still undefeated Wolverton.
Wolverton won the toss and elected to bat.
The game started well for us with John Pike snaring the first of his 4
wickets with only his 3rd ball.
This brought out the Wolverton overseas player A Watkins.
With the aid of S Pichoisski, A Watkins set upon our bowlers looking to
get the upper hand. This
was so for a few overs until the 3rd over of Matt’s spell when he
got the vital wicket of A Watkins (56).
This turned out to be the turning point of their innings. With
Wollaston’s faultless display in the field, Wolverton had no answer to our
persistently tight bowlers and were all out for 178.
Our innings did not start well with the early loss of Matt for 1.
But this meant our two most consistent Sunday batsmen were at the crease
and they started to rebuild the innings.
It took a couple of, shall we say, indifferent decisions to get the
wickets of Liam (38) and Simon (16).
Mark Carter and Andy Luck turned the game around with some fine shots and
a strong nerve. All
of a sudden Wolverton had more than one captain, and an umpire who had been very
tight on leg-side wides became a bit more lenient.
It was unfortunate that Andy was unable to complete the job he had
started so well and was bowled for 33.
A vital knock of 23 from J Pike was the support that the match winning
innings of Mark Carter (45) needed to take Wollaston to their first ever Sunday
Challenge final. I
would like to say that Wolverton took the loss of a good-spirited game of
cricket that could have gone either way well, BUT THEY DIDN’T.
That’s another story………..Anyway lads, there’s always next year!
The
venue for the final was the neutral ground of the Northampton Saints Cricket
Club. Our
opponents were Buckingham Town.
We went into this game as underdogs to a buoyant Buckingham team who, in
their semi-final, had chased 250 against a fully strengthened Irthlingborough.
In the week I had decided that, if I won the toss, we would bowl.
When we arrived at the ground the weather was overcast and windy, helpful
conditions to a side bowling first.
I lost the toss so half expected their captain to say “we will have a
bowl” but to my surprise, he elected to bat.
He was probably hoping to bat us out of the game with a big total.
I opened with Simon Driver and Matt Jones.
It took only his 7th ball for Simon to get his first victim
thanks to a find diving catch at point by Tim.
The Driver
boy continued to cause all kinds of problems for the Buckingham batsmen with his
late in-swingers. His
just reward came in his 4th over when he took 2 wickets in 3 balls
leaving Buckingham reeling at 23-3.
He was well supported by Matt (9-2-48) who had the unfortunate task of
bowling into the wind, a job he did well for a “part-time bowler”.(ouch!)
Simon Parsons took over and continued the fine form that had seen him
promoted to the Saturday First XI.
Also bowling into the wind, he showed great control to finish with
figures of 9-2-25. Buckingham
never stabilised and continued to lose wickets with only H Colver (20) and W
Myers (28) showing any kind of resistance.
Chris Perry (9-1-14) once again showed the consistency that netted him 15
Sunday Challenge wickets.
Even though Nathan Dawson never got to play a part with the bat in either
the semi-final or final, he played a vital part in the field in both games.
Andy Luck (4.5-2-26) finished off the tail and Buckingham were all out
for 141. On a
lively track Liam and
Simon put on 38
before S Driver (18) was caught behind.
Then some heavy showers interrupted the innings.
At this point, I would like to thank our two Aussie mates Jeff and Mick
who, with the assistance of ONE (yes one!) Buckingham player, helped us to put
out the covers. This
was not made easy with the blustery wind and must have been a good laugh for the
spectators! Due
to the rain, our target was reduced to 127 in 36 overs.
Liam continued with Tim and
took the score to 81 before the former’s fine innings came to an end.
Only another 10 runs were added before the departure of Tim for 21.
With Matt Jones and Mark Carter slowly moving us closer to our target I
began to get more nervous.
The end came for Matt on reaching his highest Sunday score this season
(23). This was
the start of a Wollaston collapse; we went from 91-3 to 121-8.
With the game going down to the wire, we needed 3 more runs to win off
the last over. As
with the semi-final, Mark Carter held his nerve to propel Wollaston to their
first Sunday Challenge Trophy!
The
man of the match award was chosen by the two neutral umpires, and went to Liam
Bates for his match winning innings.
THE
TEAM SPIRIT, ENERGY AND COMMITMENT GIVEN ALL SEASON AND IN BOTH FINALS WAS
OUTSTANDING - SOMETHING OF WHICH, AS A CAPTAIN, I WAS VERY PROUD.
Andrew
Silsby |
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