Wrecclesham Twoo's vs Churt III

I came to watch Mitch, and got to see the Twoo's!

It was one of the hottest days of the year as the Twoo's hosted Churt III at the Fortress Rec last Saturday.

With both teams in the bottom half of the table, it was clear that whoever lost the toss would bat first. This would not prove to be a blessing for bowling side of the first innings because would have to field in incredibly hot conditions.

Mitch 'Golden' Brown and Barry 'Top Treasurer' Croucher went out to open and displayed contrasting styles. Mitch played his shots from the get-go while Barry bided his time, getting himself 'in' before cutting loose. Mitch was by no means the player who batted the longest for the Twoo's, but he was the highest scorer. His 35 runs (with 7 fours) was a sight to behold. Unfortunately, it was cut short by the bowling of J. Hill and Bernie 'the Bolt' Bridger came to the crease to join Barry.

Though their partnership wasn't the fastest scoring it set an excellent base from which the Twoo's could build on. When Barry and Bernie departed for 26 and 10 respectively, the purveyors of fast-scoring took over the run making. Neal 'Hammy' Harris, Dave 'Boom Boom' Vasey and Alex 'Kingswood Dining' Hall all came to the crease with the sole purpose of scoring runs as quickly as possible. Dave scored 27 (with 3 fours) before being bowled by Chris Barnes, leaving the possibility of Alex Hall and Neal Harris becoming the best partnership since the Hiphopopotamus and the Rhymenoceros (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbbxA8a_M_s). Even though Alex increased his score from last week it was not to be and Neal was left alone facing the task of raising the Twoo's to a competitive score.

Thankfully, Scott 'Who is Nothing like Usain Bolt' Newman got in on the act and together they were scoring around 6 or 7 runs an over. Their big hitting had it's effect, but they were eventually undone by I. Wadha and J. Hill with Hammy out for 32 runs. Scott Newman was joined by Matt 'Santiago' James and Leo-Jak Carter and his selfless effort for the team was shown at the last ball of the innings, when he hit out, getting stumped for 17 runs, leaving the Twoo's on 177 for 8 off 48 overs.

After a fine, fulsome tea, Churt went out to bat and played sensibly with caution. However, they had reckoned without one man, Mitch Brown. His pace bowling from the Pottery End was to keep the Twoo's within a sniff of victory. Very soon, he had Lloyd Edwards caught and bowled and his bouncer knocked Hugh Wylie on the head, requiring him to briefly leave the field for treatment. Of the seven Churt wickets to fall, Mitch claimed five of them!

B. Bowles was bowled for 26, J. Hill and G. Hucker were both caught and bowled. Despite this pressure, very few wickets came from the Railway End. It wasn't until Bernie was brought on that a 'non-Mitch' Twoo's bowler got a wicket. Leo-Jak Carter taking an excellent catch in the covers. A. Meek was also bowled by Mitch (who clearly preferred doing his own fielding) bringing Chris Barnes to the fore wit the ever-present Hugh Wylie.

This partnership was the Twoo's undoing. They scored sensibly, taking advantage of a field made tired by the extremely slow pace of the innings. The run rate continued to climb and the nothing could seem to be done to remove these stalwarts of the game. When the 42nd over came around 9pm, Churt III had amassed 168 runs off 42 overs, giving them four points and the Twoo's two (twit twoo).

by the Ginger Owl