Rain spoils thrilling climax

SLOUGH 228-5 (Raja 117) (52)
WINDSOR 186-7 (Watkins 64*) (42) Match Abandoned due to rain

A determined downpour late in the evening on Saturday night denied both sides the chance of winning a great game of cricket as first vs second took on each other in division 4b.

Winning the toss Slough decided to bat first on a track that was flat and full of bounce as Chris Edge and Alex Hill both enjoyed the initial fast and bouncy deck. However once the batsmen got their eyes in on this pitch with the lightening fast outfield it looked like a batsmans paradise. An early breakthrough from Edge could not temper Raja at the other end as he hooked and pulled Alex Hill with impunity smashing him out of the attack. After 20 overs Slough had reached 90-1 and a score of 250+ looked on the cards. Looking to take the speed of the ball the spin duo of Deri Watkins and Amit Subarker brought the run rate down although not losing wickets Slough looked to accelerate the scoring. Some good outfielding despite a few missed chances in the field however kept the total down and after scoring a superb 117 Raja was finally stumped from Watkins and Windsor were then able to turn the screw on the new pair and suddenly the 260 Slough may have hoped for was kept down to 228.

Opener Andrew Chorley continued where he left off last week creaming some superb boundaries off the accurate Slough opening attack and after 10 overs were looking good at 43-0. However Chorley committed suicide cricket taking on a run that was never there and Slough got their tails up. Tim Smith cracked a couple of sweetly timed boundaries before toeing one back to the bowler and Rob Woodward was expertly run out by a superb piece of Slough fielding to put the game back in the balance. Tom Bullock was forced to retire hurt after being hit ‘admidships’ but this brought the hard hitting Deri Watkins to the crease as Windsor began to get after the scoring. The dismissal of Paul Huggins saw a turn in the game as Noble scored a painfully slow 2 runs from 28 balls against the seam of Slough skipper Sheppard and this upped the run rate to over a run a ball. Noble’s dismissal was followed quickly by the returning Bullock but Waktins was now in his element and began smashing Shepard and the experienced Salmon around the ground and looking comfortable. This looked to setup a grandstand finish with Windsor requiring 7 runs an over from the remaining 6 with 3 wickets in hand. However, the overcast clouds which had been threatening all day decided to intervene and although both sides were eager to get back out, the rain had simply come too late in the day and the match had to be abandoned.

Windsor do promotion chances no harm at all

Reading 137-9 (Birch 20-3, Subarker 46-3)
Windsor 138-1 (Chorley 76*, Wing 41*)

In what is a big fortnight for Windsor 2’s season they completed the first half by comprehensively walloping Reading on a day fit for Kings at the Home Park. The toss now seems to hold no fear for Windsor as they made it 2 wins on the trot and deciding to keep things in their own hands asked Reading to bat first on what looked like a very flat deck.

Back from wedding activities Alex Hill opened with Chris Edge and the Laurel and Hardy duo got back into their familiar ways making runs hard to come by and being backed up by some superb outfielding Reading never really got going. The scorer of 150 superb runs against Windsor earlier in the season Alex Ball couldn’t have done much worse as Edge ripped out his middle stump and not to be outdone Hill did exactly the same to Cowan to put Windsor in control. Walder scored a painfully slow 6 as Ali attempted to rebuild the innings as an hour of crazy cricket ensued. Chris Edge dropped possibly the easiest chance known to cricket then made up for it taking one of the hardest off Amit Subarker. Ali was dropped by Stephen Eggenhuizen behind and when looking set paddled the ball straight to Nigel Wing at slip although most bizarrely Oliver Birch, playing only his second game of the season took Trout’s middle stump out of the ground first ball on a noball, promptly marched back to his mark and the very next ball took out his off stump. The upshot of all of this was that Reading thanks to constant Windsor pressure were reduced to 78-8. However, the tail whilst not actually wagging in the widest sense did show some signs of life and showed some resistance that was lacking in the top order. Hill was recalled but Windsor continued to strangle the runs as Reading completed their 52 overs on 137-9 somewhat 100 runs away from par for the course.

Enter a man with a point to prove. Andy Chorley after studying for a law degree for most of the season signalled his intent for the rest of it by playing a commanding and almost brutal innings. Commanding in that the first ball he faced was creamed through extra cover for 4, as were the first 10 of his 13 scoring shots – brutal in the way he turned his back on an ‘optimistic’ single from Abdul Ashraf to see him depart for 7 but this only brought Nigel Wing to the crease who following Chorley’s example thrashed the bowling around the park. It was a joy to watch for everyone except perhaps Robert Woodward who elevated up the batting order to 4 was looking for his first innings of the season but even he couldn’t be too disappointed as the pair passed the total in 31^st over with Chorley scoring 78 and Wing 41.

And so to 2^nd place Slough next week. A losing draw at home to them last year ultimately saw Windsor miss out on promotion so with revenge on their minds Upton Court should see a great game of cricket next weekend.

Reading
Ball	Bowled	Edge	4
Walder	Ct Wing	Edge	6
Cowan	Bowled	Hill	0
Ali	Ct Edge	Subarker	23
Trout	Bowled	Birch	10
Beavan	Bowled	Birch	6
Tariq	Ct Wing	Subarker	0
Guthrie	Ct Woodward	Birch	2
Ahmed	Ct Ashraf	Subarker	21
Walder	Not	Out	25
Ali	Not	Out	10
		Extras	20
		Total	137-9

Windsor	O	M	R	W
Edge	20	7	33	2
Hill	11	3	26	1
Subarker	15	2	46	3
Birch	6	0	20	3

Windsor
Ashraf	Run	Out	7
Chorley	Not	Out	76
Wing	Not	Out	41
		Extras	14
		Total	138-1

Amersham 167 (Rob Hodgson 6-62)
Windsor 171 - 7 (N Wing 43, T Bullock 38*, B Holt 5-18)

Windsor completed the double over Amersham at an eventually sunny Shardloes although they were made to work all the way by a spirited display in the field by Amersham. If Windsor were only able to win 1 toss in the first half of the season the laws of averages state that they will only lose 1 in the second half and lo and behold the Windsor captain called correctly and it was a bit of a no brainer to bowl first on the damp green track.

Showing five changes from the previous week Windsor opened with Chris Edge and Rob Hodgson and both were economical in their opening spell. Indeed when Amit Subarker pounced on a catch at mid on Amersham had limped to 26-1 off ten overs. A triple breakthrough from Hodgeson strangled Amersham further to 47-4. However when a simple chance at gully was spilled by Ashraf from Piper this became the signal for Piper and captain Aylott to rebuild the Amersham innings. The introduction of U15 leg spinner Mark Lines somewhat backfired as Piper was particular brutal on the odd full toss and Amersham moved passed the 100 mark. A towering six over long on saw the removal of Lines from the attack but it was far from the end of his day….

The introduction of Amit Subarker wrestled the game back into Windsor’s grasp and after Piper was dismissed by Hodgson it was left to Aylott to do the bulk of the runs as Windsor exposed the tail wrapping Amershams innings up in the 50th over. Rob Hodgsons golden arm accounting for six wickets from his 26 over spell.

Windsor’s reply got off to a stuttering start with Noble being cleaned up for 1 and Ashraf ,departing soon after. However Nigel Wing scoring almost exclusively in boundaries was joined by Stephen Eggenhuizen and whilst not scoring at will, the pair were looking comfortably in control as they moved the score past 100. The reintroduction of Holt however turned the game on it’s head and having been 105-2, Windsor suddenly found themselves in a spot of bother at 128-6 as Wing, Eggenhuizen, Davis and Hartridge were all dismissed in double quick time. Chris Edge joined Tom Bullock at the crease and stabilised the situation and putting 30 on Windsor looked to have weathered the storm until Edge came back for a quick second run and an accurate throw saw him run out. At 158-7 enter Mark Lines who was the perfect foil for Tom Bullock. A few nervous moments ensued but sensible batting by both saw Windsor home in the 46th over, with Lines hitting a four over square leg to wrap the game up.

A big fortnight now looms for Windsor with the visits of 2nd and 3rd place Reading and Slough which will shape up whether or not Windsor have the quality or bottle to finally escape from 4B.

Windsor reach halfway mark unbeatean

Chiswick and Laytmer 142 (Chris Edge 61-4, Amit Subarker 39-4)
Windsor 145-3 (Nigel Wing 50*, Tom Bullock 38*)

Windsor reached the halfway mark of the season still unbeaten as another commanding display in the field setup another comfortable run chase in overcast conditions. With last weeks abandonment meaning Windsor conceded ground to 2nd place Slough the time was ripe for Skipper Chris Edge to win his 2nd toss of the season and go for maximum points against bottom of the league Chiswick. He of course duly lost and Chiswick chose to bat.

An early breakthrough with a good catch at gully from Dave Richies was followed by a freakish dismissal of the other opener Wadhwa as he dragged a long hop onto his stumps. Skipper Longley regrouped the innings aided with some cavalier batting from Tomar to push the score past 60 but after Ashraf pouched a simple catch at mid off to remove Tomar, Edge took an instinctive one handed return catch to remove Longley and Windsor had their tails up. Alex Hill was unlucky to return no wickets but the arrival of Amit Subarker turned the game in Windsors favour. 2 wickets in 2 balls saw inroads into the middle order and Chiswick never recovered. A hostile first bowling spell of the season for Kevin Condon saw him mop up the tail as he and Subarker strangled Chiswick to 145 all out.

Windsor got off to a brisk start with Abdul Ashraf and Rob Noble setting about the attack although the bowling tightend up considerably after Ashraf was dismissed by Bhatia for 8. However, with plenty of overs there was ample opportunity for Rob Noble to settle down with Nigel Wing and simply wait for the bad ball. Noble will have been disappointed not to go on to fifty when he edged a chance to slip on 31 and the removal of Dave Richies for just 1 may have raised Chiswicks hopes. However Sensible batting by Wing and a welcome return from illness from Tom Bullock saw Windsor home with no further loss, Wing completing his fifty just before Windsor passed the total in the 39th over.

Chiswick and Latymer

Glover Ct Richies Edge 5
Wadhwa Bowled Edge 2
Longley C + B Edge 23
Tomar Ct Ashraf Edge 35
Brown Ct Hill Subarker 17
Bentley Bowled Subarker 18
Bhatia Bowled Subarker 0
Tucker Bowled Condon 23
Singh C + B Subarker 5
Reif Bowled Condon 1
Tomar Not Out 0
Extras 12
Total 142

Windsor Bowling

Edge 17-4-61-4
Hill 10-2-27-0
Subarker 10-0-39-4
Condon 4.4-1-10-2

Windsor

A. Ashraf Bowled Bhatia 8
R.W. Noble Ct Brown 31
N. Wing Not Out 50
D. Richies Ct Singh 1
T. Bullock Not Out 38
Extras 17
Total 145-3