Windsor CC 1stXI Vs Harefield CC 1stXI
Thames Valley League Division 1 – 14th May 2005

Windsor 1st Team played there first home game of the season, all the hard work put into the ground and pavilion showed, as Home Park Cricket ground looked fantastic. The wicket also looked impressive. Extra work that had been put in over the winter has so far paid off.

Windsor were without Gould, Towse and had slight concerns over the fitness of fast bowlers Griffiths and Granger, luckily both came through late fitness tests.

Windsor were inserted after losing the toss, skipper Thompson spoke to his players about building the innings and setting a target of 200 + before setting out with fellow opener and Vice Skipper Bird. Things were looking good for Windsor as both batsmen got there heads down early and pushed the score along to 30 of 9 overs without loss. Then poor shot selection from both openers, combined with a tight spell of bowling from Harefield, changed the game, putting Windsor in trouble at 38 for 4. Step to the crease Stuart Millman and Tim Smith, the later batting in his normal cavalier style. However it was the class of Stuart Millman that caught the eye. His excellent 47 was just when needed, playing with a very straight bat and choosing his shots carefully. Experienced Raul Mohindru scored an excellent 26, helping Windsor to get to 148 – 9.

Skipper Thompson thought that this would be short of a wining total but the Windsor never say die attitude was in full flow and the team started the assault on the Harefield batting like a locomotive. Granger tore in at the top order, removing the prolific Macloud and Reddy very quickly. The pressure began to build on Harefield as Windsor kept things tight. Then the Harefield overseas player (Whatham) scored a quick 24, pushing the game slightly Harefield’s way, Thompson then changed the bowling around and got reward immediately with 2 wickets falling quickly. The game ebbed and flowed, but with a good knock from the Harefield keeper, the game started to edge away from Windsor. However, the ever-reliable Mohindru struck again with Granger also removing Prodger’s middle stump to cause a late stir. But this effort turned out to be too late, as Har

Windsor 1st Team Vs Wokingham 1st Team
Thames Valley League 1st Division – 7th May 2005

Recently relegated Wokingham would always prove to be a tough 1st game for Windsor, Windsor had prepared well for this game playing in a couple of hard warm up games.

On arrival, Windsor found a superb wicket that was very hard and straw colored, excellent for this time of year.

The toss was lost by Skipper Thompson and Windsor were asked to bat, Bird and Thompson opened and made a solid but slow start, due to very good fielding and accurate bowling. Miles bowling especially well bowling massive away swing, eventually Thompson was 1st to fall, Windsor then lost wickets on a regular basis without troubling the scorers and things did not look good! Enter centre stage Tim Smith. Wokingham made the mistake of dropping him early his innings and he certainly made them pay scoring a brilliant 58 not out. Windsor eventually got to 148-8 with Ra Mohindru and Rick Baumgartner provide valuable support to Tim.

After tea, the Windsor team was fired up to get early wickets and put pressure on Wokingham. Justin Granger provided a great start for Windsor. Bowling with express pace he took a wicket in his 1st over. Then next 6 overs were all Windsor’s, with the Wokingham batsmen had no answer to the pace and accuracy of Granger and they were very lucky with balls passing the outside edge and flying off the inside edge for four. Then Windsor committed the cardinal sin by dropping the other opener. After this he took his chance and scored a very fast 50. But Windsor still kept fighting on, eventually getting him out along with the number 3. This brought the experienced Miles to the crease, which showed his class pushing the ball into gaps, scoring a very neat 50.

Windsor was pretty well beaten, and clearly didn’t score enough runs. Wokingham will prove to be a hard team to beat in this league, Windsor look forward to the return match at Home Park.

Windsor entertain Harefield this weekend, so far it’s played 3, Harefield wining 2 of these games, Windsor will be looking to even the score.

Windsor 1st XI Vs Enfield 1st XI
30th April 2005

Windsor 1st’s made the long journey around the M25 to Enfield to play what they hoped would be a very competitive game of cricket, and so finalize their preparations for the 1st league game.

This is exactly what they got!

The outfield was slightly damp as was the wicket but it was perfectly playable, the toss was won by Enfield who chose bat.

Windsor started well with Justin Granger and Warren Griffiths. The opening spell was tight from these two, with Griffiths picking up the 1st wicket. Granger bowled especially well but without any luck whatsoever. The bowling was changed with Alex Hill being brought on, but unfortunately he couldn’t get his length right and was hit out of the attack. Stuart Millman replaced him and bowled well for a few overs, but the runs kept coming. In fear of chasing a massive total, skipper Thompson brought on the experienced Mohindru and brought Granger on from the other end. What ensued here was an excellent spell from both bowlers with Granger bowling 19 overs in all in the innings. The bowling was backed up well by some very disciplined fielding. Enfield eventually managed to get to 200 before their overs ran out. Windsor was very happy with this as they thought at one point they would be chasing in excess of 250.

Windsor started their reply with Andy Towse and skipper Pete Thompson and as happened last week, Windsor got to a decent start, with these two putting 50 on in 14 overs. Eventually Thompson fell, which brought Mahmood Mirza to the crease. The flow of nice drives continued but the run rate started to creep up. In the search for quick runs, wickets fell. The game looked to be edging towards Enfield until Granger took centre stage, smashing a very quick 44, until unfortunately he was out to a good Yorker. Windsor didn’t stop there though, with a supportive 20 from Rick Baumgartner and some cavalier stroke-play from the remaining order. Unfortunately, Windsor just could not get the runs and fell 15 short with 8 wickets down.

Windsor was not too disappointed with their loss, as it was a great game of cricket, enjoyed by both teams.