Owls still flying high

Wrecclesham recorded a hard fought 3 wicket win keeping up the pressure on rivals Blackheath and extending their lead over third placed Milford in the process.

The Owls, relegated from this Division in 2007, now boast a quite remarkable 29 game unbeaten streak and are a mere 6 matches from producing back to back seasons without tasting defeat.

Wrecclesham remain 8 points behind a consistent Blackheath side and will no doubt do everything they can to push them to the wire.

The Owls went into this crunch match in good form and skipper Boniface won a good toss on a green looking track and opted to bowl.

Oli 'perma tan' Caston set the tone well for the visitors (after his short sunshine break to top the tan up!) bowling with real venom and accuracy on a helpful wicket.

When Caston (21-8-42-2) who was mightily unlucky throughout, passing the edge on a consistent basis was joined by the in form Dan 'Boris Johnson' Vasey the duo took the game away from Milford, who had at that stage, made a reasonable looking start.

Vasey was in particularly fine form bowling a good, nippy line and length and once again illustrating the benefits of his new run up, picking up an excellent 5-48.

The fielding was also pretty good as the rest of the Owls supported the bowling well and with the aid of a classic Graeme '1000 wickets' Larby, who picked up a wicket for 1 run from 7 balls at the death, the visitors wrapped up the Milford innings for 125 from 44 overs.

After one of the best teas of the season, delightfully taken with a whole host of Owls supporters in tow, the mighty Wreccers set about their task in confident mood.

However when their talisman Chris 'Uzi 9mm' Spooner was caught behind for 1 the Owls knew they had it all to do.

The attacking Matt 'MB is he on E?' Parkinson and James Wright both started well and could and possibly should have gone on to reach higher totals but fell when on 22 and 18 respectively leaving the Owls in the mire.

The Milford bowlers were bowling well and when Chris 'the rock' Windeatt and Dave 'mind your windows' Vasey were both victims of the unpredictable wicket the game swung right back in the balance.

However the resolute Ben 'stalwart' Pound had started well and was looking in good touch to give the Owls hope, Caston joining him briefly in a valuable stand before the latter was caught behind off a decent delivery.

However up stepped a confident looking Vasey, no doubt buoyed by his five for, who was looking to supplement Pounds efforts.

The pair batted superbly in tandem, Pound acting (as ever!) the anchor and Vasey hitting the boundaries as the duo put on a match winning 33 partnership.

Pound was eventually caught with 2 needed but it wasn't to matter as Vasey clubbed the very next ball straight back past the bowler in trademark fashion and steered the visitors home for a valuable win.

It was a performance which showed the title challenging Wreccers have real character as they had to dig deep and show strength in depth, for a highly important victory.

Next up is an out of sorts Badshot Lea where the Owls will no doubt hope to keep up their recent winning ways.

Afterword by Joe Boniface

Well done lads, a good all round performance against a nice bunch of guys and a great win which puts us in a fine position to go up.

Great to see Vasey Jnr back to his best and the new run up working a treat, some lusty trademark blows with the bat to see us home too!

Oli I thought you were awfully unlucky mate and bowled excellently, you really tied up an end and certainly provided a great fillip for Dan.

I think we need to apply oursevles a little better with the bat on ocassion and realise that we have an allocation of 40 odd overs for a reason and not to give it away for the sake of it.

On that note, Poundy batted excellently and it is pleasing to have such a great balance in the side when you play and despite a few things to improve on, we will deservedly be in Div II sooner rather than later if we keep going as we are.

Don't forget gents, games start at 1pm from now on so I will see you bright and early on Saturday!

Bring on next week

Up the Owls

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