In advance of any great sporting event preparation is key. For the members of Enstone CC, about to battle arch rivals Wytham in a must win match, a variety of approaches were taken. Dan prepared a new Paul Newman based anecdote to relay to the team, Freddie purchased the book, “Sledging for wicket keepers: a beginners guide”, whilst most of the team spent time either on the Physio bench or spraying themselves with WD40 in attempt to avoid further injuries and silence creaking joints. Will meanwhile got lost the night before (highlighting his worth as a Geography teacher) and mysteriously ended up in Kiev, participating in the Eurovision song contest (having cut his teeth singing ‘the wheels on the bus’ to the Enstone CC youth supporters wing the previous Sunday). With only 9 players, the skipper elected to bat first and with opening partner Parker, got to work dispatching indifferent Wytham bowling to all parts of the field. After hitting 7 boundaries, and sharing a substantial opening stand, Speke departed for a well-made 32. Parker continued his imperious form, passing 50 for the second time in as many innings for Enstone. The score moved to 151 before Wytham were able to take a second wicket, Forder being run out for 27. S Wilson joined Parker at the crease who fell just 12 short of what would have been an excellent century. The foundation having been set by the top order, the middle order (with 9 players there was no tail!), marshalled effectively by S. Wilson (who was eventually caught in the final over for 31) chipped in with useful contributions to take the score to 218 for 7 at the end of Enstone’s 40 overs. There was a sense of optimism amongst the Enstone 9 as they took to the field after tea. Watts and P. Anthony kept it tight. Pony won the first moral victory of the Wytham innings when, despite trapping their opener plumb in front, the umpire was unmoved. Shots were hit in the air that fell just out of reach of the fielders as Wytham limped to 50. Eventually Speke was rewarded for his accurate bowling with two catches in quick succession going to Watts and then Forder behind the stumps. Wytham rebuilt, but just as one of the batsmen was getting his eye in, hitting a succession of sixes, he was caught in the deep going for another big shot by P. Anthony, who took it comfortably despite not actually seeing the ball until the last possible moment. If Pony’s catch was an example of ‘liquid cricket’, then the next wicket to fall was anything but. Stewart came onto bowl, lulling the batsmen into a false sense of security with a few loose deliveries before pouncing with a ball that the batsman could only lob gently into the air. Stewart ran towards the ball, and with his eyes fixed on glory, promptly dropped it. In the meantime the batsmen had decided to begin a meeting in the middle of the wicket. A distraught Stewart didn’t notice the run out opportunity and what followed had uncanny resemblance to an Alan Partridge sketch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwW3ytid4DA Happily he did finally come to his senses, he then threw the ball to Forder who took the bails off with the batman well short of his ground. From this point on, Enstone’s victory was never really in doubt The wickets continued to fall in an excellent display of catching from the fielding team including an outrageous caught and bowled from D Wilson, which made up for the fact that he had previously lost his pocket money for launching the ball at his father’s face.
Wytham finished on 167-9 off their 40 overs. Enstone won by 51 runs.
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