MATCH REPORT: FIRST XI VS WINTERBOURNE (A) SATURDAY 20TH MAY 2023

Back with a match report, and hopefully better than ever. Last week’s hiatus was courtesy of us being comprehensively beaten by Bristol 2s, where the highlight was Milo’s maiden hundred (114), giving us 6 points. I really should expand more on the matter, but I won’t have any fingerprints left to describe it in superlatives.

This week we travelled to Winterbourne with a couple of changes. Charlie Brain and Josh Whitemore were lost to hair and back respectively, and no that doesn’t mean either have a hairy back. In came Callum Westbrook, for fun, and Cameron George, for form, after his 80 last week in the 2s. We arrived in the sun, a welcome relief from early monsoon season, and Sgt Nobby was back rallying the troops prior to us winning the toss and sticking the opposition in. Scores last year at Winterbourne were far lower than in previous times when we had faced off against this side, so we were eager to see how the pitch would play.

It was Rhino Ryan to have the new ball with Jimothy Riley at the other end. The first 10 overs were pretty steady, typically very accurate, both added to their maiden count for the season, as they played a few strong drives down the ground. It was ‘batter’ Cammy G who claimed the first wicket, bowling Shehean (15), having thrown a catch to the flow previously in the pursuit of more fantasy cricket points. Then the partnership built between Winterbourne captain G.Ford and vice-captain B.Parker. Both have been involved with the Indoor Cricket League that we had the pleasure of playing in during the winter, and so we were aware of their quality and importance of a breakthrough. Ethan, Keith, Beef, Maule was the player to provide it, claiming Ford (37) LBW, leaving them 66-2 from 18 overs. After this wicket the run rate started to climb, as the new batters came out and attacked our bowling. Whilst Milo provided nice control from one end, bowling his allocation for 45 runs, there was a lack of control, but regular wickets, taken at the other. Ethan took his second (Slade, 15), before Ryan returned to pick the wicket of Parker for 20. This left them 133-4, but boundaries were coming easier to find.

We continued to battle, with hero Munds rotating his 6 bowlers, a luxury that we didn’t have the week before at Bristol. It was then some dubious running between the wickets that caused the next two wickets. The first was Lingard (49), who batted aggressively and deserved a half century. He hit the ball out to myself at point, why I was there I don’t know, and in pure frustration I threw the ball as hard and as waywardly as normal, allowing for overthrows. The backing-up, completed by Milo, then allowed a mix-up as they attempted a second, giving us a vital wicket. Not long after, another was claimed, this time it was Callum who swooped in from extra cover to run out Ahmed Tabraiz (2). Callum and the rest of the side were relieved that he was able to underarm the ball into Gunny as otherwise it could have spelled a season ender for that chocolate arm. Oh and on a side note, Jack was hot under his little hat on the weekend, whilst his wicket keeping was exemplary, he took the bails off far too many times and referred to our mate James Riley as ‘clueless’ at one point. 6/10. Back to the game and batter Darren Vickery (58) passed fifty, taking Winterbourne to 225-7, before being bowled by a very happy Harry King. Having not quite got it right at times Saturday, he certainly enjoyed his wicket with a little fist-pump and ‘woo!’, which really made me smile on the boundary, as he can be a difficult person to read. In the closing overs there was still time for Ryan to bowl a final over, claiming two more wickets to get us another point as Winterbourne finished 242/9. He was the pick of the bowlers on Saturday, taking 3-41, and with a bit of luck on another day could’ve claimed 5. Initially I think Munds didn’t care whether Ryan was any good at cricket or not, he just wanted a player his senior in the team, but it turns out he really is so well done Chris.

In response, 243 as a target looked imposing, so a good start was vital. Unfortunately WOllis fell to an incredible catch from keeper Hamid behind the stumps, which brought the inform Milo into the crease. Typically, he nudged and nurdled his way to 22 from 10 balls, hitting 5 fours and a six. It was similar to the dominant display of last week where he really gave himself time to get in and have a look. We made our way to 70-1 from the first ten, as the pitch flattened out and the outfield quickened up. In some areas the outfield was a little on the sketchy side, which we had learnt in the warm up prior to the game. Milo continued to attack, hitting all around the ground, which you can now view his wagon wheel on play cricket. I don’t know why Jon wasn’t providing this feature before, but some were pleased to see him buck up his ideas this year and input some orange lines. Then, as all was going well we lost 2 wickets quickly, myself for 65 and Milo for 89 from just 42 balls. This left us 167-3 with two new batters – Callum and Munds. Both were watchful to start, valuing the importance of one more good partnership to win us the game. But how could you prevent biffer Callum from biffing? Both opened up their shoulders and hit sixes, attacking by the end and combining for a 78 run partnership to finish up 44 and 30 not out respectively.

It was a great win that was sorely needed for the green and gold, after a difficult start to the season with weather and injuries plundering the first few weeks. Winterbourne were a similar team to ourselves, with a talented group of young players, that played cricket in the right spirit. We look forward to welcoming them to Ironmould Lane in the second half of the season.

The upcoming weekend sees us back to Ironmould to face Bedminster 2s, with a Ginny tea to look forward to! It would be great to see people come and support this weekend as we had two great games against them last year. They are another side that we know well off the field, and depending on how the game goes Saturday I am sure we will share a few beers at the hottest place in Bristol on Saturday night. Vamos.

Will