Wreccers on the brink despite draw

The Wrecclesham Owls edged closer to I'anson Division III with a winning draw against a resilient Bourne side who battled well for a share of the spoils.

However there were plenty of positives to take from yet another dominant Wreccers performance, as a changed Owls side narrowly missed out an another maximum in a game played in a fine spirit.

With the match against Cranleigh the previous week called off because of the bad weather and promotion possible with the right result, the Mighty Wreccers were as enthusiastic as ever prior to the start of proceedings.

However skipper Boniface lost the toss yet again, continuing a dismal recent run and the Owls were put in on a decent batting track and set about trying to bat the game out of the Bourne's reach.

Chris 'One man team' Spooner and Matt 'MB is he on E?' Parkinson continued their successful opening partnership and provided another solid start with 35 coming from the first 8 overs without loss.

Parkinson who had looked solid throughout, was given out leaving a decent ball which seemed back off the pitch to brush his glove on the way through to the keeper.

This bought Jonny 'Lunges' Elworthy to the crease, he, mainly due to tiredness, didn't look his usual self and despite putting on 20 odd with Spooner in 7 overs departed for an out of character 9.

In came Chris 'The Rock' Windeatt who was looking to build on his impressive form this season and immediately took to his task well, consolidating the loss of wickets whilst also punishing the bad ball ruthlessly.

With Spooner starting to see the ball well after his usual 20 over settling in period, the partnership soon flourished, looking near impenetrable in the process.

What followed was an exhibition of batting from both players as Spooner and Windeatt demoralised the Bourne attack with a range of attacking strokes.

It was difficult for the Bourne to take after a steady start as in the second half of the innings they seemed to somewhat fall away such was the pressure exerted on the attack by the in form pair.

Spooner reached his 7th half century of the season, another class and patient knock to set up the chance of a big score for him and the Owls.

The run rate was increasing all the while and the range of strokes became more expansive and aggressive as the Owls chased an early declaration.

Spooner reached yet another magnificent hundred with a well timed pull stroke in his very public quest for 1000 runs in I'anson Div IV.

Windeatt was next to 'join the paaaaaarty' with his second 50 in as many weeks bludgeoning a decent enough looking ball to the midwicket fence with disdain typifying another excellent display from the ever consistent right hander.

There was more to come as the pair scented blood and tried to force an early declaration, Spooner taking no pity on the Bourne attack hitting 15 from an over and Windeatt soon followed suit smashing 14 of his own as the innings gathered pace.

Finally as the skippers target of 250 was in sight Spooner surpassed his own personal best celebrating a fine 150.

The partnership was finally ended on 212, Spooner holing out to extra cover from the final ball of the innings for a magnificent 158 with Windeatt unbeaten on 70.

The Wreccers eventually declaring on 265-3 from 43 overs.

With Oli 'Bondi Beach' Caston and Graeme '1000 wickets' Larby missing and the Bourne having already held out for 4 losing draws this season it was always going to be a bad toss to lose but with a big total on the board the Owls were in positive mood.

Dan 'Boris Johnson' Vasey and Jonny 'Lunges' Elworthy opened things up and it was a mixed start as Elworthy immediately found some swing causing problems for Vernier and Phillips whilst Vasey struggled to find a consistent rhythm.

Elworthy provided the early breakthrough with a swinging yorker flicking the off stump to give the Owls the perfect start.

The run rate ticked along nicely and the game was in the balance in the first 10 overs as the Bourne set about chasing down the formidable 265 they had been set by reaching 44-1.

However with 5.63 an over required a tight spell proved crucial as Vasey suddenly found his line and length and the next 6 overs yielded a mere 10 runs putting more pressure on the Bourne batsmen.

Vernier and Pais were, despite the latter keeping the slips interested, looking pretty solid in defence and although the chances of a Bourne victory were diminishing so were the chances of 10 points for the Owls.

However Spooner broke the deadlock getting Vernier to nick an away swinger through to Harris who made the catch look easy.

The game was then well and truly opened up as Spooner got Herzke to edge another away swinger straight up to point where Boniface snaffled the chance with a minimum of fuss.

This bought Webb into bat and 5 overs later he was undone by a fuller delivery from Spooner who was getting good movement from the bottom end and the equation was simple - 6 wickets in 19 overs, as the runs suddenly became immaterial.

Houghton came in and showed a glimpse of his namesakes stubbornness lasting 12 overs before being bowled by Boniface who had bought himself on at the bottom end replacing Spooner who was switched to bowl down the hill.

Boniface struck again shortly after, bowling his trademark slower ball to perfection enticing Dugay, who had been receiving some questionable advice by Vasey and Parkinson, to attack and clipping the top of middle to give the Owls some hope.

Spooner then got back into the action using the slope of the hill to advantage showing some great pace and using his I'anson experience well to vary things and took 2 wickets in an over to give the Owls 2.1 overs for the final 2 wickets to seal an unlikely victory.

It however wasn't to be as Clarke and Ray comfortably enough blocked out and the match was drawn.

A good effort from the Wreccers in the circumstances and it leaves the Owls fate in their own hands, now requiring just 10 points for guaranteed promotion.

Next week could well provide that chance and with some familiar faces back to bolster the side it could prove to be a historic game for the Wreccers.

Up the Owls

Afterword

Another fine batting performance from the boys, I have never played in a team with so much batting in depth and who not only are a good side on paper but consistently deliver 250 plus each time we bat first.

Spooner another memorable knock and Windeatt you played a major part in the highest partnership I have ever had the pleasure to witness.

The style, intelligence and textbook nature of the partnership is something we have never been able to call upon before and is a perfect example of the strides we have made in recent weeks.

It was nice to see Vasey bowling a good controlled and lengthy spell and despite the fact we couldn't knock them over, we gave it a bloody good go and it is fair to say they had and needed a large slice of luck to deny us.

Bring on next week!! Twit twoo!