Titanic Twoo's Move up a Gear to Defeat Division Challengers

Every member of the Twoo's team stepped up to be counted when they took on the title-challenging Grayswood III last Saturday.

The toss was taken just before two o'clock and predictably the Twoo's would bat second.

Now, after the first few overs, any passer-by would be forgiven in thinking that Grayswood would win, and win big! The opening father and son partnership of Adrian and Callum Kent were scoring runs incredibly quickly - and mostly behind square! Although the ball went through the air and not along the ground, it rarely went close to any Wrecclesham fielder. Wrecclesham's opening bowlers were bowling tight lines (James ‘Very’ Merryweather never conceded a single bowling extra!) but this did nothing to dent the hard hitting of the Kent family. A new plan of attack would be needed.

Step up Darren 'Lovely Wheels!' Bridger and Leo-Jak Carter! Leo-Jak once again provided incredibly economical bowling from the Railway End and Wrecclesham started to exert some pressure in the match. However, it was from the Pottery End that Darren Bridger would take the wickets. Strangely, the first wicket and the end of the Grayswood's No. 1 partnership came in bizarre circumstances. A quick single was called by the younger Callum Kent, he soon realised his mistake, sent his Dad back only for the eagle-eyed and sharp Matty 'Saint' James (de Compostela) to take out his middle stump with a direct hit!

Darren ‘Great Wheels!’ Bridger continued to bowl his heart out against the Grayswood middle order. Furthermore, his tenacity was paying dividends. As the middle order struggled to raise the run rate to its previous levels, they continued to be pegged back by regular wickets falling. Alex ‘Hero’ Hall was in fine form and he flung himself everywhere stopping any byes and took two outstanding catches! When he wasn’t catching them, the bails were being knocked off! He was even supported in the field by a very rare catch from Peter O’Sullivan – who looked like he would drop it as his hands were shaking as the ball came nearer and nearer.

Despite wickets tumbling, Grayswood were still going at over 4 an over, and it looked like they wouldn’t declare and instead, fulfil the maximum 48 overs, making it all the more harder for the Twoo’s to chase down. Bring Forth the New Man! Scott New Man! His incredibly deadly short spell proved to be the undoing of Grayswood. The scorecard on wrecclesham.play-cricket.com speaks for itself! He took 4 wickets in 3 overs! 3 wickets were bowled and one was aided by an excellent diving catch in the slips by none other than Darren ‘It’s That Man Again!’ Bridger!

Grayswood were all out for 199 off 45 overs.

After a fine tea, it was decided that quick runs were needed to take down the Grayswood total, so Dave ‘Boom Boom’ Vasey was moved up the order to open the batting. He was in fine fettle as balls were dispatched to all parts of the ground. It didn’t take very long for the Grayswood captain to send his fielders to the boundary to counter this unexpected threat. The partnership of Vasey and Croucher was inspired. The fast-scoring left hander coupled with the solid well-paced right hander made the bowlers change their line and fielders constantly move around. When Dave Vasey left the field, having scored more than 40+ runs (including 10 boundaries!) the damage had been done!

The run rate did not drop as Mitch ‘Golden’ Brown and Barry ‘Treasurer Extraordinaire’ Croucher were sent back to the pavilion, having been bowled by some great in-swinging deliveries. James ‘Very’ Merryweather and Scott ‘Still Nothing like Usain Bolt’ Newman came together to bolster the Wrecclesham defence. Both had very close shouts for a stumping, Scott survived his, but James didn’t and had to go back to the pavilion. Darren ‘Great Pimped Up Wheels!’ Bridger stepped up, and with Scott, punished anything delivery that didn’t pitch. At one stage, three fielders were patrolling the square leg to long-on boundary but it did nothing to prevent fours being scoring whenever a full toss was sent down.

When Scott and Darren were out, the match could have swung Grayswood’s way. However, Alex ‘Heroic’ Hall had a bet to win, he had to score 10+ runs or he would have had to buy a huge round of drinks for Tony ‘St.’ Boniface. Like most Royal Holloway students, the idea of drink brought out the best in him and Alex cruised past his 10 run target in almost no time at all. Most of his boundaries were scored along the ground or into gaps with no nearby fielders. Anything remotely loose from the Grayswood bowlers was instantly punished.

With 10 overs remaining, Wrecclesham needed 28 more runs for victory. Matthew James came into join Alex and the two clearly didn’t want to run any quick singles! In the next 3.1 overs they scored 31 runs! Matty scored the winning runs and Wrecclesham reached 203 for 6 off 38.1 overs.

By the Ginger Owl