The Week
at The Wick

Tongy is not good at the toss. Yet again he lost the toss. Wick put into bat.

New ball given to MC Pat Flynn and Gus. Sam opened up with some very tight bowling. The Ewell openers unsure how to play with chances coming. Sam didn’t have to wait long for his first wicket, clean bowling the opener for 2. Gus had less success, bowling with misery and something I can’t quite explain, but was unlucky not to get a wicket.

Tongy turned to himself and Zak. Tongy bowled well with quick success to remove the other opener, caught at square leg by Ki. Epsom then continued to build their total into the 80s, when after a frustrating spell of edges and not quite having the luck, Zak was replaced by Ed. This proved to be an ingenious choice. Ed known for starting with “shit”, proved the old adage “shit takes wickets” true. Rank half tracker, fantastic catch by Zak running and diving in from mid-on.

The Ewell bats continued to slowly up the total before Tongy opened the floodgates — breakthrough after breakthrough, ably supported by a very good stumping from Stefanos, further catches by Gus, Ed and Sam. But the most important catch was taken by Zak “Buckets” Collier, taking the 5th wicket of Tongy’s innings. Zak then given the ball to break through, which he did — with Sam then claiming the 10th wicket.

All in all, it was a solid performance from the Wick to maintain Ewell’s 100% record of being bowled out this season.

Tea provided a time to discuss the innings and what approach the batters were to take.

Stef and Ki opened up and took their time to build a platform for the Wick. Dilly came and quickly went, bringing Dowling to the crease with DJ. DJ and Jack both again unfortunately fell quickly, leaving the Wick at 79–5. Harry Copeland (remember him for later) strides in to partner Ed. Ed decided he didn’t want to bat with H, leaving the Wick 82–6. Sam Flynn — who’d had to get changed out of his interview attire — ably supported H with a 26 (40). Harry, on the other hand, glided, flicked and paddled — did anything possible not to play a regulation cricket shot — playing with freedom and scoring positively. Before you knew it H was on his 50; Gus was at the crease and did his job supporting H with a very solid 17 off 18, the two of them seeing the Wick home. Harry finished with a very enjoyable and needed 59 off 63.

After the usual debrief — Harry (I said to remember him) got a very well deserved MoM. Zak got a self-nominated DoD, something about three drops? As I write this I can only remember the catches, as can the scorecard.

The 2s march on sitting solidly mid-table, with a massive clash away to Kingstonians awaiting this weekend.

MOTM: Harry Copeland  ·  DoD: Zak Collier

After last week’s game in wintry conditions, the Wick 3s arrived at Staines & Laleham to find something closer to normality: sunshine and warmth. Strong availability meant several changes to the XI, with Ben, Dan, Christiaan and Olly C returning, and Ollie Moj making his first 3s appearance in a couple of years at the top of the order.

Skipper Rahul won the toss and had no hesitation in bowling first on a spongy surface. The decision paid off instantly. Dan and Ben settled into a probing rhythm, both striking early to leave Staines 20–2 after 13 overs. The first change brought Mitch and Phil into the attack. Staines dug in, rotating the strike and offering almost nothing in the way of chances. Just as the innings threatened to drift, Rahul produced a moment of individual brilliance: a sharp pick-up and throw to remove the third wicket on the brink of drinks. Staines 58–3, and the momentum shifting.

First ball after drinks, Mitch claimed his trademark caught-and-bowled — a compulsory feature of any 3s fixture. With the door now open, Rahul turned to spin. Christiaan and Sahib struck in quick succession, ripping through the middle order and reducing the hosts to 93–6. A brief counterattack from the wicket-keeper was ended by a big-turning delivery from Christiaan that left the batter staring at the pitch in disbelief as his stumps lay scattered. A run-out from the returning Ollie Moj and some sharp glovework made it eight down, before the opening bowlers returned to finish the job. Ben took the final two wickets, wrapping up the innings for 138.

Tea was excellent, confirmed by resident tea connoisseur Hugo, who demolished three portions of pesto pasta under the assumption he wouldn’t be required for some time. Unfortunately for him, the Staines opening bowler emerged from the pavilion possessed by the spirit of Jimmy Anderson. With the ball hooping around corners and the keeper taking everything, the Wick were reduced to 12–4 in no time. Olly Coles insisted the ball that dismissed him would have got anyone in the club out. The debate remains ongoing. At 12–4, the situation demanded counterattack — and Rich Johnson delivered immediately, thumping his first ball for four. He and Rahul rebuilt quickly, putting pressure back on the bowlers and dragging the Wick into the contest. Naturally, just as the partnership blossomed, disaster struck: Rahul edged behind (he maintains he didn’t hit it), and Rich picked out mid-on. Still, their stand had changed the tone of the chase.

Dan and Christiaan then combined, with Christiaan playing positively for a fluent 23. Dan anchored superbly, running hard, turning ones into twos, and keeping Mitch permanently alert at the non-striker’s end. As the target ticked down, nerves spread through the Wick camp. Dan’s crunching boundary through square leg brought the requirement down to single digits, prompting Ben to confidently declare, “We’re safe now.” Dan was bowled next ball.

With tension rising, Mitch was joined by the youngest and happiest Khaira, who played with calm beyond his years. Together they nudged, nurdled and survived their way to the line, sealing a hard-fought two-wicket win.

MOTM: Dan Kemp (economical bowling and a composed, match-winning 36)  ·  DoD: Ben (jinxing the innings — a repeat offence)

League cricket ultimately has a single aim — win the match. Other enjoyable parts of a game of club cricket — team dynamics, individual performances, witty banter — are markedly less important when the team doesn’t win. Sadly for the 5s, the many enjoyable elements of the match at Bushy Park Sports Club were consumed by the result.

Why did the 5s lose a game that they probably should have won? As ever, there are many small things that happened during the match which combined to influence the result. On this occasion, there were two big reasons.

Firstly, the 5s batted first on a dampish track and found run scoring very hard for the first 20 overs of the innings. This resulted in a total of 143 which was gettable for the hosts as the drying pitch became easier for batting. Second, when Teddington Town batted, the best bat was dropped on about 25, which turned out to be crucial as he took the hosts to the brink of victory.

Notable performances by the 5s:

• Ben Houghton and Jack Le Feuvre (34) steadying the innings after two quick wickets
• Caspar Roberts — 25 with the bat and an excellent 8-over spell
• Craig Daniel (30*) taking the 5s to a total that could have been defended
• Ted Goodwin — miserly bowling: 8-3-17-1
• Alex Watson — 3 wickets

This week, the Sunday Warriors travelled to local rivals Teddington Town. The Warriors have played a mountain of games against “The Town” over the years, with matches always played in the correct Sunday spirit, and often producing very tight finishes. This week was no different.

The Warriors this week saw three former Warriors captains turning out — Jack Le Feuvre, Ben Longhurst and Zak Collier — as well as Phil Miles, Zubair Ahmed and the Talman brothers (Ralph and Archie) joining regulars Sahib, Zaid, Jaden and Safwan.

Losing the toss and fielding first was not part of the plan, especially with several of the team still stinking of jager from Saturday’s social, but Jaden (5-0-16-0) and Safwan (8-1-41-3) started the bowling effort nicely. Jaden produced several false strokes and bowled his usual consistent length, whilst Safwan was a touch more erratic but claimed two wickets, courtesy of catches from Collier and Longhurst. Run scoring was hard to come by for Town as they faced very accurate bowling on a slow pitch with a long outfield. Archie (8-2-15-1) and Zaid (8-2-24-1) made run scoring even harder with two very miserly spells, backed up by good energy and ground fielding. With the Town 79–4, captain Khaira instructed Le Feuvre (4-0-13-2) and Longhurst (3-0-5-2) to send down some “declaration offies” in the hope that Town would post a competitive score. This initially had the reverse effect as both claimed two wickets, but increasingly attacking fields were deployed to aid run scoring. Ralph Talman (4-0-18-0) bowled a respectable spell to finish the innings, whilst the returning Safwan claimed a deserved 3rd wicket. The Town finished on 147–9 from their allotted overs.

After a trademark superb Town tea, Zubair Ahmed (10) and Zak Collier (28) opened the Warriors reply against a trademark slow but accurate Town attack. With Zubair falling early, then Sahib coming and going without troubling the scorers via a total doomseed, the Warriors were initially behind the 8 ball. However, Collier and Miles (13) batted slowly but sensibly, leading to allegations on WhatsApp of both batting for the draw. Collier particularly waited for the bad ball before exhibiting some powerful strikes to the boundary, including one huge six over square leg. Both fell in quick succession leaving the Warriors 53–4, however a superb counter-attack was launched by Ralph (28), Ben (19) and Archie (19), who led the fightback largely thanks to excellent, aggressive running between the wickets. The Warriors were always there or thereabouts with the run rate by the final ten overs but losing wickets at key times, combined with some questionable situation management, left the Warriors needing 4 off the last over to win. Unfortunately, an excellent final over was bowled by the Town, leaving the Warriors 1 short.

It was a superb day, played in the right spirit with all players contributing to a superb afternoon’s play. Thanks should go to Teddington Town who were excellent hosts as always, and mention should go to Sahib Khaira for his excellent captaincy and engineering of a game which transpired to be a thriller.