Another victory - and career best bowling figures

Well, yesterday was a big day for North West Water. The weather held off as we played Shropshire Health Authority at Acton Reynald and thank goodness it did as we celebrated one of the most emphatic victories I can remember.

What started out as two 20-over matches (in that case, we won both), morphed into a 40-over, two innings contest and we came out on top, bowling out SHA for just 31 in the their second innings as they chased 98 to win.

It was a particularly good day for me - Harry, my seven month old son, was there to watch - and, inspired by his support, I finished with figures of four for four off four overs. On a not-so-positive-note, my only innings came to an abrupt end on, guess what, four, when I was run out.

Anyway, we batted first with Carl Dulson and Brian Cole starting positively, before Gareth Cole took up where his son left of to keep the scoreboard ticking over. Carl unleashed a couple of meaty blows including one towering six before having to retire on 25, while Rory Jones produced another fine knock on the way to challenging total of 98.

I opened the bowling and started with a wide. Next ball, though, I pegged back the openers off stump before removing SHA's number three first ball thanks to a scrambling catch from skipper Justin Evans square on the offside. After a dot ball, Justin held on to another, slightly more comfortable, catch in the same position. I could hardly believe it.

My next over went for one run but, despite beating the bat a couple of times, I didn't pick up any more wickets. Needless to say, I was pretty pleased with proceedings though.

SHA fought their way back into the game but we chipped away at them, picking up regular wickets, with both Brian and Huw Jones causing plenty of problems. Our fielding, and catching in particular, was sharp all afternoon - even I managed to cling on to one.

SHA ended six runs short of our total on first innings and, after the tea break, we batted again, with Justin reversing the batting order. This meant wicketkeeper Dan Powell and I opened. Dan looked in fine touch from the start and, after I'd departed for four, he moved serenely to 25 before retiring. Jamal Penrose then proceeded to make an excellent 25, with Huw Jones providing excellent support, as our lower order proved themselves to be no mugs with the bat.

Some late hitting from Rory lifted us to 91 in our second innings, setting SHA a target of 98 to win.

We started well with the ball, and I picked up another wicket with my first delivery - again caught by Justin, this time fielding at square leg to a left hander. Despite a couple of marginal lbw shouts, I didn't pick up my fifth wicket, though.

Ian Lloyd, opening at the other end, took two quick wickets as SHA started to falter immediately. To their credit, they too had reversed the batting order but, despite our fears that they would suddenly start building a partnership, we carried on taking wickets.

Jamal produced a fine spell to pick up two scalps - one caught quite brilliantly on the leg side by a diving Brian in what must be one of the summer's champagne moments. Rory then produced some seriously rapid deliveries on his way to two wickets, before Brian stepped up to finish the job with three wickets, including one that took the edge, was parried up in the air by Dan, only to caught by an alert Carl at slip.

When Carl rearranged the stumps of the final SHA batsman, we'd managed to bowl them out for just 31 with ten overs remaining.

Incidentally, there was the small matter of the Ashes being decided at The Oval while we were playing. Jamal had brought his radio along and we all cheered when the final Aussie wicket fell. Perhaps that's what inspired us to wrap the game up so quickly.

Steve's back with a bang

I wasn't able to play on Tuesday, versus BT at Oswestry School, but I have received the following message from the talismanic Steve Daulby who, as you will gather from the extract below, returned to action after a six week injury lay-off.

I think I was 2nd highest scorer with a massive contribution of 8!!! ( Justin high 20’s) but what a return with the ball, three for circa eight off 4 overs with the chance of a hat-trick - batsman just played a “dead” bat surrounded by close fielders!

“Daulby is back; Daulby is back” the hordes of fans were screaming from the packed stadium [Editor's note: there may be a little artistic license in this description].

As you may have gathered with me being second highest scorer on eight, we lost. We got 80 but it took BT to the last over to surpass with only one or two of wickets left.

So there we are - now we're all busy preparing for Sunday's 40-over clash with Shropshire Health Authority at Acton Reynald. It's time we rediscovered our winning ways.

We've won - again!

Well, we notched up only our second win of the season last night in pretty murky conditions against the Woodburners at Llandrinio.

Fine performances from Gareth Cole (with both bat and ball), Carl Dulson (bat), Dave Ryder (bat), Geraint and Huw Jones (ball) saw us to an unexpectedly comfortable victory by a margin of 20-odd runs.

Our total of 87 batting first looked a little bit short, but our bowling and fielding restricted the Woodburners to just 25 off the first 10 overs and, together with the fact we regularly took wickets, they were simply too far behind the run rate.

Admittedly, we did have the best of the conditions. We batted first while the light was relatively good and then bowled as became increasingly cloudy and dark. There was also quite a bit of movement for the bowlers which, combined with the slow outfield, made scoring difficult.

The game was also notable for the number of injuries suffered - Dave retired hurt after making 21 with his troublesome Achilles; Dan Powell, our evergreen wicketkeeper, suffered a back spasm and had to be replaced behind the stumps midway through the Woodburners' innings; and Carl also managed to pull a muscle while batting, which restricted his mobility in the field.

After losing skipper Justin early on in the innings, Dave and Gareth established an excellent partnership. Gareth in particular managed to score freely, hitting a couple of fours, before finally falling for 21. Dave kept the scoreboard ticking over, while Carl produced some meaty blows at the other end, including one towering six over long on.

A clatter of wickets in the last few overs kept our total down, and I went in with an over to go but failed to get off the mark as Woodburners finished strongly, conceding only two runs off the final over.

I opened the bowling in, frankly, horrible style, with successive wides. After one good ball, I then served up another wide, before finally finding my radar and conceding only one more run off the remaining 11 balls of my spell. It was pretty frustrating as, apart from those three wides, I beat the bat a few times and almost got a wicket when one of the openers very nearly chopped on to his stumps.

Ian Lloyd was in form at the other end to keep the scoring in check and Geraint then made the first breakthrough, with Gareth taking a fine catch in the gully. We continued to restrict the scoring - the Woodburners only hit one boundary, a six, in the innings - while picking up wickets through Huw, Brian Cole, Carl, Gareth (two clean bowled), and, bowling at the death, Justin.

After reaching 25 at the halfway stage, we were always in control and, as I said, the conditions, particularly the light, definitely helped. Our fielding was also sharp throughout and that certainly played a major part in keeping us on top.

I should also mention my friend, former work colleague and Woodburner Neil Morley who, when umpiring, gave a controversial LBW decision against a team mate who was adamant he'd got an inside edge. It all added to the highly charged - but friendly - atmosphere in which the game was played.

Next Tuesday, we play BT at Oswestry School - hopefully our fine form will continue.