And now your gonna believe us….

Windsor 228-3 Dec. (45.4 Overs, Huggins 85, Towse 79)
High Wycombe 83 (19.2 Overs, Grainger 23-5)

After a six year stay in Division 4B Windsor will finally be escaping at the end of the season after securing a 25 point win against High Wycombe meant promotion and putting themselves in the box seat to win the Championship next week against already relegated Chiswick and Latymer.

Winning only the second toss of the season, Chris Edge decided Windsor should bat at scoring at 4 an over for the first ten Paul Huggins and Andy Towse signalled their intent. The runs simply kept coming as both completely dominated the bowling and both brought their fifties up within a few overs of each other and few would have betted against them not converting them into hundreds. However, Towse after a chanceless 79 nicked on behind from the bowling of Radford and Tim Smith was sent in to pinch hit as Windsor looked towards a declaration. Huggins was then caught on 85 and after hitting a four when Nigel Wing was bowled this signalled the end of Windsor’s innings as they declared on 228-3 in the 45th over.

Bolstered by the pace of Justin Grainger Windsor looked to make early inroads, although it was Edge who made the initial breakthrough as Tom Bullock took a good catch low down to dismiss Anderson. Alex Hill was brought into the attack and after having captain Keith Patten strangled down the leg side to a smart catch by Rob Noble, he also dismissed Morgan and from 52-1 High Wycombe were reeling at 54-4. With the middle order exposed Justin Grainger turned up the heat and quite literally tore the rest of the resistance away. Twice on a hat trick after tearing out middle and off stumps in the space of 4 overs Wycome were almost dead and buried at 59-8, with 5 wickets to the South African paceman. The introduction of Rob Hodgson saw Amer dismissed to a confident catch from Alex Hill and although there was some good clean hitting from number 11 Radford, it was Oliver Birch who uprooted his middle stump to wrap up a thoroughly deserved promotion.

Windsor



P. Huggins Ct Anderson Radford 85
A. Towse Ct Bridges Radford 79
T. Smith Not Out 15
N Wing Bowled Wright 4

Extras 45
Total 228-3 Dec

High Wycombe

J Anderson Ct Bullock Edge 15
R Morgan Bowled Hill 17
K Patten Ct Noble Hill 10
G Bridges Not Out 1
H Wright LBW Grainger 0
S Siddiq Bowled Grainger 0
F Stockwell Bowled Grainger 0
A Singh Bowled Grainger 1
A Ali Bowled Grainger 0
Amer Ct Hill Hodgson 0
M Radford Bowled Birch 18

Extras 21
Total 83 all out

Windsor stutter as finish line beckons

Caversham and Redigensians 209-9 (Edge 52-3, Hodgson 70-3)
Windsor 173 (Smith 54, Birch 46)

Windsor are hitting a run of bad form at the worst possible time as they slipped up to now 3rd place Caversham and Readingensians at the weekend. With the original strip that was to be played on ruled out as the roller broke down prior to the game the match was switched at the last minute to the Sunday strip which was somewhat underprepared. Winning the toss Caversham elected to bat first and Edge and Birch made good use of the popping pitch to reduce Caversham to 48-3 from 15 overs. However, Windsor were never really able to capitalise and some lusty blows followed by patient batting saw Caversham move the score along. They then began to accelerate the scoring towards the end and completed their 52 overs to finish on a very good 209 considering that the track was far from true and a few of their batsman had to endure some body blows to keep their wicket intact.

Windsor in reply never really got going. With balls popping on a length with some even clearing the batsmans head the openers were unable to negotiate the new ball movement and were in dire straights after Rob Noble had been caught, Paul Huggins was then bowled before Nigel Wing clipped one to the wicket keeper the very next ball. On a hattrick Banergee drew Tim Smith into playing forward, the ball rose off a length clipping the shoulder of the bat and presenting an easy catch to short leg. Only a noball by a distraught Banergee kept Smith at the crease. Realising that trying to hang around may not be the best option Smith opened his shoulders and clattered his way out of trouble hitting a blistering quickfire 54 before finally being bowled. This gave Windsor some hope although quick dismissals of Tom Bullock, Abdul Ashraf and Richard Noble once again had Windsor almost dead and buried at 105-7. However Oliver Birch taking his lead from Tim Smith earlier and batting with a confident Stephen Eggenhuizen began to play shots all around the park including 2 enouormous 6’s taking on and clearing the man on the boundary twice. However the recall of Banergee saw Birch’s removal for 46 and despite Eggenhuizens best efforts Windor were finally dismissed in the 33rd over.

This result brings Slough to within 1 point of Windsor at the top although a 25 point win at home to High Wycombe next week will see Windsor clinch promotion regardless with Caversham playing away at Reading.

Rain spoils Derby Match

Datchet 186-4 (40.2 overs) Match Abandonded Rain

With Windsor top of the League and Datchet 2nd from bottom this was a game both sides were intent on getting some form of result but which was eventually spoiled as the drizzle that had plagued the game all day turned heavy to put a premature end to the game.

Winning the toss Datchet elected to bat and in the 3rd over could have got off to the worst possible start but were thankful that Chris Edge put down a dolly off his own bowling and Datchets opening pair could regroup. With seamer Warren Griffiths finding some pace and bounce on the Home Park wicket he troubled Watson with a few blows to the body although both were beginning to score freely as boundaries began to flow with some calypso shots around the ground. Griffiths struck twice to remove Watson and when Thomas Jones was mopped up after a quick 35 Windsor looked to turn the screw. However, it was around this time that the persistent drizzle began to get heavy. Both sides were offered the opportunity to go off but both declined although this began to work against Windsor as unable to grip the wet ball Mark Lines came in for some agricultural hitting as sensing the game would not last much longer Datchet threw the bat at the ball. However, after 40 overs with the ball saturated and the heavy rain now very much set, the umpires intervened and took the sides off which signalled the end of the game.

As all sides within the League were postponed Windsor still remain top but with three games to go are finally in a position to gain promotion next weekend provided that Windsor record a decent victory over Caversham and Readingensians and third place Reading slip up ironically against Datchet, who need a victory to get out of relegation trouble.

Windsor fall to first defeat of season.

Marlow Park (240-5, Answeri 126) (52 overs)
Windsor 175 all out (41 overs)

For the first time in 1071 days Windsor lost in a league game to another 2nd XI although with Slough and Reading both taking the opportunity to slip up as well, Windsor still maintain a healthy lead at the top of the league.

Electing to bat Marlow got off to a very slow start with Alex Hill unfortunate on quite a few occasions and after dismissing captain Ashton and Poteger Marlow were 50-2 from 26 overs. However, new player Answeri after taking a while to get off the mark began to get after the scoring with gusto making good use of the short boundaries and lightening fast outfield. Motoring past 50 Woodward and Lines can in for some unfortunate tap from their bowling and even the recalled Edge and Hill couldn’t stop the flow. A sickening injury then marred the game slightly as Cassidy played a thunderous on drive which caught Answeri square in the temple and the game was held up for some considerable time for him to receive treatment. Against the advice of both teams however, he continued to bat although understandably not quite as fluidly and finally Edge made the break through as he departed for a superb 126, allowing Marlow to reach 240 from their allotted overs.

Windsor’s reply started well with Abdul Ashraf looking in good nick and together with Rob Noble after 21 overs Windsor’s reply was looking good at 83-0. However after 24 overs at 87-5 it wasn’t looking so good as Ashraf, Noble, Nigel Wing, Dave Richies and Tom Bullock were all back in the pavilion. Windsor consolidated with Richard Noble and Stephen Eggenhuizen and the recovery got stronger the longer they stayed at the crease. However, both fell within a few balls of each other and needing 7.5 an over for the last 10 overs Windsor had no choice than to keep going for the runs, however after reaching a batting point at 175 youngster Mark Lines was run out for Marlow to wrap the game up.

Windsor look to get back to winning ways next week at home to Datchet, with an early start time of 12.30.

Rain, Rain go away.

NPL Teddington 83 (Edge 31-6)
Windsor 86-3 (Eggenhuizen 30*, R.E. Noble 15*)

A captain’s spell to remember and looming rain clouds to defeat were the highlights of Windsors game on Saturday as NPL Teddington were on the receiving end of a dominant display of Cricket by Windsor at the Home Park.

After winning the toss NPL decided to bat and could not have got off to a worse start as after 3 balls Chris Edge has taken Singh’s off stump out of the ground to put them immediately on the back foot. After 4 overs Alex Hill joined the party to remove Gallifent but 3 wickets in 10 balls from Edge put Windsor into the ascendancy as NPL had no answer to the onslaught and were punch drunk at 18-5 after 13 overs. NPL captain Ben Wollant proved that there were no snakes in the pitch playing a patient and correct innings but by now the damage was done. Oliver Birch replaced Hill and in his second game of the season managed to make the same mistake of bowling a batsman off a no-ball however once he had removed Wooster for 36 and sharp cricket saw Saif run out NPL had disintegrated all out for 83 in the 34^th over, Chris Edge returning 17-7-31-6.

Due to the early finish Windsor had to negotiate 15 overs before the tea break however only 7 were possible as the first spell of rain brought the players in for an early(ish) tea with the loss of Noble the only negative blot on the batting order. The covers came off after tea and NPL immediately made inroads with Wing caught well at point off the 2^nd ball to see Windsor at 23-2 before the real rain set in and the players ran for cover. Had Windsor not reduced NPL to such a low total an abandonment with no chance of a result would have been a real possibility and thanks to sterling work from the Windsor fielders who were in no mood to let this result slip and to be fair to a sporting NPL team who were willing to continue when many others would have looked doubtful at just after 6 o’clock with parts of the square resembling a carpenters workshop floor it was that full of sawdust some uncomplicated hitting from Stephen Eggenhuizen at one end and some more watchful batting from Richard Noble at the other saw Windsor home in the 17^th over, some twenty minutes before another prolonged downpour would have finished the game off for good.

Windsor now open up a slight gap at the top from neighbours Slough and look to build upon it as they face Marlow Park next week.

NPL Innings
Singh	Bowled	Edge	0
Thomas	LBW	Edge	11
Gallifent	Bowled	Hill	5
Wooster	LBW	Birch	36
Hatch	Bowled	Edge	0
Roberts	Bowled	Edge	0
Klimcke	CT + B	Edge	2
Anderson	Bowled	Edge	2
Saif	Run	Out	14
Roberts	Bowled	Edge	0
Wooster	Bowled	Birch	1
Salter	Not	Out	4
		Extras	11
		Total	82

Windsor Bowling	O	M	R	W
Edge	17	7	31	6
Hill	11	4	23	1
Birch	6	0	27	2

Windsor Innings
R.W. Noble	Bowled	Klimke	12
R. Charters	Ct	Klimke	18
N. Wing	Ct	Klimke	3
R.E. Noble	Not	Out	15
S. Eggenhuizen	Not	Out	30
		Extras	9
		Total	86-3