Blackheath edge Wrecclesham in thriller, but Owls stay top

Blackheath claimed a valuable winning draw at the recreation ground to scupper the Owls 100% home record as the top of the table clash ended in an entertaining, good spirited and hard fought draw.

As is so often the case against these two evenly matched sides the margin for victory of defeat was very slim, 8 more runs for Wrecclesham and just 1 more wicket for Blackheath would have given either side victory but in the end a draw is a fair refection for a game in which dominance switched between the sides as various stages.

Wrecclesham made just the one change welcoming back Andy 'Mellow Magic' Collins replacing Oli 'Bondi Beach' Caston.

In overcast conditions and the wicket seeming a little spongy following the recent rain Wrecclesham won the toss and opted to field.

Without top wicket taker Oli 'Bondi Beach' Caston and the wylie Graeme '1000 wickets' Larby, Wrecclesham knew it would require a good effort in the field to keep Blackheath down to a reasonable total.

Chris 'The Wave' Spooner and James 'Graham Napier' Wright were entrusted with that responsibility and whilst Spooner found some immediate movement from the new ball (which was being trialled - quite why in a game of this importance I have no idea) Wright struggled somewhat to find a consistent line and length, banging in one an over rank and short and yet bowling one or two beauties an over too.

Blackheath got off to a decent start, Brockman punishing anything over pitched and after the first 10 overs the openers had done a solid job, despite a rare dropped catch off Wright from the usually unflappable Tom 'Jeff' Caston.

It didn't cost the home side too much though as a few overs later Spooner ousted his first victim, well advised by his Skipper, he served up a slower ball special and claimed a sharp caught and bowled.

Wright also joined in on the act shortly after, having Lowe caught behind with a quick swinging delivery which was well pouched by the excitable Henry 'Granny Basher' Bate.

New bats Nash and Chase quickly settled in to good effect though which saw Blackheath excerpt some real pressure as the pair raced to a 50 stand in relatively quick time, playing some fine cricket along the way.

The Owls managed to restrict the visitors even during this period of dominance as the ground fielding was tidy and the gaps in the field plugged intelligently.

Chris 'The Arm' Board replaced Wright down the hill for his Owls bowling debut after impressing in a recent Twenty20 and after finding his rhythm he and the tireless Spooner helped to stem the flow of runs expertly, putting some pressure back on Blackheath at a stage where the game looked to be slipping away.

The canny Board claimed the wickets of both Nash, thanks to a fine diving catch from Chris 'The Rock' Windeatt and Chase who was clean bowled to help further restrict the visitors at 130-4.

Blackheath didn't panic though and consolidated their position, hitting the bad ball hard and taking the ones and two's offered as well.

Despite Spooner, who bowled a fine unchanged spell from the railway end, clean bowling the hard hitting Jenkins and removing Melhuish thanks a good running catch from Skipper Boniface, Blackheath continued to bat sensibly, playing each ball on it's merits and ensuring there was no collapse as Seebold and Lowe saw the visitors to 201 in the 45th over which saw a very sporting declaration by skipper McDermott.

After a superb tea was taken, the home side set about chasing down the Blackheath total.

Regular opener Chris Spooner was joined by part timer Boniface in an old school partnership which stayed pretty firm and showed some promise for the first 8 overs despite the new ball swinging around, nipping off the seam, bouncing and generally doing everything.

However Spooner was removed by a crackerjack delivery from Ennis who generated some extra bounce which saw the Wrecclesham talisman caught at slip for 11 and despite a brief 20 run stand with Wright his partner Boniface was also back in the hutch after attempting to hit a ball which should have been defended to leave the hosts 50 - 2.

Wright was looking in good touch though as he massacred anything too full, too short or off his legs where he was particularly brutal.

It was a similar story at the other end as Board once again underlined his all round quality by keeping out the good ball and punishing the bad ball with ruthless efficiency.

The dymamic pair put on a 50 stand in what seemed like no time as the home side seemed to be coasting to a vital win.

However the introduction of the mecurial Webb ensured that was not to be the case as despite being subjected to some fine stroke play it was no long before he got his man, Board dancing down the wicket once too often only to misjudge the flight and be stumped sharply by the impressive Brockman.

Tom 'Jeff' Caston, another high quality performer of recent weeks, fell in the same over in pretty much exactly the same fashion as the Owls, from nowhere, slumped to 102-4.

Dan 'The Bionic Man' Vasey came in for a thrash and despite a couple of lusty blows he was also soon back in the pavilion, adjudged LBW off Melhuish who bowled an enterprising spell of accurate medium pace.

Henry Bate was up next and along with Wright, who by this stage had reached a superb half century the duo had dampened the Blackheath fire well only for Bate's innings to be prematurely ended as he was harshly given out LBW to leave the Wreccers reeling at 140 odd for 6.

Matt 'MB is he on E?' Parkinson was up next and despite occupying the crease for a while he didn't manage to get into his usual swashbuckling stride and was caught behind off the bowling of Melhuish with little added to the total.

Chris 'The Rock' Windeatt came to join Wright at the crease as the strength of the Wreccelsham batting line up came to the fore.

However the explosive Wright was soon to depart for a well made 60 as he fell in identical fashion to Parkinson, nicking behind off Melhuish to leave the Owls in a spot of bother at 150-8.

Up stepped Ben 'Stalwart' Pound, the go to man in these situations, as he and Windeatt attempted to rebuild things for the Mighty Wreccers.

Not only did the pair repel anything confidently at a period where Blackheath were pushing for victory but they also managed to put away the bad ball to keep the home side in the hunt and put the chance of victory in the minds of the visitors.

Without risking anything and consolidating Wrecclesham's position Windeatt and Pound, who seemed to thrive in the situation, slowly ate up vital overs and edged the score towards 160, 170 and then 180 to leave the home side requiring a touch over 5 an over from the last 4 overs.

Unfortunately Pound fell, bowled by a nice swinging Ennis delivery, with little under 4 overs remaining to leave Wrecclesham with just 1 wicket remaining.

Andy Collins, a player with fifty to his name in this very division, came in at number 11 and far from being the expected rabbit he fell straight into the groove repelling the good balls solidly and cleanly striking the odd bad ball for a boundary.

The pair saw out the first 3 overs without major incident and the equation off the last over was that 14 were required with one wicket in hand.

Collins defended the first ball and hit the second for a single to give senior man Windeatt the strike and with the next ball disappearing for 5 wides the equation suddenly became 8 off 4 but Ennis finished well with some tidy bowling and Windeatt sensibly saw him off to earn 2 points and deny Blackheath a maximum.

As a result Wreccleshm retained the top spot in Division II and with 9 games remaining it is all to play for.

The Owls face in form Lindford next up at the rec.

Afterword by Joe Boniface

An excellent game played in the true spirit of cricket between two very evenly match teams.

I think it would have been harsh for either side to end up with nothing and a draw was probably a fair result and that 2 points could just prove crucial at the end of the season.

To have players the quality of Windeatt, Poundy and AC coming in that far down the order gives the rest of the team great confidence and is what sets us apart in my opinion and it was great to see the lower order contributing in that fashion.

Boardy, we're going to miss you mate, a tight spell of intelligent bowling to haul us back into the game and then a dominant innings until a slight misjudgement, I'd fancy your chances of having a bit of shower time fun with Parky before long if you decided to play!

Wrighty, a really mature, confident and well timed knock against a very decent team, you showed your class under pressure, the only thing stopping you dominating is your ability to push on but I think the floodgates will open for you now son.

Poundy, excellent contribution which was vital to ensure we were in a position to potentially win the game but more importantly not to lose it.

Windeatt, a fine catch which allowed us back into the game and a superb knock under tough conditions, it is performances like that when players true quality shines through and you showed bags of it mate, keep it up.

AC, a true clubmen, it was never in doubt, you are a fine player and you ensured that in the end they were more worried about losing the game than winning it, to perform like that when you haven't batted for so long is testament to your ability.

Do me proud next week boys

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