Woking & Horsell Cricket Club -
Twos up fourth eleven down
It was an evening of mixed emotions on Saturday night as the 2ndXI were promoted back to Division 2 at the first attempt after an outstanding season, while the fourth eleven were relegated after four years of playing Premier League cricket.
The second team were promoted after a 33 run at Ashford. The players trooped from the field knowing that wasn't enough by itself to secure the bonus point required to seek automatic promotion, however, a quick check on Twitter was enough to discover that Stoke D'Abernon had taken a point off third placed Dorking to ensure that second place went to us.
It was a far from straightforward afternoon for Phill West's men though. Winning the toss and choosing to bat first, a strong opening stand of 65 from Vaibhav Bhade and James Williams put us in a strong position but a devastating spell, certainly for us, of 7-25 from Ashford's captain saw us slip to 102-7. It was a time for heroes and we had one in veteran Roger White. He rebuilt the innings with Vikram Singh and then Phill West, putting on 82 with the skipper for the ninth wicket to leave us 248 all out from our 50 overs.
The Ashford innings began in sedate fashion and when Vikram took our first wicket in the eleventh over the score was only on 19, however, the tempo of the innings changed and with Chris Evans, the Surrey Championship's leading run scorer, Ashford always had a chance of spoiling our party. When Angus Hargan dropped Evans on 40 it looked as if we had missed out on the chance of taking the bonus point as we were struggling to take wickets. The odd tight over, including a maiden over in the 47th, looked like it may give us the required ten points but it wasn't to be as Ashford finished on 215-5, still 34 short of their victory target but, enough to take the bonus. It was a dejected team that trooped off but once inside the dressing room the mood rapidly changed as Doug discovered that Stoke D'Abernon had taken a point from Dorking and our promotion had been confirmed.
While it was success for the second team it was disappointment for the fours as their four year stay in the Premier League came to an end as they were beaten by champions Dulwich. We made a strong start with the ball, however, as Dulwich's top three were all dismissed cheaply but their next five batsmen all made significant scores allowing them to make 228-7 from their 45 overs. A strong start was key but in form Tom Harlow was dismissed for nought. Jack Allen made 42 and Bilal Mir 55 but we were still some way behind the rate required and we finished on 188-8 which was also one run short of acquiring a bonus point. We eventually finished five points shy of fourth from bottom Spencer. One thing we can point to is our four abandoned games, four more than our nearest rivals, which saw us drop down the table despite a decent start. The fourth team will be expecting big things next year.
The 1stXI's tough campaign finished with a heavy defeat against Ashford who were promoted. Bowling first our opening attack proved expensive but the brakes were applied with the introduction of James Woods and Indi Fernando who took three wickets. Some solid scoring all down the Ashford card, however, enabled them to get up to 285-9 by the end of their innings. It was a total we didn't look like matching as wickets began to fall regularly with only Qais Nawaz (39) and Steve Cockett (35) scoring over 10. We were eventually all out for 144 in the 36th over to lose by 141 runs.
The 3rdXI had a disappointing final day defeat to already relegated Leatherhead. Bowling first we took wickets throughout the innings with Mandar Khedekar and Matt Allan taking three wickets but we were unable to knock over the tail and an eighth wicket stand of 53 took the Leatherhead total up to a tougher task of 187 for victory. Our reply started badly with Ramesh Parthasarathy, Gihan Thabrew and Martin Peters all out cheaply before the innings was rebuilt by Sagar Nayyar (26) and Rajesh Rao (23). Their dismissals led to another collapse before Ian Evans (19) and Paul Fortescue (17) put together a mini partnership but victory wasn't really on the cards and we fell sixty short of Leatherhead's target.
The Red Lions finished with a defeat against Weybridge. One of the problems they have faced this season has been putting runs on the board and the final game of the season was no exception. A promising opening partnership between the Cheetham family, was followed by several cheap dismissals with only youngster Sam Styles (19*) excelling with the bat. A total of 94 never looked like being enough and Weybridge passed our total just one wicket down. It's been a tough debut season for Dave Lane's team but an encouraging one as results improved a bit in the second half of the season. This year's league experience for some of the younger players plus stronger availability higher up the club should help the fives next year.
Four wins out of five for W&H
It was a vital week for W&H with several promotion and relegation matters to be decided but despite a week of availability chaos for the captains the teams responded on the field with four victories, three of them by bonus point margins.
The 1st XI picked up their second win of the season, their second against Bank of England, by seven wickets at Brewery Road. A devastating spell of bowling from Mike O’Mahony, who took 6-22, saw us dismiss the Bank for 115 despite conceding 29 in wides and no-balls. Malcolm Eddington and O’Mahony were both dismissed cheaply but a stand of 57 between Qais Nawaz (40) and Tim Keene (41*) saw us most of the way home. There was still time for an extraordinary six for Steve Cockett as we eased home by seven wickets.
The 2ndXI had a straightforward win against strugglers Maori Oxshott. Despite a ragged start the introduction of spin twins Damo Honey (5-27) and James Williams (3-20) put the brakes on the Oxshott innings and they were eventually all out for 92 in the 26th over. Vaibhav Bhade and Williams opened the innings and set about the bowling. For once VB was outscored by his Geordie partner who enjoyed hitting a six to the petanque arena. With shots being played all round the wicket, the game was over in the 13th over as we passed our target without losing a wicket. A bonus point win at Ashford next week will secure promotion for Phill West’s team.
The third eleven secured their second division status for another season with a four wicket victory over Sanderstead. Winning the toss and choosing to bowl, Sanderstead were bowled out for 117 with five overs left of their fifty. Johnny Ayling and Bilal Mir both took three wickets and Mandar Khedekar took two during his miserly spell. We found the reply hard going, however, as wickets fell regularly. Tom Harlow (34) top scored opening the innings and Ramesh Parthasarathy (26*) guided us home to ensure a bonus point victory.
The fourth eleven secured their win shortly after lunchtime on Friday as Sinjun Grammarians conceded saving our brave boys the trip up the A3. Unfortunately, however, results did not go our way and we must beat champions Dulwich on Saturday and hope that other results go our way to ensure Premier League survival.
The Red Lions were the only team to lose their game as they were defeated by 94 runs at Valley End. Valley End made a decent start but Jeevan Namboodiri and Mike Walsh polished off the innings taking 5-14 between the pair of them to bowl the opposition out for 165. Our innings struggled to get going with only two of our batsman making double figures as we were all out for 71.
W&HCC Awards Night - Saturday 6 September
I am sad to say that we are nearing the end of the league season, however, that does mean we are nearing the highly anticipated Woking and Horsell 2014 Awards Night. The event will be held on Saturday 6 September after our final league games of the season.
For those that haven’t attended before, the awards celebrate the good, the bad and the downright awful of the 2014 season, with player of the year prizes going to each team. We will be awarding prizes to the batsman and bowler of the year, fielder, young player and clubman. There will also be a number of “joke” prizes awarded for various misdemeanours committed throughout the year. If you have any stories of “village behaviour” from this year please do let James Williams or Andrew Murphy know as they will be presenting the awards and they do enjoy hearing them. We are looking for someone to take photos on the night so, if you have some aptitude with a camera, please let us know ASAP if you’d like to help (they'll need to be of a high standard to match last years!). Pictures of previous events can be found on the club’s Facebook page.
We are well aware that availability has been “average” this year, something that will be covered on the night, but please make every effort to attend. You never know what you may have won! Hopefully there will be plenty to celebrate anyway, as Phill West’s second team are looking for promotion and the third and fourth elevens try and avoid relegation. We need as many people available during the final two weeks to finish off the season. Hope to see you there.
1stXI relegated
The 1stXI were relegated following a seven wicket defeat at Pyrford. Winning the toss and choosing to bat we made a strong start with a 68 opening stand between Malcolm Eddington (39) and Qais Nawaz (31) but once Qais was out wickets began to fall at regular intervals with Tim Keene the only other batsman who made more than 15. Despite Calum Chisholm’s 6*, which he “wished more people had seen”, W&H stumbled to 157 all out. Despite Calum’s early wicket, Pyrford set about our target with relish and eased past our target having lost only three wickets and with twenty overs in hand.
The 2ndXIwon their ninth game in ten with a bonus point victory over Pyrford. The opposition won the toss and elected to bat. They made a decent start as our bowlers struggled to hit their lengths, however, the introduction of our change bowlers, Phill West and Stephen Jones who both took three wickets, saw Pyrford all out for 101. With the 2ndXI only one point above Dorking in the race for promotion, securing maximum points by winning by 4 wickets or better was imperative. That didn’t look in doubt when we were 70-2 with Vaibhav Bhade (45) and Doug Newton (21) in partnership but when both were out in successive overs the pressure was back on. Matt Lock was bowled and Ian Meyer skied a catch back to the bowler leaving us eight more runs to score without losing a wicket to ensure the bonus point. In true W&H fashion this didn’t happen easily as Stephen Jones was dropped at slip but some responsible batting by Angus Hargan saw us home by four wickets. Two bonus point victories in the next two weeks will see Phill West’s team promoted.
The 3rdXI have been dragged into the relegation mix with their third defeat in a row this time against Hampton Wick. We need to win one of our final two games to ensure that we stay up. Despite electing to bowl, we struggled to breakthrough as we were on the wrong end of a decent opening partnership. Although wickets weren’t falling regularly the scoring rate wasn’t particularly high as Hampton Wick finished on 168-6 from their 50 overs. Qasim Asghar finished with 3-13 from his four overs. Batting has been a bit of an issue for the third team this year and it proved the case again as the first four wickets fell cheaply. Some resistance was shown by Rehan Ahmad (33) but the tail was mopped up pretty quickly too as we were all out for 109.
The fourth eleven turned up at Hampton Wick to find a dead mouse on the wicket but that didn’t seem to make too much of a difference to Tom Harlow who made a career best 82 in our solid total of 175-5 from our 45 overs. The Wick also made good use of the wicket, however, as they made short work of our total by passing our total just five wickets down and with sixteen overs left. This result leaves us in big trouble in the relegation zone with the likelihood that we will probably have to win both of our last two games to stay up.
The 5thXI had a pleasing victory over Kempton following our big defeat in the previous fixture. It was a game where the bowlers were always on top and despite making 300 against us back in July, Kempton were all out for 72 with the wickets shared around. With a fairly straightforward victory expected W&H made very hard work of it squeaking home by one wicket! Zeeshan Naeem, batting at five, made a very valuable seven not out to see us home.
1stXI all tied up
The 1stXI snatched a tie from the jaws of victory as a batting collapse ensured that we only took five points from our basement battle against fellow strugglers Staines and Laleham.
Having won the toss and inserted the opposition we made a bright start taking two early wickets but two significant partnerships put Staines in the ascendancy until Indi Fernando took two crucial wickets and, aided by debutant Usman Mumtaz, who took five wickets, the final seven wickets fell for just 58 runs leaving Staines 210 all out.
Despite losing an early wicket the top order performed strongly without any batsman going on to make fifty and, at 173-3, we were strong favourites to go on and win the game. The dismissal of Tim Keene (36) saw us lose five wickets for just eight runs. Vikram Singh and Usman Mumtaz took us six runs short of our target when Vikram was bowled and with the scores level Usman offered a return catch. The result still leaves us bottom of the table and probably needing to win our last three games to stay up.
The 2ndXI had a crushing 173 run win over Stoke D'Abernon at Brewery Road which keeps them in the promotion places. Having decided to bat, Phill West, James Williams and Johnny Gardner were all out cheaply but a 106 run fourth wicket stand between Vaibhav Bhade (76) and Doug Newton (77) and a subsequent stand of 68 between Newton and Matt Lock (47) took us to a very competitive total of 266-8 from our fifty overs. Wickets fell at regular intervals as no Stoke batsman got on top of the bowling. The wickets were shared around as the opposition were bowled out for 93.
The 3rdXI were involved in a tight game at table toppers Walton which ended in a three wicket defeat for W&H. Batting first we were soon in trouble with the majority of the top order back in the pavilion with the score on 30. Only Andrew Murphy (24) and skipper Matt Allan (27*) offered much resistance as we crumbled to 89 all out. Batting proved even more difficult initially for Walton with Mandar Khedekar and Johnny Ayling getting plenty of movement. They were soon in desperate trouble at 1-3 and 8-4. A strong fifth wicket partnership of 60 put Walton in command but with both batsman removed and Jack Fairey taking another with ten runs required it looked like the game could take another dramatic swing, however, it wasn't to be as Walton passed our total with seven wickets down. It was pleasing to see some real fight shown after last week's debacle as we ensured that we took the game to the 45th over before Walton passed our score. That fight will need to evidence in the coming weeks as all of our relegation rivals won to leave us looking downwards.
The fourth eleven were well beaten by Wimbledon at Westfield. Invited to bat we were soon two wickets down but the experienced pairing of Andrew Statham (30) and Nick Tune (32) put on 69 for the third wicket. Unfortunately, very little resistance was shown after that with only one other batsman making it in to double figures as we stumbled to 107 all out. Things didn't get much better on the bowling front either with Sharath Vasudevamurthy the only bowler to take any wickets as Wimbledon won by eight wickets. Defeat puts us back in the relegation zone.
The fifth eleven lost by 39 runs to Ashford at the Wheatsheaf. Inviting the visitors to bat, Virbhadeshwar Singh made inroads into the Ashford batting taking five wickets opening the bowling. He was ably backed up by opening partner Ejaz Ahmed and Richard Lewis as Ashford finished on 164-9. A decent second partnership between Rehan Ahmad (22) and Gihan Thabrew (43*) developed during our chase but the innings fell away as the tail was mopped up leaving us 123 all out.
