Wilmslow Wayfarers v Upton 4ths

Yes dear reader it's your Original correspondent reporting on Saturdays game giving reserve scribe Scraggy a well deserved week off. So it was another odyssey into the hinterland of Manchester, just behind the airport and not far from HMP Styal, to take on Wilmslow Wayfarers the newest member of our league. Scraggy made the right call and inserted Wayfarers on an interesting looking pitch.

With the icy wind and squally rain accompanied by the sound of departing jets and the heady aroma of kerosene we took to the field and opened with Zee and Mohammed. It did not take long to realise that this would be a hard wicket to score on with the ball keeping low on numerous occasions. With runs hard to come by it was Zee who struck first with the Pope holding on to a thick edge. Zee and Mohammed were producing a fine spell of bowling giving little away and taking wickets on a regular basis. Zee ended his spell with a well deserved five for while Mohammed picked up three wickets. He could have had more if your correspondent had held on to a couple of sharp (and I do mean very sharp) chances. So after 30 overs our opponents were teetering on 70 odd for eight. An early tea was anticipated but Wayfarers tail had other ideas as they wagged with impunity and pushed their total to 118 before Scraggy and Nate wrapped the innings up.

So the Doc and I made our way to the middle and he immediately hit a couple of crisp fours before he was bowled. Mohamed came and went for a duck and we were 10 for 2 looking down the barrel with two accurate bowlers and a pitch that kept low. Big Nige and the Pope came and went fairly quickly. Due to the good bowling and low bounce I had to curtail my normal cavalier/ goweresque batting style for a more attritional effort scoring in ones. Indeed the bowling analysis had the look of frogspawn with so many dots. Not even the entrance of Eggheads legend John Winder could raise the rate and we were 30 odd for 5 when youngster Ryan Finn strode to the wicket. He immediately squeezed a couple of fours between the slips that warmed the watching throng. In the next over he played a sublime shot off his legs for four and suddenly we were nearing 50. When he was undone by the pitch young Callum McCormick joined me and played a very sensible innings as we gradually moved the score into to the 60s. With the two opening bowlers now off thoughts were turning to actually overhauling the target. However Cal was caught and bowled and my marathon innings came to an end shortly after. 19 off 35 overs, Boycs would have been proud of me! Zee hit a fine six, to show the batsmen it could be done, but with Nate going shortly after it was left to Scraggy to receive the coup de gras with us 38 short.

So still in search of our first win. This was a difficult pitch to score runs with 19 being the top score but the difference was the wagging Wayfarers tail!

On a bitterly cold afternoon thanks must go to Donna Pugh for scoring and Arthur for his unbiased umpiring. Next week it's Timperley, away again but slightly nearer home, and another chance to get that first elusive win of the season.

Rob Chapman.