21st August 2004

Windsor Vs Cove at Cove CC

On what turned out to be a lovely summer’s day Windsor 1st’s produced what can only be described as a very gutsy performance.

Windsor was missing 5 key players due to injuries, and with the in form 2nd team on course for promotion it was decided that they should be left as strong as possible.

Windsor stand in skipper Peter Thompson knew that there best chance of a good points hall on winning the toss would be to bat 1st, this decision was made interesting with the fact the wicket was quite damp and looked as if would get better as the match went on, this did not deter Thompson from wanting to bat 1st, and was made irrelevant when the toss was loss and Windsor were asked to bat.

What ensued here was 15 overs of extremely tough cricket, after losing Andy Chorley in the second over to a ball that swung at least 2 feet from off and took leg Skipper Thompson and Brian Davis dug deep, with the bowlers having it all there own way, for a period it actually got harder for the two batsmen as the conditions became over cast the ball started to swing further and later, eventually Thompson’s resistance fell as he was caught in the covers of a ball that stopped dead of the wicket. Davis fell soon after with young mike Gould soon following, a familiar Windsor collapse started from being 50 -1 Windsor were 60 – 6, no fear from tough tyke Thompson as he had balanced his batting attack perfectly, as the wicket improved through the middle part of the innings Noble, charters and Huggins got stuck in, Noble and Charters making 27 and 30 respectively, the high of the innings was Mark Huggins who after being asked to step up to the plate by Senior pro Spence in previous weeks did exactly this, he smashed 71 superb runs with glorious on and cover drives, Cove had no answer to this flintoff type player, eventually he was out but the damage had been done and with the help of noble, charters and a nice little cameo from 15 year old debutant Nick Cornish Windsor reached there target of 200 runs and 10 points.

202 all out was thought to be not enough as the wicket had turned very flat and was proving towards the end very easy to score runs from.

Mark Huggins and Debutant Nick Cornish took the new ball, young Cornish immediately getting the ball to move about Huggins struggled for rhythm and broke down after two overs leaving Thompson with a big problem as Huggins was the only recognised 1st team bowler who Thompson had wanted at least 15 overs from, the other issues Thompson faced were that although young Cornish was beating the bat the Cove batsman had come out all guns blazing and were riding there luck as ball were flying everywhere, Thompson had to slow the run rate or this game would be over in 15 overs, the best way of doing this was to take wickets, young Cornish then obliged with his 1st and 2nd 1st team wickets, skipper Thompson taking over from Huggins got stuck in but couldn’t find rhythm for his first few overs and the Cove batsmen set about the bowling, then he struck with a smart catch from Richard Charters then again with a plumb lbw, all of the sudden the full strength Cove team were 4 for 80, Richard Endercott then came on to bowled a tidy line and length as young Cornish was restricted to 5 over spells, but it was Thompson at the over end who was getting the ball to swing both ways, the pressure was on and he had the overseas star in trouble as he was dropped on 15 and his batting partner who was close to lbw on a few occasions, Windsor just couldn’t get these 2 out and they batted well to take the game to a near end, Cove’s overseas player eventually out to a good catch in the deep by Charters again off the slow bowling of Rob Noble. But it was too late and Cove finished the game off with 5 wickets down and 10 overs to spare.

Windsor left the field with heads held high knowing that they had done themselves proud and although they had lost this had been very much a morale victory, they had all the conditions against them throughout the match and still managed to fight there way to 12 points against Cove’s 20.

Thompson and Cornish finished with decent figures, Thompson was especially pleased with young Cornish as he showed tremendous promise on debut, also batting and fielding well. Thompson’s effort was also excellent bowling 17 on the trot which from a player who very rarely bowls for Windsor shows what depth the club has at its disposal.

Windsor face Amersham next week at the home park and with some key players back will look to finish the season with a couple of wins.

Windsor vs High Wycombe

Windsor were asked to chase on a dust bowl at Home Park and were again caught short in the batting department. Windsor began with plenty of control as a rejuvinated Huggins and experienced Thompson kept the Wycombe openers to under 2 and over for the first 15. Huggins bowled with fire and agression, but without luck, whilst at the other end, Thompson was consistently bending it in to both batsmen. Watkins took a smart catch at slip to send Bird on his way for 21, as Windor finally made the breakthrough on 71. From there however, the fielding fell away, and despite plenty of chances being offered, the Windsor outfielders just couldn't take their catches. Mohindru bowled with his usual control and took a couple of wickets to slow the Wycombe acceleration, but with wickets in hand and shoddy outfielding, Windsor were unable to stop Wycome making a formidable total on a crumbling deck. Thompson returned well and Spence bowled without luck but Windsor ended up chasing 40 more than they should have on a difficult wicket.

In reply things couln't have gone much worse for the Home Park outfit. Newly promoted Huggins and former 2nd team stallwart Noble were both dismissed without troubling the scorer. Former skipper Chorley soon followed, and it was left to the birthday boy Michael Gould to show the more senior batsmen how to get hold of an attack. With a flourish of lofted drives and agressive pull shots, he signle handedly recovered the situation, taking Windsor up to 100 for 3 with only 17 overs gone. He looks a fine prospect Gould and with better shot selection has the ability to take better attacks apart than this. Davies provided useful foil until he was unluckily given out LBW to one angling to leg. Thompson was trapped at the crease, and it was again looking ominous for Windsor as Gould was taken trying to pull another short delivery for four. Watkins led a lower order resistance, hitting 40 off only 30 balls taking Windsor within 40 of a victory. When he fell to a ball that spat from a length, the story was becoming all too familiar. Mohindru and Spence battled well, but the game was lost much earlier in the innings.

Windsor need to re-group and the challenge doesn't get much tougher than a home tie against league leaders N Maidenhead on Saturday.

Windsor vs Thatcham

On a roasting afternoon at Thatcham Windsor were asked to field first on what looked like a motorway of a wicket. Eiderweera took kindly to the bowling of Watkins, quickly hitting him out of the attack with a flurrish of cuts and pulls. Granger took over, and with Huggins back to his aggressive best, the Thatcham top order were no match for the berkshire pace men. Etheridge was cleaned up by granger, Dennes edged to Davies, and then Wise followed on shortly after thanks to a sharp catch behind the sticks from the up and coming Gould. When danger man Ediweera departed for 38, Windsor were in the hunt and sensed a low total on the cards. In fariness to Thatcham, they responded with some solid partnerships in the middle order, Store and Fraser dug in and later on Bird threw the long handle to work the home side towards a modest total of 180. Granger bowled with fire and control to deliver his first 5 wicket haul for the club, and Huggins will be satisfied with a haul of 3 for 38 from 14.

Windsor would have settled for 180 before a ball was bowled, with a lightning fast outfield and a long batting line up they were confident of a result. Bird and Noble got off to a flyer, Bird in particluar blending his usual mix of stout defence and blazing cover drives to good effect. Noble, gritty as ever, but never really settled and was undone by the subtleties of Edirweera, presenting a straight forward catch to Fraser. Bird soon followed, but only after breaking a finger fending off a nasty lifter - the operners season lies in tatters. Chorley was undone by Johnson, and Granger soon followed, taken behind off a lifter from Edirweera. Windsor were once again in trouble due to a lack of application in the top order. Seneir proffesional Thompson began with a flourish but finished with a wimper, lulled by a cleverly disguised slower one. Gould played round one from Johnson, and Huggins came off second best after a fiery confrontation with Edirweera in which the Windsor pacemans perspex grill was tested to the max.

Watkins and Davies tried to rebuild. Windsor had collapsed from 47 for 0, to 85 for 7, and the game was all but lost. Watkins battled to restore some credibility, playing sensibly on what was in essence a fine wicket, but after Davies was caught flashing at one in the gully the game was up. Mohindru and Spence were gone in 3 balls, and Windsor finished on 137 all out. Skipper Watkins will now need to revitalise his batting line up before the Cove game on Saturday, as once again they were undone by nothing more complicated than good quality bowling.