Owls reach 20 not out

Wrecclesham returned to winning ways against a decent Badshot Lea outfit on Saturday stretching their unbeaten run to 20 matches in the process.

The Owls put in an under par performance against Fernhurst last week and will be relieved to chalk up their fourth win of the season.

Skipper Boniface won the toss on a good looking track and chose to bowl on what was forecast as a glorious day for cricket.

The fast outfield undoubtedly helped the visitors as they ticked along nicely at the top of the order, Patten hitting a few aerial drives but finding the gaps and Scanlon looking in good touch.

Wright struggled to find his rhythm first up and was a little unlucky to be removed after only 3 overs and replaced by the ever consistent Bondi Caston.

The decision was soon vindicated as Bondi Caston struck removing the dangerous Scanlon with a fine lifting delivery which was expertly pouched by a diving Harris.

This was a similar story throughout the innings as despite hitting a good few boundaries the visitors never looked totally comfortable and wickets fell regularly as a result.

The decent run rate and fairly aggressive nature of the Badshot Lea batting meant that the Owls would find themselves chasing a big total unless they bowled the visitors out inside their allocated 48 overs.

Luckily the Wreccers found the required resources (Spooner 4-65, Caston 3-58 & Boniface 3-13) upping their game at the right time and taking the last 6 wickets for less than 60 runs, clinging on to a few decent catches (Parkinson, Boniface and Collins) in the process.

Despite knocking Lea over for 165 inside 36 overs the Mighty Wreccers were still a little out of sorts in the field and will need to be focused from the start next week as they travel to promotion rivals Tongham.

However as tea was taken the Owls knew that the strength in depth of batting at their disposal and favourable batting conditions meant they were in a strong position to wrack up another 8 points.

The WAGS were out in full force and enjoying the fine sunshine and this coupled with the good nature of the Baggy Lea banter and the now customary excellent tea ensured it was a good day for cricket all round.

Mb is he on E? Parkinson and Spooner strode out knowing that if they played to their potential the total was within their reach but both couldn't push on after making decent starts (14 & 12 respectively) and the Owls found themselves in a spot of bother at 28-2.

However up stepped man of the moment James 'Graham Napier' Wright who was supported well by Henry 'Granny Basher' Bate as the pair took the game away from the home side.

The dynamic duo put on 70 plus in super quick time with Wright scoring a fine half century using a wonderful array of strokes and Bate followed suit with some very hard hitting of his own.

Both fell in fairly quick succession with the Owls still 40 odd short of the required totals but the previously mentioned strength in depth came to the fore as Dan 'Boris Johnson' Vasey entered the stage and after getting his eye in, put the game to bed in efficient style with 7 boundaries in a power packed 35 not out.

Chris Windeatt was his willing partner as the game came to a close ending with his almost inevitable not out status in tact (!)

All in all a very fine 6 wicket win for the Wreccers against a side who were plying their trade in Division II last term.

Afterword by Joe Boniface

Well done lads, good to get straight back to winning ways and in the end it was quite comfortable.

I thought we weren't up to our usual high standards in the field for the first 20 overs and we must guard against complacency as we could and probably should have restricted them to may 40 less runs than they got.

Better teams may well have taken advantage of that and if we want to play at a higher level we need to be focused throughout and show that ruthless streak from the start of a game, not just when it hangs in the balance.

However on the other hand it shows how far we have come as we can still have an off day in the field and win by 6 wickets so it's positive overall.

A quick mention for Wrighty who has shown once against what a real class act he is and to Dan who proved with a great knock, that we have a variety of sources to chase down large totals.

Bring on next week

Twit Twoo!