Fonhill Park 08/06/25

Having lost the toss again, the Wanderers were in the field with Foz at the Pavilion end and Ben at the field end. After some tight opening bowling (except for the customary Foz wides!) it was Ben with the breakthrough with a delivery that kept on swinging in to totally deceive the batsman (14-1, 6). Foz was getting some lift, and this was beating the outside edge of the bat with regularity. The batsmen looked stunned as they could not see where to score. After a delay for a complaint about smoking on the pitch and a delay for complaining about Foz’s reaction to a dodgy wide, it was Foz who took the next wicket. This was a proper cricket wicket with a good length delivery outside of off stump drawing the batsman into a shot, getting a thick outside-edge a finding Tommy a slip able to hold on with both hands (24-2, 9). Charles put down a simple catch at mid-wicket but then Ben picked up his second wicket with another looping in-swinging delivery (31-3, 13) and the Wanderers were rocking. Foz (7-0-14-1) Ben (7-1-16-2). Stephen (34-1 from 3) struggled with his length, with several deliveries missing out the batsman completely! He did get a wicket with a looping return catch (37-4, 15) and could have had another when he dropped a second c&b chance when a full-toss was chipped back to him. Brett (4-0-16-1) was straight onto the money and it was no surprise when he collected a wicket when Ben took a good catch (54-5, 17). On another day Leo would have held a firmly struck drive to him off Brett but his level 2 coaching skills let him down on this occasion. Charles (20-0 from 2) replaced Stephen and was too quick for the batsmen to get bat on ball! A top edge nearly took Skipper’s head off but he managed to get a glove on it. 2 wides went for four and

the lack of accuracy was costing. PW came on at the Pavilion end with Leo at the field end. This proved to be an inspired decision with both finding a good line and length. Leo (6-1-24-1) took an important wicket with another accurate delivery that held its line against the slope and took the top of off-stump (116-6, 26). Meanwhile PW was using the slope to extract leg-spin, and he struck next over with a beautiful delivery that pitched outside leg-stump and took off (119-7, 27). The Wanderers were keen in the field with some good chases up the hill and some excellent throws to Skipper – one from Charles was like a bullet! PW stuck again this time on the leg-stump with the batsman trying to sweep it clipped bat then glove and Skipper took a smart catch. The umpire gave the batsman plenty of time to walk but he refused, forcing the umpire to give the decision (121-8, 29). A lady batsman played well until she scooped up a simple catch to Charles at square-leg to give PW a deserved third wicket. An excellent performance from PW with almost every ball pitching on or around leg-stump was the highlight of 147-9 in 35 overs.

After a great tea served in the pavilion, David opened the Wanderers innings with Stephen. After an opening over maiden, Stephen was bowled second ball. Charles had a corking delivery first up taking top of off-stump bringing Leo to the crease on a hat-trick ball. A big appeal followed a thud into the pad but it was comfortably missing leg-stump. It wasn’t until the fourth over that the Wanderers got off the mark with Leo cracking a four through cover! These two were looking good together when David (11) was rattled on the pads and given out LBW (19-1, 8). Leo and Tommy put on 24 for the fourth wicket partnership, but this was broken when Leo was caught in the 17th over (43-4). The Fonthill innings was 54-5 at the same stage. Brett joined Tommy after the drinks interval and these two set about creating a partnership to take the game forwards with the Wanderers needing just under 6 an over. This was achieved by smart running and forceful stroke-play when given a bad ball. Brett (23) was also adjudged LBW bringing Skipper in with the rate down to 5.1 required (103-5, 26) (Fonthill 116-6). Skipper (3) tried to work a good ball on off-stump to leg side to rotate the strike but was bowled (120-6, 30). Mike H (2) ran well with Tommy until he ran himself out with 2 overs to go and 8 runs needed. Ben (6*) cracked a great four through mid-wicket to ease some of the pressure and Tommy (72*) completed the victory with a straight drive for four. 149-7

MOM: PW – an amazing spell that changed the match

Catch of the day: Tommy at slip

Quote of the day: Opposition player to Foz “Didn’t you smash your nose open here last year? Don’t do it again!”