Southwick Wanderers Cricket Club

Match report – Watford Town vs. Southwick Wanderers - Played on Sunday 13th July 2008

Sorry Southwick outclassed by Watford Town (go to scorecard)

An impressive ground that had seen 1st class cricket played on it in years gone by had the hallmarks of plenty of runs about it, and that was to be the case, well for Watford Town at least…………..

The warm afternoon began with Watford Town batting first in a 40 over match, and the two South African openers wasted no time in getting them off to a good start. It wasn’t long before thoughts of Crawley re-visited certainly entered my mind as they continued to score with too much ease and regularity. I’ve never seen batting look so effortless and is credit to their skill and technique. Mark Johnson made a welcome return to the Wanderers side and must have covered half a marathon in the outfield and no doubt saved more inevitable runs.

It wasn’t until Watford were close to 150 runs before the first break through came for the Wanderers. Paul taking the scalp of Myburgh as he was slightly late into a pull shot and hit his bat high up on the splice, dollying up an easy catch for Jez to take at midwicket.
In then for the Watford skipper who after surviving a nick through the slips began to pile on more runs for Watford and more misery for the Wanderers. At the other end Sampat continued to strike the ball to all parts of the ground with incredible power, which included a six of biblical proportions, pulling a short ball over the deep midwicket boundary and beyond, clearing the perimeter wall!!

Jag kindly guested for the Wanderers and Jamie took advantage of his bowling experience and with the knowledge that he’d be playing for the opposition the following day, bowled him 12 overs straight. He took 3 very deserved wickets including the skipper Knox who went for 49 to a well judged catch at mid off by Keith ‘Beefy’ Ballam. Jag and Taylor operated in tandem for the mid to latter overs and it would be Taylor ‘Dave’ Salerno who would account for the opener Sampat’s dismissal by being caught in the deep by Alan Wooton who made it look easy. He departed for 86.

Another big hitter in ‘Iron Fist’ Afridi, who hit the ball with such ferocity as if he was swatting flies and very quickly made 40 runs in no more than a 4 over spell. Alan Wooton seemed to be targeted by him out in the deep, and whilst Alan made some brave stops, it was at the expense of his little finger, which was bent violently into a position it is not normally accustomed to. Al was able to pop it back into place but could take no further part in the mauling, I mean match…

Jag took his further two wickets with the help of some swift work from behind the stumps by John bird taking a catch and a greased lightening stumping.

One more wicket to report, and fitting that Mark Johnson should take it with his only over tempting the batsman out of his crease with a delivery that seemed to swing into the batsman’s legs before jagging off the seam and passing the edge, leaving John the easy task of whipping the bails off with the helpless batsman Hameed stranded half way up the track………well that’s the way it looked from my vantage point at deep mid-wicket anyway. The celebration that ensued was over the top, but necessary………. Only Jamie was wicketless in his 10 over spell, but bowled with tremendous effort. Jamie should also be applauded for his captaincy in the field in what can only be described as draining.

So, with Watford 6 down and 259 runs on the board, they decided to declare having completed 39.5 overs. The Wanderers’ reply needed to be solid for the first 10 or so overs if there were to be any thoughts of getting close. Sadly, it was to get off to the worse of possible starts……………..

John Bird and Paul Lincoln strode into the middle and after the first over being carefully negotiated by John, saw the second over take two wickets in the space of 4 balls. Paul was bowled first ball by a delivery that pitched short and seemed to die of the pitch putting Paul into two minds as to how to deal with it. An unorthodox wicket brought about screams of delight from the wiry Hameed.

Three balls later Hameed was screaming again, this time at the expense of Keith who also was bowled for 0. This brought Jez to the crease far earlier than he had hoped with the score at 1 – 2. He and John began to feel their way into the game by nicking the occasional single and dispatched the bad balls for 4 and in picking up some very welcome extras with the assistance of some wayward bowling, the Wanderers score began to show the look of something more respectable.

John, however looking more and more assured at the crease was caught brilliantly in the gully region when cutting hard and departed for 9. Anthony Higgs was in next and nudged his way to 3 before edging one behind to the wicket keeper. Jez meanwhile was beginning to look more comfortable and started to pick his shots carefully, selecting the right balls to dispatch for 4 including a pull that reared up inches from his face and threatened to improve his looks. It was Jamie next who marched purposefully to the crease only to be undone by the telegraphed slower ball that was missed by an almighty swipe of Jamie’s bat to see him bowled for 1. Kim was next and faired no better after being trapped LBW on the back pad leaving with 1 to his name. Into the tail then, but with a bit of wag when Taylor joined Jez at the crease who seemed to temporarily unsettle the Watford bowling attack with his unconventional batting stance. He and Jez added a further 30 or so runs to see them pass the magical 100 mark including a badly judged single call by Jez seeing Taylor adjudged in upon closer inspection by the third umpire. By now every run that Taylor was adding was being royally cheered by the travelling support. His attacking innings came to an abrupt end, however after ‘dancing’ down the wicket and missing. He was stumped for 9. Mark Johnson’s entrance into the fray began with a highly dubious and irregular conversation with their skipper, who happened to be bowling. He pleaded for an easy ball to at least get a single from. He’d had the duck since the Spain tour the previous October and wanted rid. He holed out at midwicket for 0.

This brought a conclusion to the Southwick innings with Alan unable to bat due to his finger dislocation resulting in an all out total of 108 leaving Jez on 46 not out. One of his more battling innings. Extras contributed 39 runs to the total, which definitely helped the Wanderers score reach respectability.

Whilst, this was clearly a drubbing, an enjoyable afternoon/evening was still had by all. We shared a couple of pints with three of the opposition who had the courtesy to stay behind, and Mark and Gemma dished out the fines that were deemed harsh but fair.
One final ceremony…

The duck: Mark J to Paul L (handshake), Paul L to Keith B (handshake), Keith B to Jag (handshake), Jag back to Mark J (handshake) and that’s the circle of life!!


A special thanks to SWCC old friends Jag, Alan Wooton and to Mark Johnson for turning out for us.

WATFORD TOWN INNINGS

SWCC BOWLING

SWCC INNINGS

WATFORD TOWN BOWLING