Windsor Cricket Club

IF YOU WANNA BE THE BEST, YOU GOTTA BEAT THE REST….

Windsor 3rd XI 321-2dec (V Nair 121no, K Condon 117)
Chiswick & Latymer 4th XI 64 (R Hodgson 6-34)

The Windsor 3rd XI promotion bandwagon rolls on after a record-breaking victory over Chiswick & Latymer at Chiswick House.

After winning the toss and deciding to bat first on a good track with short boundaries and a lightning outfield, Windsor’s start could not have been better as Kev Condon and Vishal Nair both got their eye in and scored runs at a fair rate as the sun shone brightly.
In fact so regularly were they hitting the boundary that it seemed like most of the innings was spent searching for lost balls. The first 5 overs took 35 minutes to bowl and it seemed that we were in for a very long afternoon.

However the two openers didn’t let the regular breaks in play stop their concentration and Condon was the first to bring up his 50, and then immediately pulled the bowler into the trees for six. Nair’s 50 soon followed and a good Windsor score was on the cards. Condon hit three successive fours as he raced towards his first century of the season, which duly followed. After a few more quick boundaries, the opening partnership was eventually broken when Condon edged to slip for an excellent 117 with the score on 223. Captain Richard Noble came in to accompany Nair who reached his first senior century for Windsor and carried on to punish the Chiswick bowling. Noble hit a few boundaries with flicks off his legs before being bowled for 20 and Richard Charters hit a few lusty blows off only a few balls for his 17no before captain Noble declared the innings after the completion of the 42nd over leaving Chiswick a victory target of 322 in 58 overs at a rate of just over 5.5 an over.

Windsor knew that a couple of early wickets would set them on the way to victory and after a testing first over from Bryn Davies who beat the edge of the bat numerous times, the first wicket came in the second over as the opening batsman edged one to George Gould at gully off the bowling of Rob Hodgson. Windsor kept up the pressure as the bowling was accurate and probing on a nice line & length and with the ball swinging both bowlers regularly beat the edge of the bat. The second wicket came after Davies frustrated the batman into trying to hit one over the top and only succeeding in picking out Charters at extra cover who took a fine catch above his head.
After a regulation slip catch went down, a rare blemish on an otherwise first class fielding performance, the third and fourth wickets came in the same over as first Sam Jordan took an excellent catch at point and then Charters, now fielding at 3rd slip hung onto a catch at the second attempt, both off the bowling of Hodgson.

Davies then knocked over the stumps with a full delivery to take the 5th wicket and the 6th soon followed. The 7th wicket partnership frustrated Windsor for a while and Noble turned to the spin of Jordan in place of Davies who finished an impressive spell of 2-31, but still the batsmen refused to play any shots. However, sharp fielding by Sam Jordan and wicketkeeper Martin Care got the batsmen confused and with both batsmen at the same end, Care threw to Hodgson at the bowlers end who whipped off the bails. That was the wicket Windsor needed. The lower order offered little resistance as Charters took another catch, this one was hit straight up in the air and Charters ran round from gully to take the catch and then Vishal Nair took a good catch at deep mid-off before another bit of good fielding and return from Nair in the outfield contributed to the run out of the last man as the batsmen attempted a suicidal second run and Windsor had wrapped up another convincing victory in their pursuit of promotion, this time by a club record margin of 257 runs.

posted by Windsor Cricket Club at 4:25 PM | 0 comments

CHARTERS TOPPLES CHART TOPPERS

Maidenhead & Bray 235-6 (J Alam 118)
Windsor 236-3 (R Charters 92*, S Ward 53)

A superb unbeaten knock of 92 by Richard Charters alongside other valuable contributions from the Windsor batsmen saw Windsor 3rd XI chase down an unlikely 236 for victory in this table-topping clash under grey clouds at Home Park.

Starting the day 10 points behind leaders Maidenhead & Bray it was important Windsor put in a good performance. The day didn’t start too brightly when the M&B skipper won the toss and chose to bat but the Windsor openers bowled very tight lines and restricted the scoring as M&B only scored around 2 an over for the first 15 overs as well as getting the early wicket of Malhotra caught at gully. However the other M&B opener Alam soon got into his stride and, aided by poor fielding as he offered three catches which all went down, brought up his 50 with the score on only 56. The M&B No.3 spent a long time on 0 and after surviving a very strong appeal for a caught behind without scoring, also started to see the ball very well and hit a flurry of boundaries as the two batsmen built a good strong base to the innings, taking M&B past the 100 mark without further loss before he was out one run short of his half century. However at the other end J Alam showed no signs of letting up as he continued his free scoring on the way to a very impressive century, eventually falling for 118 as Windsor picked up a few late wickets courtesy of Andy Wigley and a tight late comeback by Dean Bean which helped slow M&B’s scoring rate towards the end of the innings as they finished on 235-6 off their 52 overs, having looked set for a score in excess of 260 at one point.

It was imperative that Windsor started their reply brightly and Kevin Condon (30) set the tone for the innings with some stylish shots in an opening partnership of 70 with Steve Ward who himself hit some fine boundaries after a slow start. Windsor were around 90-1 at the halfway mark still needing a further 146 to win with only 24 overs remaining. Losing 2 quick wickets soon after the drinks break including Ward for a fine 53 was a real setback to Windsor as the run rate required escalated to over 8 an over at one stage. However George Gould joined Richard Charters at the crease and provided a great foil for the big-hitting Charters. Their partnership picked up the pace just when Windsor needed it most and Charters hit a couple of big sixes in a 5-over spell which brought 47 runs and lowered the required rate and from then on they never looked back as Gould also hit some impressive boundaries and despite a nerve-wracking final few overs Richard Charters fittingly sealed the win off the penultimate ball to give Windsor a thoroughly merited victory to close the gap at the top of the table to just one point going into the next round of matches.

posted by Windsor Cricket Club at 7:46 PM | 0 comments

WYCOMBE DRAGONS CONNED & MUGGED!!

Wycombe Dragons 2nd XI 214-8 (T. Russell 55*)
Windsor 3rd XI 215-2 (Huggins 104*, Condon 83)

A superb 2nd wicket stand of 160 between Kevin Condon and Mark Huggins led Windsor to a fine victory at Wycombe Dragons on Saturday.

After losing the toss and being asked to field in the hot sunshine at Flackwell Heath CC, Windsor made the best possible start as George Gould found the edge of the Dragons openers’ bat in the first over of the innings without a run on the board. However some lusty blows from numbers 2 & 3 kept the scoreboard ticking along at approximately 5 an over. Sam Jordan was introduced to the attack in the 11th over and the move immediately paid dividends when he, following in Gould’s footsteps, also took a wicket in the first over, also caught behind by wicketkeeper Martin Care.

Jordan continued to bowl a nice tight line and length while at the other end Rob Hodgson took two wickets in successive overs to put Windsor firmly on the front foot. Firstly the dangerous opener N. Martin was well caught by Mohammed Alam in the deep and then the young Dragons wicketkeeper attempted a wild slog off a slower ball and was bowled. Brian Davis regularly passed the edge of the bat for no reward but it was the introduction of Andy Wigley that really tightened the screw on the Dragons. The Dragons’ batsmen found it very difficult to score runs off him and he also chipped in with a four valuable wickets. His first 12 overs cost just 24, but unfortunately for Windsor some late hitting by the Dragons lower order (including 14 off the final over) plus the valuable innings of 54 from Russell, guided their total to 214-8. Still a very respectable score from Windsor’s point of view, on a good batting surface, with a quick outfield.

The Windsor reply started well enough, but after Rob Dawson was bowled for 10 with the score on 27, Mark Huggins joined Kev Condon in the middle and the pair would bat superbly after early scares. They both passed 50 within an over of each other, with Huggins in particular hitting some big boundaries. Once the score went past the 100 mark, the Dragons players visibly wilted and the batmen showed no mercy taking Windsor past 150 and close to victory. Condon was eventually out for an excellent 83, but Huggins stayed to complete his century, finishing unbeaten on 104. Windsor completed a comfortable and fully deserved victory to cement 2nd place in the league.

posted by Windsor Cricket Club at 5:55 PM | 0 comments

SLOUGH 5’s B-LEW AWAY

Slough 5th XI 132 (Lewis 5-43)
Windsor 3rd XI 133-5 (Khan 46*)

After losing the toss and being asked to field on a bright hot & sunny day at Boyne Hill CC, the onus was on Windsor to put the hosts under pressure early on and the aim was to get a couple of wickets inside the first 10 overs.

They duly arrived courtesy of Ben Lewis having both opening batsmen caught behind by Martin Care, but only after some blistering hitting by the Slough number 2 including two big sixes which had carried Slough to 43-2 after 10 overs.

Windsor maintained this pressure all the way through the innings. Lewis and Hodgson bowled good tight first spells of 12 overs each, then George Gould and Sam Jordan carried this on through the middle overs, taking one wicket each. Jordan bowled particularly tightly to finish with 1-9 off his 7 overs. Windsor kept plugging away and took wickets at regular intervals, including a couple of run outs after sharp fielding by Andy Wigley and Ben Lewis. Lewis himself then came back at the end to claim the final 3 wickets and finish with well deserved figures of 5-43 off his 16 overs.

It was mutually agreed to play 15 overs before the tea break, and this proved to be a particularly difficult spell for the Windsor openers as the Slough opening bowlers gave little to hit and maintained a probing line and length. Kev Condon nicked one behind after a couple of good shots and makeshift opener Andy Wigley fell to the last ball before the tea interval. This left Windsor two down at tea and needing a good partnership after tea to avoid any unnecessary scares.

This came with some fine hitting and positive stroke-play from Mo Raiz Khan and Mohammed Alam as they took the attack to the Slough bowlers. Alam fell for a lively 28, and despite a wobble by the middle order, Khan (46no.) and Wayne Lloyd saw Windsor home with 5 wickets and lots of overs to spare. This earned Windsor a well deserved 20 points to cement our 2nd place position placing in the league.

posted by Windsor Cricket Club at 11:37 AM | 0 comments