Frimley Green Cricket Club vs Hampton Woodlawn - Sunday 30th June 2019, 14:00

Arriving at Frimley Lodge Park looking to not only claim their first home win for some time, as well as their first in their 2019 sponsored kit, FGCC looked to avenge an early-season defeat in this return fixture against Hampton Woodlawn. The match could've all gone pear-shaped before the game started - due to a water leak the changing rooms were out of bounds (leading to a plethora of kit bags being left by the park benches), and things got worse when the skipper got a call from unfortunate 11th man Lloyd whose car had been mangled on the M4 whilst en route to the match which necessitated a trip to A&E (thankfully no harm done to Lloyd himself, although his car didn't look too special). Nevertheless, 10-man FGCC did have the fortune of a skipper winning the toss on a fine day for batting, and Jim instantly inserted his first-choice opening duo of Rich and Mark to get the game underway. As per the away fixture 3 weeks' prior, FGCC got off to a slow start due to some accurate bowling, this time by left-armer A.Preston (esq.) who ensured the score dribbled along in the early overs. With S Patel starting well, it wasn't until the 8th over (which went for 12) that things started to get going. However, from 33-0 two LBW shouts and a pea-shooter did for the top 3, leaving FGCC facing an uphill task at 35-3. Cue Suresh, who armed with a new bat part-time FGCCer Shiva brought back from his holidays decided he wanted to test out his willow: his first 3 balls going .46 and sending the captain's pulse rate racing. Luckily he relented his slogging and went back into full-on nurdle mode, and with Pavan put on 31 before the latter was caught. With Anu and Anam running late after a family do, and with Jonny not troubling the scorers, Sheshi had an unexpected promotion up the order to try and salvage the situation. With HWCC bringing on Sharpe - who took a 5-fer against us in the last match - FGCC were seemingly staring down the barrel at another sub-130 score. Luckily Suresh and Sheshi weren't having any of it - both started to hit the boundary with some regularity, making a mockery of the previously precarious batting position and taking the unfortunate Sharpe for 17 off one of his overs. After two 6s and some good running between the wickets, it was the old curse of batting with Suresh that did for Sheshi - run out after making a club-best 38 off just 27 balls. Although Anu and Anam fell cheaply, thankfully by that time the 76 run partnership for the 6th wicket had taken FGCC to a competitive total of 165, which seemed about par in this 35-over game. After a lovely tea (cheers Jemma) FGCC, fielding with only 10 men, looked to make early inroads and made the best possible start when Anam clipped Ganesh's off-peg for a platinum duck. Faced with a short leg-side boundary HWCC ticked along around 4-an-over, despite Hampton skipper Tish running himself out going for a run that wasn't there thanks to another sharp piece of fielding by Anam. After both Anu and Rich had come on as first and second change bowlers respectively (Rich getting 2-in-2 and being a hair's breath away from a Guatemalan hat-trick), HWCC were 5-down after 14 overs. However, as happened in the previous fixture between the teams a solid partnership, this time between tall No.3 Amit Bhardwa and a fired-up Sharpe, started to swing things back in Hampton's favour. With Amit living a little dangerously at times (both Jim and Rich couldn't hang onto difficult chances), and Sharpe running between the wickets like he was in a hurry to get back for Antiques Roadshow, the HWCC 6th wicket pair proved to be as irksome as FGCC's had been for the bowling attack. Riled, Jim turned to the evergreen Tim Jones to bring back some control, and impact man Anam to break the partnership. And indeed it was Anam who made the breakthrough, bowling Sharpe in the first over of his second spell to wrestle back some momentum. The game was still very much in the balance at this point, and despite Tim making next man (and previous thorn-in-the-side) Patel play on for only 2 Bhardwa was still on course to steal the match away. Then it happened - a well-placed field, Jonny Leaver waiting just inside the point boundary, Tim forces an uppish drive... and YES... LEAVER TAKE A BOW SON! Safely snagged and Bhardwa departs for 72. But this wasn't the end of the drama - No.9 Sawhney decided to 'do an Anam' and play a returning Rich for 2 6s, leaving HWCC needing 8 to win off the last over. Having not bowled since the 10th over (although Jim had long since prepped him for the responsibility), Sheshi returned to bowl the final 6 balls, with the aggressive Sawhney facing. First ball goes for 2 - 6 from 5. Then a dot. Then a single, leaving Preston needing 5 to win off the last 3. First ball? dot. Second ball? dot. FGCC retreated to the boundary. Third ball? dot. Superb death bowling by Sheshi after a fine innings earlier, and the game was won, the unfortunately Sawhney doing a Brett Lee with Cap'n Jim consoling a la Freddie Flintoff. What a fantastic game, finishing around 8.30pm and resulting in a break in FGCC's losing sequence, as well as a good crowd down the RAT for some post-game banter and beers. What a way to spend a Sunday in the Summer (made all the more sweet by England beating India too). FUN FACT - this is the first time I can remember that FGCC did not bowl a single wide in their entire innings. Fair play to the bowlers!