WBC Cricket Team

WBC Cricket Team Review of the Season - 2010

Introduction 2010 will be remembered as a vintage season, as it was our most successful season on the pitch, although the memories will always be tinged with sadness.

We welcomed Kunle Ajayi, the Nigerian Andrew Flintoft, from Housing. The ex- national team captain proved his credentials as a solid all-rounder, playing some invaluable innings. It was also great to have Mark Russell and PK on board – not new players as such, but the first season they had played regularly.

After a gap of many years, Euan ‘Skip’ Tapper resumed the captaincy and oversaw a very settled team. The general game plan was to win the toss, bat first, rack up a big total and then share the bowling around depending on the circumstances.

Euan and wicketkeeper, Dan ‘The Hands’ Freeland, missed just one game each and James ‘Veatsy’ Veats only missed two. Ramadan, summer holidays and assertive wives took their toll during August, and we struggled to field a team on a couple of occasions.

And as ever, it remains nigh on impossible to persuade XI men to get over to Bushy Park to play John Bosiger’s Riverside boys!

However, the overriding memory of the season was the team spirit, which saw us through a season that didn’t always go according to plan, despite what the stats and impressive results suggest!

Batting Top order batting was generally a settled line up; Euan and James Smit formed a solid opening partnership, keeping the scoreboard ticking over and punishing the bad balls. The fireworks would be provided by PK and Jak, with Mark Russell, Nathan and Stevo piling on the runs. Later in the season Mikey added valuable runs in the middle order. Further down the order Andy, James, Waqas, Dan and Jonny Moles also made useful contributions on more than one occasion.

In all, five players surpassed 100 runs for the season – a fantastic achievement.

Bowling The skipper could rely on much depth in his bowling line up. On several occasions, we had the luxury of sharing the bowling between eight or nine bowlers, having won the toss and racked up a big score.

Top fact of the season! Going into the last couple of games, the averages showed that none of our bowlers had gone for more than six an over [I can’t believe that!]. That’s a truly economical economy rate! This meant that the skipper could rely on pretty much any of his regular bowlers in a tight situation.

Fielding In common with recent years, the fielding was impressive. Only at Surrey Heath did we let ourselves down with a couple of dropped catches, but things were quickly put right the following week at Ottershaw with a return to form, some impressive catching and superb run outs.

May After a couple of brief net sessions, we went headlong into the season with a thumping home victory against Mayer Brown. It was all too easy, with highlights including PK and Jak’s 50 partnership and Steve’s opening burst of bowling, ending with figures of three wickets for thee runs from three overs. Stunning!

On hearing this ominous news, the Vet Labs decided they couldn’t raise a team against us and it wasn’t until we played the Surrey Rozzers that we had our first real test. One which we sadly failed. Some dubious officiating by the Rozzers (they thought they’d bowled their 20 overs when in fact there was still two to go) meant that we were restricted to 117, which was always going to be below par against a good team. Highlight of that game was probably the arrival of the local WPC to remove the local Vicky Pollards from the outfield.

June In early June we played Wokingham ‘away’ at the Wheatsheaf, winning more comfortably than the 16 run margin suggests. This was quickly followed by another mauling of Mayer Brown [do they like punishment?], who had gallantly stepped in for some other opponent, who didn’t fancy their chances, and we had our first win away from the Wheato.

The win against Fidessa by a small matter of 101 runs was the biggest win in living memory. We were cruising to a 200+ total, when we sadly suffered a mini batting collapse. The win was always in the bag, so we shared the bowling around. Highlight of the match was Dan being run out by a girl. Genius!

This was followed this up a week later with a 50 run hammering of Ottershaw - an excellent result given how close matches with Ottershaw usually are.

However, a couple of days later we were stunned by the sad news that our much- loved former captain, Errol Moore, had lost his battle with cancer. RIP Errol.

July July got off to a flyer with a whopping 67 run victory over our old mates John and Nick from Riverside CC. Highlights included runs for all, Andy Denner’s well-judged ‘accidental’ dropped catch whilst sub-fielding for the oppo, before he redeemed himself by forming a potent bowling partnership with Jak.

Outrage and disappointment ensued, as the Mayor decided he’d rather have tea with the Pakistani High Commissioner than give us the chance to win our trophy back, so we consoled ourselves by giving Wokingham another whipping a week later, this time batting second for a change just to prove we can.

August Early August saw the game of the season against West Byfleet Albion FC, a team containing many WBC regulars. Early on, WBA were in all sorts of trouble, but managed a just about respectable 112. Easy we all thought, until we were in all sorts of trouble ourselves at 20-5. That was until Kunle turned in a match winning performance and Veatsy saw us across the line with just one wicket and four balls to spare. This performance, more than any other, showed our strength-in-depth, composure in a run chase and our team spirit.

Surrey Heath were then in line for a spanking at their place, before a fine all round team performance preceded a hot chilli and night on the tiles after winning at Ottershaw. Vet Labs then cried off again (you get the picture) before we brought the curtain down on the season with nine of us trying to chase 84 in 15 overs against the Volunteer where we faced very quick bowling in conditions that were darker than a Chilean mine shaft. This resulted in just our second defeat of the season. Highlight was Nathan’s performance, arriving at the ground precisely 24 hours late, but keeping his average intact.

There are lots of candidates for the Errol Moore trophy for Player of the Year, including current holder, Smit. Then let’s kick back and enjoy the Ashes over the winter and look forward to an equally enjoyable season in 2011…