Telling Tails — Sunday vs Collingbourne
Collingbourne arrived at the Rec with just a single 'known' batsman today, at least according to several of their team. And whilst they were stacked with bowling options, they themselves seemed unsure they'd win.
That being said, they were unbeaten in the Sunday games so far this season, and hoping to continue that run on the road today.
With Jeremy busy elsewhere and Boom Boom originally scheduled to have a work shift, it was a brand new opening pairing with The Wall taking the new ball, followed by our top bowler in our T20 format in 2024, namely Rich (aka Graham).
The first 14 overs were beautiful, through hard work, high levels on consistency, swing and only small amounts of luck, we had Collingbourne 5 down for 45. Unfortunately for the visitors, it was the extras column which top scored for them. But to some degree it ensured the game continued longer than the Wilcot match at the start of the season.
The Wall took 3 wickets, one prior to the downpour from up above which saw most of us soaked through in our whites trying to get the covers on. Fortunately it was the right call and we saved the pitch from getting ruined. As we returned, Warwick took a second wicket... probably the longest wait for a hat-trick ball since Jamie's over-winter wait having taken the 9th and 10th wicket in succession in the final game of a previous season. Warwick's hat-trick ball? Narrowly missing top of off.
Rich didn't disappoint at the other end, keeping things tight and grabbing 2 scalps in the process. A sterling effort which put us in a very commanding position.
Move aside... Will Renwick was in town and despite struggling in the nets prior to the game, he was landing some beauties... none of which took wickets today. Fortunately they did set up the batters brilliantly as they chased after the odd bad ball, giving Will the wickets he more than deserved.
At the other end, Pol had a wonderful first bowling spell for the Sunday team and was super unlucky not to take a wicket as one sailed quickly above Laurie's head in what would have been a dream catch and also a perfect pairing. Sadly it wasn't meant to be, but Pol troubled the batters who got edgy and tried to get off strike... leaving our fielders with multiple run out opportunities, none of which quite prevailed today despite our efforts and one shoulder-spasm-wedding-week-panic from Seanie, fortunately all is well!
Laurie followed Pol, and despite not fully finding her rhythm, produced some delightful deliveries in between. Al will be pleased to know that he's not the only person to lose his wicket to Laurie this season. In her opening over, she combined with Chris to allow the scorers to write Bowled Roberts, Caught Roberts (without it being a caught-bowled), and in Laurie's second over, she thought it would be better to reduce the confusion for the scorers, instead bowling the batter with a gorgeous delivery.
All in all, another great performance on the field as we bowled Collingbourne out for 102 inside 26 overs.
Right then, tea... lovely spread as usual and with the sky becoming ever brighter, we had faith this game was ours for the taking.
Sure enough it was. Laurence got off to a tidy start, hitting 31 before... wait for it... once again walking on his own wicket playing deep in his crease, those nine lives didn't prevail today Top Cat. Charlie grabbed a handful (without a pocket sausage (IYKYK)), Pol got her first runs in a home fixture and Jamie and Will combined to hit 50* between them, we were over the line in 19.1 overs.
Pintage, fines and scores on the doors from Seanie in Al's absence!
Lovely jubbly!
Oh and a big thank you to Robocop for getting involved in the scoring and adding another string to his bow!
Go well. Cheers.