Stour Provost 15/06/25

The hosts put the Wanderers into bat on a dry wicket with a fast, undulating outfield.  David opened up with Vijay (on debut) who was keen to demonstrate the full range of shots.  

His innings had some remarkable straight drives and we were in danger of running out of balls!  David (5) was bowled in the 5^th over (15-1) bringing Tommy to the crease.  His attack was more nuanced guiding the ball to third man and fine leg boundaries before he too went on the attack.  The 10 overs this pair were together brought 90 runs and was broken when Vijay was bowled 1 short of his 50! (105-2, 15) Skipper took his time to adjust to the pace of the wicket.  Tommy (64) passed his 50 with another four but was eventually caught trying to clear the boundary! (141-3, 21) Max Brill (14 from 17) was in aggressive form before he was caught (179-4, 26).  Shan joined Skipper but was not in his usual destructive form, scratching 10 from 16 balls before he was caught (224-5, 32). Adi found it tricky with the variation in bounce to get bat on ball but did crack a splendid four.  Skipper (62) hit 2 big sixes in his 54-ball innings before he was expertly caught in the deep (231-6, 34).  Brett went in for a couple of balls and the innings closed on 236-6 from 35 overs.

Stu opened up down the hill with Foz motoring in up the hill.  Stu bowled a great maiden to start with some promising in-swing.  Foz bowled the customary wide third ball with the usual interaction with the umpire!  Stu lost his length after the first 2 overs went for just 1 run and ended up with 4-1-26-0.  Foz found a brilliant line and length and with the pitch offering some life he was unplayable and picked up a deserved wicket when he bowled the opening batsman (17-1, 6).  Brett (4-0-13-0) came on down the hill and his exaggerated swing was causing difficulty and was unfortunate not to take a wicket.  Foz (5-3-6-1) was dismayed to be replaced by Shan, although this did provide a wicket second ball when a full delivery was missed and took out middle and leg (37-2, 12).  The next wicket 

(45-3,14) was a sharp chance for Tommy at slip off the very consistent Shan (3-2-1-2). (Wanderers 105-1 from 14) A double change with PW coming on down the hill with the slope encouraging his spin and Vijay bowling up the hill.  PW was hit for a couple of boundaries before getting his wicket when the batsman hit the ball onto his foot only to see it roll into the off-stump with just enough power to take the bail off (60-4, 19) (Wanderers 132-2).  Vijay (0-4 from 2) kept the pressure on the batsmen with them forced to play but concerned about the extra lift he was getting, and this pressure helped to bring about the run out in Max’s (0-7 from 2) first over (taking over from Vijay up the hill).  The ball was played to Shan at long-on and a single looked on.  The batsmen were not particularly quick between the wickets, but Shan threw the ball in with force and accuracy from distance, and it was a simple decision for the umpire (75-5, 22).  David replaced PW (6-0-53-1) down the hill with Adi coming up the hill.  The home skipper started to hit the ball to all corners of the ground with 8 fours and 4 sixes in his knock of 64.  This was ended when David (4-0-22-1) trapped 

him in front trying to sweep (165-6, 33).  Tommy (1-1) bowled an over up the hill and took the top of off-stump (166-7, 34), which meant that the Wanderers had used 10 bowlers during the innings.  Stour Provost finished on 171-7 at the end of their 35 overs with the Wanderers winning by 55 runs.  We retired to the Crown at Marnhull (some went to the Crown at East Stour) and Tommy’s hat ended up on the roof!

MOM: Foz – superb spell of unplayable bowling put huge scoreboard pressure on the batsmen.

Catch of the day: Only one was Tommy at slip but it was worthy.

Thanks to Stu for his camera work on the day.