Ware (Old Hertfordians) Cricket Club 1st XI v Preston II on Sat 18 Aug 2007 at 1300
Ware (Old Hertfordians) Cricket Club Won by 2 runs
Ware kept themselves in with a slim chance of promotion with a come-from-nowhere win against Preston.
With only one win in four matches, Ware had slipped from 3rd to 8th – all but extinguishing their hopes of reaching the top four. When Preston won the toss and asked Ware to bat on a wet Widford pitch, it looked like being a difficult day for the hosts.
The bright start from Tom Thoday (21) and Wayne Langon (7), was stopped in its tracks as both fell in quick succession. Ware suffered a further setback when in-form John Schlaepfer played all around a straight ball to be bowled for a patient 5 – leaving his dream of ten not-outs for the season in tatters. Paul Wakeman came and went quickly, and Ware found themselves struggling at 48 for 4. Teenager Freddie Hart, making his first team début, joined William Jones, and showed the solidity and composure that the situation demanded, as the pair scrambled to give Ware a foothold in the game. The recovery faltered when first Hart (10) and then Jones (39) perished in the space of five balls as they tried to lift the run rate. Another partnership was needed, and it was provided by Richard Bartsch (16) and Darren Patel (14), playing positively against the continued tight Preston bowling. Bartsch was eventually undone by ball that cut back viciously to hit the stumps, leaving Jamie Don (1) and Ben Hart (4*) to provide Patel with support – Ware finally reaching 123 for 9.
Light drizzle began to fall during the break, meaning that Ware would have to contend with bowling with a damp ball. An early strike by Jones gave Ware a brief glimmer of hope, but this faded as Matt Burleigh and Richard Gatehouse played aggressively, and with some good fortune, to post a fine fifty partnership. Patel was bowling well but without any luck at all, as several miss-hits narrowly eluded the fielders. Jones switched ends to gain an LBW decision against Gatehouse (33), but Preston went to drinks at 76 for 2 with the match in the bag.
Another glimmer of hope for Ware arrived when Jones removed John Garnham (6) and Burleigh (21) to fine catches from Freddie Hart and Schlaepfer, but Ben Hill and Jonathan Jenkins recovered to carry Preston over the hundred mark, and to within a dozen runs of victory.
But when Preston needed just 12 runs with six wickets and 14 overs in hand, and teenager débutante Ben Hart was half way through his first over, the game changed completely. Hart seamed a ball back to bowl Hill for 17. Jones bowled Jenkins for 15 in his next over and suddenly the game was back on. The appropriately named Casey Walker wandered from his crease to be stumped by Tom Thoday in Hart's next over, before Jones trapped Simon Luxton LBW the over after. The momentum was with Ware now, and Hart kept it there by accounting for Srini Nanjundan with another sharp off-cutter. An edged boundary through the slips brought the game back into the balance - Preston needing 3 runs for victory and Ware needing one wicket.
The heavy drizzle was now bordering on rain and conditions were becoming marginal for cricket, but both captains indicated to the umpires that they were happy to continue and the final act unfolded. Jones beat Dave Allen several times outside off stump before slipping a straight one through onto middle stump to give Ware an incredible victory – triggering such scenes of wild celebration as are seldom seen outside a primate enclosure of a zoo.
Jones finished with 7 for 47 from 20.5 overs, while Ben Hart returned 3 for 10 from just three overs. Patel (0 for 40) and Bartsch (0 for 20) both bowled better than their figures indicate.
The win kept Ware in touch in the race for the promotion places, but they will have to finish the season very strongly to have any hope of regaining the ground lost in previous weeks.
(Note that a slightly fuller scorecard can be found here)
Ware (Old Hertfordians) Cricket Club 1st XI Batting
123 for 9
Preston II Bowling
| Dave Allen |
21.0 |
5 |
71 |
2 |
35.50 |
3.38 |
| Srini Nanjundan |
14.0 |
5 |
18 |
2 |
9.00 |
1.29 |
| Casey Walker |
12.0 |
3 |
24 |
2 |
12.00 |
2.00 |
| Richard Gatehouse |
5.2 |
1 |
8 |
2 |
4.00 |
1.50 |
Preston II Batting
121 for 10
| Matt Burleigh |
22 |
Caught |
| Greig Herne |
13 |
Caught |
| Richard Gatehouse |
34 |
Lbw |
| John Garnham |
6 |
Caught |
| Ben Hill |
17 |
Bowled |
| Jonathan Jenkins |
15 |
Bowled |
| Simon Luxton |
6 |
Lbw |
| Casey Walker |
0 |
Stumped |
| Srini Nanjundan |
0 |
Bowled |
| Dave Allen |
0 |
Bowled |
| Martin Pierce |
4 |
Not Out |
Ware (Old Hertfordians) Cricket Club 1st XI Bowling
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Umpire :
Mike Vaughan
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Scorer :