Owls Spread Their Wings

The Wrecclesham Owls recorded yet another huge victory as they maintain their seemingly relentless assault on I'anson Division IV.

The game started in usual fashion with Wrecclesham starting their pre-match warm up with some good banter and a few cold beers and the traditional late arrivals. With the stand in captain running a few minutes behind schedule, Tony Boniface went for the toss which he subsequently lost to the delight of the Wrecclesham faithful. This meant that it was another possible 10 pointer and considering his last success, Spooner and his men were confident of getting another maximum to further secure their position at the top of the table.

The bowling was slow at the best of times with little or no movement, making it down to the batsmen to pick their shots wisely and force the ball to the boundary. Chris 'skipper' Spooner and James 'cant hit a ball' Wright opened the batting and living up to his name, Wrighty was caught at point after playing a poorly timed cut on a mere 2 runs, James‘ fury at getting out was matched only by that of Boniface Snr who voiced his usual disappointment at James with some choice words.

However hero of the week at Chiddingfold then marched in to bat with true conviction. With Spooner and Elworthy at the crease the Wrecclesham crew felt content that runs were about to happen. Elworthy flexed some muscle to show that it wasnt a fluke last time round and with some well timed shots and clever batting reached his 50 in what seemed like no time.

At the other end, Spooner, playing with a captains mentality, played a controlled innings with some flourishing shots including 2 sixes, and after a dubious caught behind appeal, finished on 46 (bringing his batting average just below the 50 mark but bringing his total runs to just below 500). With the score at 69 for 2, the Owls felt that a big total was the call for the day... and they didn’t disappoint.

Chris Windeatt, as ever, played a steadying role and scored a sturdy 40 whilst man of the hour, Peter 'Snitty' Richardson, came in for his first Wrecclesham appearance for over 2 years to hit a huge six into the tennis courts over the bowlers head.

Unfortunately, ambition got the better of him and was soon bowled trying to hit the ball into next week. This left the score at 149 for 4 with Dave Vasey strolling in to bat with a large grin on his face after watching some 'buffet' bowling (help yourself) from the sidelines.

After a couple of shots to play himself in, Vasey Snr found his eye (as did most of the Owls batmen) and scored a quick fire 29 (24 being boundaries) with the shot of his innings being a mis-timed straight drive over the bowlers head for clearly the biggest 6 of the day.

Again ambition got the better of him and he was soon bowled to the dismay of his son who was looking forward to getting the opportunity to bat with a Vasey at both ends. Nonetheless, with Windeatt still at the crease and playing well, Spooner sent in Vasey Jnr ahead of Hammy (Much to Big Tone‘s disappointment). At this stage Wrecclesham were looking comfortable and in a commanding position. Some fine shots were played and then suddenly Chris Windeatt went for a ball well outside leg and managed to drag it on to the stumps to allow the Pepper Harrow team something to cheer about.

The cheers however were short lived with Vasey Jnr making light work of the Pepper Harrow bowling attack by hitting 4 conseuctive sixes to the disbelief of Hooda, who finished with figures of 88 - 1 from a 13 over spell, thus proving to the ever growing Owls followers that the Uzi is the only bat to use..

With plently of runs on the board a declaration was on the cards and having a total of 230 in mind before the match as an ideal score Spooner was looking to declare after a mere 35 overs; however, with Vasey Jnr going strong he was given the opportunity to get his 1st Wrecclesham 50 but played a woeful slog and was subsequently caught on 45.

Wrecclesham declared after 41.3 overs with a mammoth 266 for 9 giving the home team plenty of overs to get the 10 wickets required for a valuable 10 point haul.

Tea was once again a real treat with Mrs Boni laying a superb spread of Sausage, coronation chicken and egg sandwiches along with scones and chocolate rice crispy cakes. All went down with gratitude, even Matt Parkinson MBE managed to stomach something after his woeful DUCK whilst every other batsmen found runs easy to come by.

A moment should be spared to talk about the batting of Mr MBE himself, having seen runs flowing so easily to all corners of the ground, Parky boasted that he should be batting up the order and indeed given a chance to shine. Having faced a mere 5 balls, all to which the same woeful shot was attempted (Parky‘s only shot aka the slog sweep) the Mighty MBE gloved behind for a glorious duck, much to the delight of all 21 other players.

Once tea was out of the way it was back to business. Elworthy and Spooner opened the bowling with Jonny taking first blood with only 11 runs on the board with Spooner hot on his tale when he took the 2nd wicket leaving the score at 44 for 2. Peper Harrow for a split second looked to have found their feet with Hooda scoring a couple of sixes off the bowling of Spooner but after some clever fielding positioning the gaps closed and the Owls never looked in danger of allowing the game to get away from them.

Elworthy continued on his impressive recent form by taking 2 more wickets with some excellent variation and bounce which seemed to bamboozle the Pepper Harrow batsmen.

With Spooner finding the going a bit tough he made an excellent decision to bring Graham '1000 wicket' Larby on to bowl, which paid off in quick time with a beautifully bowled in swinger to dismiss Rathmell for 18. Bionic Man Elworthy refused to be kept out of the game, and charged in off the boundary to produce a quite remarkable run out to which Larbs could only only muster his appreciation in the form of a “Is there anything this man can’t do?”.

Then came the change, the changes of all changes. Elworthy finished a good spell with 41 for 3 of 14 excellent overs, and on came Snitty, a decision that not all of the Owls agreed with.

Having not bowled for nearly 2 years he found his line immediately with his first ball being edged in to a gap, his second was even better with Vasey Jnr making a reflex catch in close to give Snits his 1st Owl wicket of the season. It wasn’t long before he doubled, trebled and quadrupled that figure either. With Spooner taking a hard chance and if it wasnt for some sloppy catch work from Mr MBE himself he may have got five, but im sure he wont complain with a breathtaking 2.5 overs, 4 wickets for 0 runs.

The game was over after a mere 32.5 overs with Peper Harrow unable to keep up with the run rate and finishing on a below par 114 all out.

A great performance from the boys, played in fine spirit and thoroughly enjoyed by all.

Match report By Chris Spooner and Dan Vasey


Afterword by stand in Skipper Spooner.

It would seem that in the two matches I have had the honour of leading the mighty Owls into battle we have produced two fine performances and this in my opinion does our team credit because we still have Oli and Joe to come back into the team, proving that this year we have our strongest side for years.

The first match was obviously enjoyable for me because I made my first century and we went on to get 10 points. This week however had everything.

The Batting was epic (well almost… Wrighty and Parky excluded), the bowling was tight (me excluded) and the fielding and field placing was inspired! We have arrived at a situation this year where we feel we can always get 8 points. This week however, proved that we need not fear batting first.

Batting first is always tricky on any pitch but doing it on the landmine that is the Wreccers pitch is always interesting. What was really good to see was that everyone chipped in with the bat, it’s a relief to know that Joe, Windeat, Wrighty and Myself do not have to do it every week, because as we showed this week we bat a long way down…until we get into the Parky’s.

Dave showed again that he is just a power house who can hit a ball harder than should be allowed. Snitty exploded back onto the scene sending a ball into the tennis Courts….something I haven’t seen for a while. Windeat, you were solid as a rock as ever, and Jonny it’s great to see you batting like you used to and approaching your best again (Another fine knock!). Hammy, you went in lower than usual because I know you can stick around and you proved that your batting has come on a lot the last few years…….well, until you decided to do the most holigan thing I have ever seen….Leave the ball and get stumped…!! It was definitely my moment of the week.

Finally Dan, I can see it in your eyes when you are batting that the Power of the Uzi flows in your blood….seriously though, you showed on Saturday that you were not just an average third change bowler but that you are also a bloody good batsman and I just wish you had got 50.

When it came to Bowling I was always confident we could do it because we had so many good bowlers. Jonny, you are getting quicker and quicker each week. Larbs, as much as you try and say we wont need you next year you keep proving how invaluable you are to our team and great to have when I needed advice. Finally Snitty, you said to me during the game that “Spoons, you have a great team here, I love the aggression.” I keep saying it, but this is the best team I have played with at Wrecclesham and having you back was excellent. Your bowling was faultless despite my field placing.

You had all of one person further than ten yards away from the batsmen and you still finished with 4 for 0, I can only hope you will reconsider and play more cricket this season.

Steve, it made me very happy to see you sitting on a chair taking pitches of the match for the photo album this year, and just highlights what a great clubman you are. Jennifer, you were, as ever, amazing and we shall miss you both greatly these next few weeks.

Anna you were our solo wag this week and it was great to have you there.

It was also great to see Andy Collins back and I am excited at the prospect of playing with him in the coming weeks. (In a cricketing sense)

To Conclude, I don’t see why we cannot win our last 7 matches, with Joe coming back to lead us I will feel more comfortable that we will win the remaining matches and having Oli back in the attack is always a bonus (despite the fact he has a horrific Paedophilic Tan!) and I won’t lie the idea of winning the league at the Bourne after relegating them two years ago gives me a sense of great happiness so I can only hope that we go from strength to strength and go all season undefeated.

Oh yeah and up the Owls!!

Twit Twoo.