Twoo's Come out Fighting!

The Wrecclesham 2nd XI were raring to go and got off to a dashing, energetic and bombastic start to the 2010 season. Their first match was against Churt III at the historic Churt Recreation Ground. The Twoo's got points both times against Churt last season, so a good showing was on the cards again.

The match got off to the most bizarre of beginnings. Long gone were the days when nine Wrecclesham players would travel down to Lurgashall in the rain. So good are Tony Boniface's skills at getting a team out that 15 players turned up at Churt for the match! Wrecclesham almost have a squad size to rival that of Liverpool F.C!

Once it was all sorted out, the toss was taken and the old adage of Wrecclesham was again true. If we batted first, we had surely lost the toss. Barry 'Bourne Hon. Treasurer' Croucher and 'Grant' Mitchell Brown walked on to face the opening volleys of the season. Facing them were Brian 'Churt 2nd XI Player in Disguise' Cervi and M. Weaver. Barry and Mitch held the fort for 14 overs and racked up 41 runs. How would Wrecclesham go on from here?

Quite nicely actually! Although, 'Phil' Mitchell Brown departed for 21, James 'My shoulder aches again' Merryweather came in and the run rate escalated. The pair's constant application paid off and Churt knew that the score was slipping away from them. Their captain Hugh Wylie changed the bowlers. Cervi and Weaver came off and a variety of spinners came on. However, not to any avail. The Wrecclesham score climbed to 116 for 1 off 34 overs. Once Barry 'Wrecclesham Batting Cup 2009' Croucher got to his more than well-deserved 50, he started to let rip! Of course, this was after a precocious Churt fielder remarked to the square-leg umpire that this Barry guy 'mustn't have had any winter net practice'! Surely a case of pride before a fall....

The runs continued to be piled on as the batsmen took more and more risks. Eventually, after a near-suicidal run call, James was sent back and promptly run out on 28. This brought to the crease Suril 'Manners are for weaklings' Patel. Unfortunately, after a one-bounce-four he was lbw to Chris 'Alton Rugby Coach' Barnes. Dave 'Boom Boom' Vasey was next and needless to say, quick singles were not tolerated. Dave took a mean swipe at the first ball hitting only thin air, but his eye was in as the second ball went stratospheric! Dave must have been insulted by the flying wildlife, because most of his shots went high into the sky! His scorecard read: 4.1(!).4.4.6.6.6.1(!!).4. One 6 went low and straight into a nearby garden, never to be seen again.

At this stage, the scoreboard needed an engine to keep up and some would have thought that maybe the bowling needed to be changed. However, Hugh Wylie stayed with Chris Barnes and Brian Cervi and was rewarded with wickets, but only after the score was out of reach at 180 for 5 off 43 overs.

Dave 'Shock and Awe' Vasey was caught at 36, Barry was bowled at 70. Now it was the turn of the infamous Wrecclesham young adult section to show their mettle. Matt 'Runs Round Invisible Objects When Bowling' Spooner, Scott 'I'm not padding up for batting practice' Newman and Ryan 'No relation to Mitch' Brown went soon after, with only one more run added.

Leo Jak (or is it Jack?) Carter showed them how it was done by providing a good, solid, no-nonsense base from which Hayden Newman could unleash his pent-up frustration (and there is a lot of frustration!) on the ball. He smashed: 4.1.4.1.6.4. At one stage, Churt placed 4 fielders along the on-side boundary in a sort of cordon. It didn't do much good as Hayden sent most his shots there and finished on 20 not out, bringing the total to 208 for 8 off 48 overs.

After a mighty fine tea, Churt sent out R. Marshall and A. Mayson to face Wrecclesham's serious, straight-faced and in-no-way-larking-about bowling attack. At first, it looked like Churt III would reach Wrecclesham's score. R. Marshall was in good touch and timing every shot to perfection. If he didn't block with a rock-hard forward defensive, then the ball would shoot along the ground for four. 'Peggy' Mitchell Brown and James 'Running down hill is sooooo complicated' Merryweather could do nothing but try to keep the ball in the 'corridor of uncertainty'. Eventually, James got the breakthrough and Suril 'Magnet Hands' Patel pulled off the first of his three incredible catches to remove the danger man. From then on, Churt shut up shop and never looked like winning the match.

James soon came off and was replaced with Hayden 'He is a' Newman. Hayden bowled extremely fast, well-disciplined and wonderfully controlled, but was somehow denied a wicket. His first spell went for 7 - 4 - 11 - 0. The Churt batsmen were incredibly wary against him and were determined not to lose their wickets. It was, therefore, no surprise that the relief came from the other end. 'Archie' Mitchell Brown had come to the last over of his spell and took 3 wickets that left Churt reeling, Turkington, Cervi and Weaver were removed within 5 deliveries. Weaver went for a golden duck, leaving Mitch on a possible hat-trick.

With Wrecclesham 2nd XI's leading wicket-taker off, the bowling was rotated to see where the next breakthrough would come. Scott 'No, not the former Surrey opener' Newman picked up the next two, and finished with figures of 7 - 0 - 15 - 2. Leo 'the Lion' Carter trundled up the pitch and took out the mainstay of the Churt innings, A. Mayson, for 37 - adjudged lbw by Churt's own umpire no less. Next to the bowling crease, came Matty 'Home' James. His first over may have gone for 13 runs, but he kept his head and was soon rewarded for his work by picking up the wicket of Nick 'Nicko' Argenti.

However, although the Churt batsmen did score with some pronounced shots, they never seemed likely to reach the target. Mitch was brought back for another spell, and to see if he could get that hat-trick, alas, it was not to be. Chris Barnes kept his head and Churt finished on 150 for 8 off 42 overs, giving the home side 2 points and Wrecclesham the winning draw and 5 points!

Next week, The Twoo's first home match!

by the Ginger Owl