BA almost grounded in close finish

Windsor 2's 234 for 7 off 51 Overs (Lines 60, P Huggins 58)
British Airways 1's 235 for 9 off 28.4 Overs (Fiazal 62, Edge 5-68)

After a strong start to the season, the visit of British Airways to Home Park was always seen as a test of the credentials of the Windsor 2nd Team, and the resulting game would prove to be a classic. On what looked to be a good deck, BA skipper Raj asked Windsor to bat first.

Windsor openers Huggins and Channa took a measured approach to the start of the game as good BA bowling had them pegged back somewhat, but by managing to put away the bad balls, still recorded the first 50 opening stand of the season. When Chana was finally dismissed for 38, Windsor had cantered onto to 60 off 18 overs. Lines continued the hard work as both he and Huggins built upon the good start, his on-drives in particular were sweetly timed. The Windsor total continued to build despite the loss of both Huggins (58) and Lines (60) shortly after passing the 50 mark, which left Charters and Murray to continue the attack. Windsor passed the 200 mark with 8 overs still to go in the innings, but a mini-collapse saw the runs dry up and Windsor reached 234 for 7 off 51 overs when skipper Davis declared the now spluttering innings. How crucial the extra over would prove to be has yet to be decided.

To describe the British Airway's as just positive would be a understatement. Both openers attacked from the off and Faisal in particular was brutal on any width. Condon, Edge and Davis all were dispatched to all parts before Kellard finally got Faisal to sky a ball to Charters at long-on. By that point BA were on 115 for 1 off just 16 overs, with Faisal scoring 60 in the process. Windsor were literally up against the wall, but a controlled spell of bowling from Hill and Kellard, followed up by Edge soon brought Windsor back into the game. After 116 off the first 16 overs, only 40 were scored from the next 16 and BA suddenly needed over 5 an over to successfully chase their target. A fine 6th wicket stand then changed the match again and put BA firmly back on top. Any width was dispatched and once in, both batters took advantage of the good playing surface. With just 3 overs to go, BA required 11 to win.

With a packed balcony watching, Edge tore in from the castle end and produced a wonderful over with 3 wickets in it. Starting the over 224 for 7, BA finished at 227 for 9. After another tight over from Condon, Edge then tore in again and narrowly missed his hat-trick with one that shaved the off stump. It was left to the BA captain Raj, the team's number 11 bat, to swing an almighty blow with 3 balls left to hit the winning runs, a four over mid-off. The BA team naturally went berserk and the Windsor crowd on the balcony applauded a fantastic game of League cricket.

Windsor undoubtedly learnt a lot from the game, but the fact that the points margin at the end of the game was only 5 as a result of losing bore testament to the quality of cricket on show. This week Windsor travel to local rivals Slough 3's looking to get back onto the winning trail.

Windsor Variable 7 or 8, Moderate Turning Good later

Chesham 2nd XI 184 for 9 52 overs (Saunders 48, Kellard 3 for 30)
Windsor 2nd XI 185 for 5 46.3 overs (Gould 43, Murray 38)

In their first home league game of the season, the Windsor 2nd team entertained Chesham 2nd team at The Home Park. After a number of days of heavy rain, the wicket and ground was somewhat wet still. But with good weather and a howling gale blowing over the castle, the ground was drying fast. With this in mind, upon winning the toss Windsor choose to bowl first.

Windsor again started with the combo of Edge and Condon who both found the conditions difficult for differing reasons. Edge bowled well considering he was bowling head long into a strong wind and looked tired when replaced by Davis in the 14th over. Condon contrast struggled to settle on the correct length with the wind behind him. When Hill replaced Condon in the 15th over, Chesham had made a strong start with skipper Bilbury and Saunders setting a good foundation until the former played around an inswinger off Davis and was out for 29. A period of consolidation followed, which also lead to a period of frustration for both sides. Chesham looked to kick on, whilst Windsor looked to take more wickets. Despite a few catches being dropped, Windsor was able to take more control and slowed the run rate down greatly as Chesham entered the final 15 overs. When Saunders finally fell to Davis for 48, Chesham seemed to lose all momentum and struggled along to the end of their 52 overs. The excellent control of Kellard tore a hole in the Chesham middle order and along with Hill and Davis, finished with 3 wickets each. Chesham finally posted 184 off their 52 overs.

The reply started in bad fashion for Windsor as Lines was out in just the second over to a fine inswinging delivery. With Scott bowling tight lines with his Left arm seamers, Huggins and Gould found runs hard to come by. Indeed, only the class of Gould provided much of the Windsor resistance for some time and he frustrated Chesham with some fine stroke play. When Huggins finally fell for 7, a 40 run partnership was broken and brought Mirza to the crease. Working the ball around with Gould, the run rate was maintained around 3 an over, but the target was still over 100 away when Gould fell for a fine 43. Murray and Mirza continued to push for runs, but the tight bowling of Rance was holding Windsor at bay. Indeed the match turned on its head when the two young Chesham spinners were replaced. With Mirza and Murray both falling to Scott, it was again up to Hill and Davis to tick the required runs off at the end of the innings for the second week in a row. After needing over 6 an over two big overs off Scott changed the innings. An over including a huge six from Davis was followed by a big over from Hill, which put Windsor needing 5 of 12 balls. Hill duly brought up the win with a fine lofted drive past the bowler. Windsor won the game by 5 wickets with 9 balls to spare.

Another strong run chase bore testament to another fine team performance. The fielding needs to be worked on still, but all in all a very good win from Windsor chasing a par score on a wet wicket.

Windsor this week face top of the table British Airways at the Home Park for what is bound to be a test for both sides of their potential for the 2009 season.

Dream Day for Hat-trick Hero Hill

OMT 1stXI 168 all out 41.3 overs (A Shelley 54, A Hill 6 for 42)
Windsor 2nd XI 171 for 5 53.4 overs (P Huggins 52, A Hill 45*)

Windsor 2nd XI finally started their league season last Saturday with a trip to Rickmansworth to play Old Merchants Taylor. With the home side (originally) missing influential captain Dave Katz and having lost a couple of players, it was a new-look side that Windsor faced to that off previous seasons. Upon winning the toss, OMT decided to bat first on what would look and prove to be a great track.

OMT openers looked to be positive from the word go and both Edge and Condon, the Windsor opening bowlers, were unlucky to see a number of boundaries hit from there bowling. Whilst it was Condon that was regularly whistling balls past the bat, Edge took the first wicket of McCabe through a well taken catch at mid-off by Noble. Shelley continued to attack for OMT and soon brought up his 50. After 19 overs, OMT sat at 89 for 1 and were flying. Then a stroke of fortune turned the game dramatically as Hill had Shelley caught down the legside by keeper Care, the result of which was a start of a dramatic collapse. With leg-spinner Kellard bamboozling them at the one end, the OMT batsmen had no let up from the pressure Hill started to exert from his bowling removing a solid looking number 3 with a smart in-swinging delivery. Hill and Kellard worked in tandem and ripped out the OMT middle order. Hill then capped a fine spell with a hat-trick over two overs, taking his 4th, 5th and 6th wickets in the process. In between the last two wickets came a Kellard over that removed another batter bowled around his legs. With the last man at the crease OMT had crashed from 89 for 1 to 119 for 9 over the space of 8 overs. Some pride was restored though through some odorant batting by Richards and Booth, which managed to push OMT along to a total of 168 all out when Edge removed the final wicket. Hill was the pick of the Windsor bowlers with 6 for 42, but a good team effort by all the bowlers had put Windsor into that position.

With 58 overs to knock the runs off, Windsor set out seemingly looking to use up all the overs they had at hand. The run rate was at around 2 runs per over throughout the first 25 overs and when Noble was out for 11 in the 27th over, Windsor suddenly needed 4 an over to reach the target. Huggins passed a good 50, maintaining his early season form, but the wise and guile of Neil Richards was causing Windsor no end of problems. Indeed, he duly removed Gould, Chana and Gould in a short space of time and was conceding at around 1 run per over. When skipper Davis reached the crease, there was little choice but to up the scoring rate and heavy hitting soon upped the scoring rate. With the loss of the next wicket, Davis began to play the support role as Hill’s dream day continued as he began to plunder runs as well as wickets. With an aggressive flourish, Hill was brutal with any width he was offered and hit one magnificent six back over the previously unshakeable Richards’ head. When Hill hit the final boundary, Windsor had won with 20 balls to spare. Hill was not out 45 and Davis not out 26.

Windsor had battled hard for a good win in their first league outing against one of the many first teams in the division. The side has the makings of a good team and need to just be more conscious of not getting bogged down on run rates when batting and have that extra killer instinct to finish off an oppositions tail having worked so hard to remove the top order batters. On the whole though, this was an excellent win. This Saturday (16th) Windsor 2’s is at home to Chesham 2’s.

Princes outplayed by hard work

Windsor 160 for 8 off 40 overs (Mirza 58, Davis 26, Hill 26)
Princes Risborough 131 for 7 off 40 overs (Strong 45, Jones 4 for 20)

In the final practice match prior to the start of the league season, the Windsor 2nd team took on the challenge of Chiltern League club Princes Risborough. Due to bad traffic the start was delayed and the game was reduced to 40 overs per side win, lose or draw game. Upon winning the toss, Windsor chose to bat first and look to try practice the art of setting a target and bowling a side out.

Windsor’s inning got off to a slow start and when Noble was out in the 7th over, the score had only just received double figures. Mirza joined Huggins and took the onus of the innings, building a strong 2nd wicket partnership. When Huggins ran himself out in the 21st over, Windsor were 60 for 2 and struggling to build a strong target to defend. The introduction of the left-handed Davis seemingly disrupted the tight bowling lines of the Princes Risborough bowling and Mirza and Davis proceed to take 50 from the next 8 overs and Windsor suddenly found themselves in a strong position to build a good total. However, the loss of Mirza shortly after reaching 50 precipitated a collapse and Windsor lost 4 wickets for 10 runs. A good partnership between Hill and Care clawed back some advantage and when latter departed Jones continued the mantle. When Hill was out on the last ball of the innings for 26, Windsor had set a competitive total of 160. Greaves was the pick of the Princes bowlers with 4 for 35.

With 4 an over needed from the off, the Princes Risborough openers looked to attack from the word go. Windsor opening bowlers Edge and Condon both strived for early breakthroughs, with the latter picking up the first wicket of Strong, with the counterattacking from Strong was the main source of the visitor’s runs. Hill then joined Condon and both bowled well without luck. Pitt continued to hold one end up, whilst Strong built from the other and Windsor struggled to make breakthroughs. However the introduction of Jones seemed to turn the tide and the luck for Windsor. Jones removed Pitt and Strong in consecutive overs and along with the leg-spin of Kellard, Windsor made strides through the visitors batting order. Only the resistance of captain Morton and Hitchcock managed to stem the flow of wickets and Princes Risborough finished with 131 for 7 off their 40 overs.

Whilst the match ended in a draw, Windsor had been on top for much of the game and should be disappointed to not have bowled their opposition out. Arguably, when the numbers 7 and 8 started to counter attack with attacking fields, it caused Windsor to relax and expect wickets when previously they had worked for them. This is an issue that requires a minor tweak and more focus to ensure the chances that were lost last year are not repeated this.

This Saturday, Windsor 2’s will play their first league game of the season away at OMT.