Owls scrape home

Wrecclesham recorded a narrow 2 wicket victory over a spirited Kingsley side and despite the 8 points the Owls will have plenty to contemplate after an under par display.

Given their recent form and some fine performances of late Wrecclesham went into the game with some justified confidence.

However there were at times an over confidence and perhaps even arrogance about the visitors display which will see them come unstuck sooner rather than later if things don't improve.

Skipper Boniface won the toss and despite only having 9 men available at 2pm, he decided to field on what looked a lively batting track.

With Oli 'Bondi' Caston taking some much needed beach time to top us his tan and Dan 'Boris Johnson' Vasey off presumably dealing with some hard hitting political issues, Jonny 'take your top off' Elworthy and Chris 'must be in for his bowling' Spooner opened things up and struggled to find any real consistency with runs hemorrhaging at an alarming rate.

Despite Elworthy picking up the wicket of the dangerous looking Parrott, 39 runs were racked up for the loss of 1 wicket inside the first 6 overs.

Skipper Boniface introduced Graeme '1000' wickets Larby into the attack earlier than expected and he didn't disappoint taking 4 for 35 from 13 economic overs.

Spooner (17-4-52-2), who improved throughout and even bowled some very respectable spin as a second change bowler, along with Joe 'Paul Collingwood' Boniface (3-27) supported Larby well and wickets fell on a regular basis.

The Owls didn't show their usual ruthless streak and put down a couple of straight forward chances as the home side rallied to 154 all out when 120 odd seemed a more realistic total.

Tea was taken early and accompanied by a few rain showers but after the last wicket fell in the first over after tea the Owls set about their task.

Spooner was comprehensively bowled in the first over by a superb Cooper delivery and it was clear that Wrecclesham would have to bat with application to secure a vital win.

However James 'Napier' Wright and Matt 'MB is he on E?' Parkinson rallied wonderfully sharing a 50 plus partnership and steered the Owls back on course.

Wright (70), who showed his trademark flair throughout, once again proved that he is a much improved batsmen this year and is capable of producing match winning displays on a regular basis.

However Parkinson, Wright, Henry 'granny basher' Bate, Chris 'the rock' Windeatt and Andy 'AC' Collins were all somewhat guilty of gifting the opposition their wickets when it seemed the Owls were in control.

All 5 were caught from what seemed on the face of it were fairly innocuous deliveries.

Despite the gifts on offer from some of the generous Owls batting order Kngsley certainly excelled in the catching department, showing the Wreccers the importance of clinging onto the chances when they come.

However thankfully for the Owls Jonny Elworthy was in a less charitable mood than most blasting an excellent unbeaten 36 in fine fashion to steer the visitors to a somewhat fortunate 2 wicket victory.

The mighty Wreccers will count themselves a little lucky and must certainly up their game next week as they host title rivals Blackheath in a top of the table clash.

Afterword by Joe Boniface

Sorry for the depressing blog but I don't think we really did ourselves justice this week lads!

Saying that, well done to Messrs Wrighty and Elworthy, two excellent knocks and well bowled to Spoons and in particular Larbs who proves once again his experience is vital to the team.

Our attitude was a bit lax at times and I think we could be accused of being a bit complacent at times which is not a route we want to go down. We will lose a game and our unbeaten run with it at some stage but let's perform to the best of our abilities and make the opposition do something outstanding to win it rather than throw it away.

We need to take the 8 points and move onto next week as quickly as possible and put it right by performing well, with the right attitude and application, on the biggest stage available.

These type of games are why we all play so bring it on!

Up the Owls

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