West Wycombe vs Ley Hill, 26th July 2003

Ian Webb

A contrasting match in comparison to last week's superb victory over Kenton - after losing Stuart, Jake and Kash to the 2nds and others to holiday, it was always likely that we would be up against it.

Losing the toss under gloomy skies, with the rain always threatening and often appearing, it was inevitable that we would be put in to bat. Against a lively opening bowler, we lost Terry to the final ball of the first over when he edged one straight into his nose - a visit to hospital confirmed he had broken it and he sat out the rest of the match. Fortunately we had 12 players after a little mix-up in the team selection, so still had 11 to field. Will and firstly Craddock, followed by Jim, almost saw off the opening bowlers before Will thick-edged to point, and their captain, unfortunately for us, decided that bowler could have another couple of overs. Deciding to slow down a bit for the colts, he delivered 3 swinging, full length balls that all had the same effect of disrupting the off stump and bails, leaving us 36-6 and the bowler with figures of 5-10.

A mini revival took place as Simon and Tim took a liking to the change bowlers, Simon hitting many a good shot in a fine fifty with Tim solid in support. When Tim was bowled by the other opener, and Simon holed out, the innings was soon over with the total looking at bit healthier at 121.

With the rain continuing to fall, we took to the field. Tight opening spells from Will and Ben Ford kept the runs down, Ben picking up the only wicket to fall with Jim taking a good catch standing up to the stumps. We kept it fairly tight in the field, and good spells from Paul Green (pictured) and Francis Kandy kept the runs down and delayed the inevitable. With no further loss, West Wycombe reached their target with 5 of the 20 overs to spare.

Ley Hill 121-9 (all out) (Simon Julian 61)
West Wycombe 122-1 (Ben Ford 1-16)
Ley Hill lost by 9 wickets

Man of the match: Close between Simon Julian's performance with the bat and Ben Ford's with the ball, but I think the young promising colt's figures of 6.5-0-16-1 win out here.

Clown of the match: Has to be awarded to the woman in the West Wycombe team, who on several occasions squealed as the ball came towards her, lifting her foot to allow through on its way to the boundary.

Click here for the scorecard