Twoo's Tumble Towards Defeat

Badshot Lea enjoyed glorious weather as a full squad of Twoo's went up to Badshot Lea to play their second eleven. The turnout for the Twoo's was so good that Tony 'Pope' Boniface, Stephen Houghton and Peter O'Sullivan were left surplus to requirements.

As the toss was taken, Barry Croucher had in his mind the recent excellent batting form and chose to bat first. Initially things went off to a good start. Barry and Mitch 'Golden' Brown got off at a comfortable pace. However, it soon became clear that the layer of green grass on the pitch hid some qualities that the Twoo's batsmen were unable to cope with.

Denying the Wrecclesham batsmen, the Baddy Lea (coined by the Badshot Lea player Dan Addison) opening bowlers exploited the pitch and barely conceded a wide or no-ball. Steve Jones, from the pavilion end, never bowled an erratic delivery and showed everyone how to bowl on the unpredictable wicket. Very shortly he had sent back Mitch, Barry and Bernie Bridger to the away changing room.

Duo James 'Merryweather and Sons' Merryweather and Hayden Newman came to the crease and increased the run rate, but after both played an aggressive shot too many to the bowler, Manas Borah, they were given their marching orders. This brought up the dream partnership of David 'Boom Boom' Vasey and Alex 'Poker Face' Hall. When these two batsmen get their eye in, very few quick singles will be run! Unfortunately, it was to be short-lived as the both were soon bowled by Jones.

Yet again, Matthew 'Home' James showed the Twoo's how batting on an unpredictable surface against good bowling is to be done. His score of 27 not out does not reflect how well he batted. He kept out the good straight balls, which were more than the openers faced, and correctly dealt with everything else. Together with Scott Newman they batted sensibly and put bad away the bad balls. After a few rash shots from Messrs Newman, Carter and Brown, Matt ran out of partners and Wrecclesham were bowled out for 131 in 32 overs.

Coming out after a quick 5 minute interval, the Twoo's had in their mind what was required to defend such a total. The Badshot Lea bowlers had showed the Wrecclesham bowlers how to bowl on such a surface. The ball had to pitch on the ground for it to have any impact.

Unfortunately, for the bowlers, the lesson was not learnt. Instead, a deluge of full tosses were sent down. Admittedly, James Merryweather did prise away the valuable wicket of Richard Treen, but was never comfortable bowling and was taken off after one over. From then on a series of short aggressive and effective Badshot Lea partnerships took hold and edged the home side ever closer to victory.

Nevertheless, the Twoo's endeavoured, without much success, to halt the ever-climbing run rate. Scott Newman was brought on and claimed a wicket with a swinging full toss but like those before him, didn't pitch the ball on a length. Hayden Newman and Leo-Jak Carter were the second and third change bowlers. Hayden's swing bowling failed to remove the free-scoring pair of Borah and Patten and only served to increase his lead in the Curse-Words League 2010!

The ever reliable Mitch Brown was brought back on and immediately took two wickets. One to an amazing catch in the covers from James Merryweather. Manas Borah absolutely smashed the ball and if James did not catch it, it would have been a one-bounce four. Despite this Badshot Lea continued scoring and took themselves nearer and nearer to the total.

Sajay Mistry, the captain, scored the winning runs in the 25th over, bringing home to the Twoo's how true Tony Boniface's advice is when he says to get the basics right, don't give the opposition an easy time and pitch it up.

by the Ginger Owl