Wednesday 1st XI
Matches
Wed 24 May 2017
Willoughby Cricket Club
Wednesday 1st XI
122/7
79/8
Stretton
Midweek XI through to Cup Quarter-Finals

Midweek XI through to Cup Quarter-Finals

Simon Nicholls25 May 2017 - 00:04
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Midweek XI beat Stretton by 43 Runs

Old friends Stretton faced off against our Midweek XI in the 2nd round of the Midweek Senior Cup.

Stretton's Captain won the toss and mysteriously decided to make his bowlers sweat in the 25 degree heat and blazing sunshine by putting Willoughby into bat. Much to the annoyance of his players :) After the game he confessed that he hadn't thought about what he would do if he won the toss and panicked!

Ian Button and Sean Thornton opened with Ian falling early with the score on 6 but Ashley Rayner and Sean Thornton forged a useful partnership with hard running in the face of some tight Stretton bowling to bring the score onto 64 before Sean ran out of puff in the searing heat. Sean top scoring with 31. The slow outfield meant that boundaries were in short supply and the runs did not come easily.

Three generations of Foxons had gathered under the shade of a tree to watch Husband/Dad/Son Richard Foxon walk out to bat safe in the knowledge that he didn't need to score any runs to overtake Ashley Rayner at the top of the club averages. He didn't :) His first ball took a thick edge off a lifting delivery and flew straight to point and his wife commented, "Oh dear! He's going to be in a bad mood now" as he traipsed back to the pavilion.

Ashley Rayner had a bit of an uncharacteristic senior moment several balls later when he played a perfectly timed off-drive but unfortunately connected with his pads instead of the ball... He contributed well with his 22 runs in a 50 plus partnership with Sean.

The lonely mongoose, Ben Hollis took up the reins and crafted a very good 22 Not Out with more hard running. So hard that Chet Rana, struggling for air, on his 1st appearance since last year eventually decided to walk back to the pavilion instead of trying to make the other end as Ben Hollis thundered down the wicket towards him off a dot ball! But not before he had hit a useful 13.

Hassan Nawaz came and went in equally confusing circumstances when he started to run off a ball that he wasn't quite sure where it had gone. Unfortunately it had landed just in front of the keeper and he was left stranded as the keeper snapped the bails off. This brought Hamish Livingstone to the crease and he helped Ben Hollis to push the score on to a quite respectable 122 from 20 overs.

After a brief team rehydration session in the kitchen Captain Simon Nicholls chucked Richard Foxon the ball to open our bowling attack, mainly for the sake of his wife but in the hope of taking some of his disappointment and turning it in to pure energy. The tactic worked with Rich taking the scalp of Stretton's opener for just 4 runs in his second over after some fine fast bowling. He bowled a good, tight spell and only went for 11 runs off his 4 overs. Meanwhile Ben Hollis toiled away in the dissipating heat at the other end and also bowled reasonably tightly, only going for 14 off his allocated 4 overs.

With Stretton already falling behind the run rate Simon Nicholls replaced Ben from the soon to be renamed Housing Estate End and Sean Thornton helped to claim the wicket of the other opener with a fine catch out on the long on boundary. Some sharp fielding from Nick Crane then allowed Ashley Rayner to run out the Stretton captain before Rich struck again, taking a simple catch off Si's bowling at mid wicket. Si Nicholls bowled the next batsman for a duck and finished with 3 wickets for 20 runs from his 4 overs.

John Gregson came on from the pavilion end and immediately tied the already struggling Stretton batsmen in knots, repeatedly beating the bat and eventually Ash took a stumping off one of John's speciality moon balls. John then bowled another before teaming up with Hassan Nawaz who took a catch at square leg, sorry, got the ball stuck between his forearms at square leg to dismiss one of Stretton's 14 year olds.

With Stretton so far behind the requisite target Nick Crane very kindly stepped aside to let Ian Button bowl a couple of overs and Stretton finished 43 runs short.

Some good batting and bowling performances, no dropped catches and tight fielding was the difference between the two teams. Another good all round team effort.

Ashley Rayner now has a week to contemplate being the 2nd best batsman in the club as we look forward to next week's league game against Ben Hollis' old team, Network Rail.

Well done lads!

Match details

Match date

Wed 24 May 2017

Kickoff

18:00

Meet time

17:30
Team overview
Further reading

Team Sponsors

Club Supporter - B Beautiful Hair & Beauty Salon
Supporters - The Rose Inn, Willoughby
Supporter, official club artist - RLF Bespoke Designs
Club sponsor - Glow for Success
Supporter - B I Johnson Contractors Ltd