Huggins ton goes in vain as NPL earn a draw

WINDSOR 2 242-4
(52) P.Huggins 148*

NPL TEDDINGTON 2 141-7
(48)

The frustration of the Thames Valley Points system and it’s reward for negative cricket once again came into play last weekend as 100 overs of cricket saw Paul Huggins score more runs than the entire NPL side and still not end up on the winning side. This became even more galling as skipper Chris Edge continued his losing streak at the toss as NPL decided to insert Windsor with the intention of chasing a total.

On a flat but slowish deck Windsor’s start was quite lethargic as Rob Noble took the lions share of the strike in the first ten overs and Windsor had managed just 24 in the first ten overs. However, with the shine taken off the new ball, the score began to move along with Huggins in particular beginning to get about the bowling and whilst is first fifty was far from chanceless, the longer he stayed the more accomplished his shots became and his batting partners became mere bit players as NPL began to wilt in the heat. As Huggins motored past the hundred mark Windsor were in the box seat and with just four wickets down Windsor had reached a probably par for the course 242 with Huggins batting through for a superb 148 not out.

Windsor were hoping to make early inroads to the NPL attack but they didn’t help themselves when a regulation chance at first slip was put down on the second ball of the innings and a further chance was spilled at 4th slip from the same opener, both off the bowling of Edge. However, the breakthough did come with Davis taking a superb one handed catch from Edge and Alex Hill bustling in against the wind had NPL captain Wooster trapped in front. After 8 overs NPL were in dire straights at 22-2. Trying to keep them interested in a run chase Edge was bowling with 5 slips and 2 gullys but still the NPL batsmen were uninterested in playing any shots. A complete change of tact saw 16 year old Leg Spinner Vignesh Venkatramen and the opening batsmen Rob Noble whose off-spin could at very best be labelled optimistic come into the attack and both had instant success. First Alex Hill pouched a catch at Mid Off from Noble and the same fielder snared another catch in cover to reduce NPL to 33-4. However, this seemed to signal the end of the game as a cricketing contest and the attritional element came into the game with NPL happy to block and with 30 overs still to go. Rotating the bowling to get the breakthough 7 bowlers were used with youngsters Woodward, Eggenhuizen together with old hat Charters all picking up wickets with overly attacking fields but as NPL limped along the return of Edge saw the 7th wicket fall with 6 overs to go but by that point the game had lost all chance of a result as NPL blocked out to the end to finish more than 100 runs behind Windsor’s total.

SONNING LANE – THE GRAVEYARD OF BOWLERS.

READING 284-3 Dec. A.Ball 150* (46 Overs)

WINDSOR 286-4 P. Huggins 78, A.Clarke 66* (48 Overs)

Definition

flat (LEVEL)

adjective flatter, flattest
level and smooth, with no curved, high, or hollow parts:
An ice rink needs to be completely flat.
Roll out the pastry on a flat surface.
Much of Sonning Lane is very flat and not conducive to seam bowling

On perhaps the best playing surface and outfield in Berkshire, Windsor notched up their 2^nd win of the season in an extraordinary display of batting where Reading’s Andy Ball would score an undefeated 150 and still end up on the losing side.

Despite the early summer sunshine a chill wind meant it was jumpers o’clock as after surveying the superb Sonning Lane deck losing the toss and being asked to bowl first meant that Windsor would have to apply themselves to contain Reading which after the first few overs, despite Chris Edge keeping an economical tight line, Windsor rapidly found that anything that beat the infield was flying to the boundary with gusto with Alex Hill finding it difficult to judge the right line and length on this pitch and subsequently being punished. Edge made the initial breakthrough having the first Reading opener caught well at mid on and after Readings number 3 played a few agricultural shots that began to get the Windsor seamers back up, he clearly couldn’t play the short ball instead spooning a skier high in the sky straight back to Edge and although Reading were scoring well Windsor hoped to turn the screw. This however didn’t happen as Readings two young Berkshire batsmen started to get about the bowling and as Eggenhuizen and young spinner Venkatramen tried to make the breakthrough, runs were being leaked all around the field as boundary after boundary flowed. The experienced Andy Wigley found conditions tough as with the batsmens eyes in with Ball in particular hitting out Reading accelerated the scoring, smashing the bowling to all parts as page after page of the tactic book was torn out in a fruitless attempt to stop Readings onslaught. After 46 overs Windsor were finally put out of their misery by Readings captain who declared the innings after Ball had reached a superb 150 not out.

Windsor knew they were in for the run chases of run chases but the sporting declaration when Reading could have gone on and made on this deck in excess of 320 meant there was at least something to be played for however remote, and all credit to the Reading captain for looking for a result when many others would have been happy with the draw.

As always, accepting the challenge, Windsor knew the result would depend on a good start from openers Rob Noble and Paul Huggins and although the score after ten overs stood at 28-0 they had provided a foundation for the run chase to commence. Things started to pick up around the 14^th over when Rob Noble hit a scorching cover drive followed by a neat flick off his legs to register 12 off the over which upped the run rate. Reading responded by bringing on a young leg spinner and despite his best efforts Windsor were in no mood to give any favours.

Definition

gorge (EAT)

verb [I or R]
to eat until you are unable to eat any more:
[R] If you gorge yourself on crisps like that, you won't eat your dinner.

[R] “Huggy, we’ve got 18 runs already off this over, don’t do anything silly this ball” [Rob Noble to partner Paul Huggins after ball 5]. Ball 6 six slog swept over cow corner for 6.

Now, after 20 overs Windsor had reached 90-0 and the chase was on but the momentum was now defiantly with Windsor. Although Noble departed for 35 and Huggins after a few more lusty blows for 78, it was the partnership of Andy Clarke and Brian Davis who sealed the victory. Both mixed defence with controlled aggression which meant that by the time Davis had fallen for a well deserved 40, Windsor were chasing at under 5 an over. The rock Tom Bullock, whose spade has probably dug Windsor out of so much trouble it deserves a knighthood, did what he did best and with the solid Clarke at the other end Windsor quite literally drove to the target as Reading sensing victory was now beyond them, began to prepare for the visit of the Grim Reaper. Bullock’s departure after playing on brought the experienced Wing to the crease and the astonishing formality of chasing 285 to win was completed with 6 overs to 6 wickets in hand.

A local derby with Slough awaits next week as Windsor hope to hold onto their unbeaten run.

Windsor off to a flier

Amersham 142-9 (Edge 44-6,)
Windsor 144-5 (Bullock 63*, Charters 38*, Wing 33)

Windsor got their season off to a flier with a superb fielding and bowling display at the Home Park on Saturday and although their batting spluttered at the start, the middle order fired into life to record a well deserved win.

Losing the toss Windsor were asked to field first and opened with seamers Chris Edge and Alex Hill both of who were surprised to find the first outing on the Home Park first XI square of the season full of pace and bounce. They both bowled immaculate lines to restrict Amersham to 20-0 from the first ten overs and after Edge had removed Langley thanks to a juggle of a catch from Australian Stephen Eggenhuizen Windsor were in the box seat. Amersham captain Allott attempted to push the run rate along but when he failed to run his bat in on a seemingly easy single a direct hit from Tom Bullock saw him run out to turn the screw. Edge continued to bowl welll as Eggenhuizen replaced Hill and Amersham began to lose wickets to the tight bowling as Brian Davis took a brilliant one handed catch behind the stumps to remove Good from the bowling of Edge and Eggenhuizen bowled Adams to move Amersham further into the mire. Further tight bowling from Edge who would complete the full allotment of 26 overs saw him return 44-6 as a wicket for debutant Woodward saw Amersham close on 142-9.

Windsor could not have got off to a worse start however, as prolific batsman Paul Huggins with almost 400 runs to his name already this season played onto his stumps from the very first ball. However, the carnage did not stop there as Noble (0), Clarke (2) and Davis (1) were all dismissed by the end of the 3rd over to leave Windsor on a perilous 3-4. However, the experience of Nigel Wing and fast running of Tom Bullock steadied the ship and began to get after the bowling. Moving the score along to 54-4 and looking good, Wing committed cricketing suicide by attempting a second that was never there and at 55-5 Amersham were back in the hunt. Windsor were thankful that lax Amersham fielding saw an easy chance from Bullock grounded at point but from then on Bullock and Richard Charters never looked back as the target was reached with no further loses, Bullock finishing on 63 not out with Charters on 38.

Windsor look to build upon this good start away at Reading next Saturday.

Amersham



B. Langley Bowled Edge 13
P. Langley Ct Eggenhuizen Edge 20
T. Allott Run Out 19
J Good Ct Davis Edge 14
I. Rogers Ct Hill Edge 17
D Adams Bowled Eggenhuizen 6
A. Alwyn Bowled Edge 7
G. Rogers Bowled Edge 3
D. Bishop Not Out 12
B. Holt Bowled Woodward 11
H. Gary Not Out 1

Extras 19

Total 142-9 (52 Overs)


Edge 26-7-44-6
Hill 12-2-28-0
Eggenhuizen 9-0-33-1
Woodward 5-0-24-1


Windsor


P. Huggins Bowled Gary 0
R.W. Noble Bowled Holt 0
A. Clarke Bowled Gary 2
B. Davis Ct Holt 1
T. Bullock Not Out 63
N. Wing Run Out 33
R. Charters Not Out 38

Extras 8


Total 144 -5 (31.3 Overs)

Hard Work all round.

Windsor 153-4 Dec. (45 Overs) – Huggins 83*
Enfield 156-3 (2 Overs Remaining) Pitt 3/26

It was hard work for both Players and Spectators at the Home Park on Saturday as the 2nd XI season got underway at home to Enfield. Due to damage that has been sustained to the first XI outfield by the Royal Wedding the game had to be moved onto the 3rd XI square and a very green damp track set the tone that runs would be hard to come by especially with coupled with a lush green outfield.

Playing a timed game Windsors start was steady with Paul Huggins looking in good form hitting an early six over long on against a steady and accurate Enfield attack. However, the introduction of Enfields spinners really turned the screw on Windsor and with no pace on the ball the runs dried up. With wickets in hand they needed to accelerate the scoring but only succeeded in losing wickets with firstly Rob Noble departing for 33, Brian Davis after a cameo 15, and Ryan Doye and Tom Bullock both going cheaply. Huggins was left to do the bulk of the run scoring with the help of Richard Charters but when the declaration came on 45 overs, it seemed Windsor were some way shy of setting a competitive target.

Windsor replied with experienced seamer Chris Edge and upcoming colt Nick Cornish and both were initially economical with the pitch offering up some help for both bowlers if they got the ball in the right areas. However, it wasn’t until the introduction of Dahron Pitt who took 2 quick wickets to get Windsor into the game and with 20 overs to go whilst it was unlikely that Windsor would claim 8 wickets Enfield required 4.5 runs per over to get a result. Windsor tinkered with their bowling giving spells to newcomer Australian newcomer Stephen Eggenhuizen, Andy Wigley and Richard Charters although the only further success would come from Dahron Pitt who claimed his 3rd wicket as Enfield got home with 2 overs to spare.

Windsor start their League season next weekend with a home Fixture against Amersham, starting at the Home Park at 1.30pm.