A fine spell of medium-pace bowling from Dave Small, with good support from Rob Rogers, brought the 2nd XI a welcome 25 points in their match with fellow strugglers Maidenhead & Bray 2nd XI. Small, operating off a shortened run, finished with the excellent figures of 6-41, as Wooburn won by 73 runs.
Desperate for points after recent defeats, Wooburn opted to bat first on a glorious hot afternoon at Wooburn Park. They made a decent start, Alan Cuthbert and Paul Cooper adding 41 for the first wicket, before Cooper was given out caught behind. Rob Smith soon followed bringing Angus Porter to the wicket. The third wicket pair progressed the score to 96, Porter enjoying the left-arm bowling of Khan. Bray\‘s skipper, Alam, belatedly came into the attack, and soon dismissed Cuthbert for 51.
Porter carried on to make a fine 77 not out, holding the middle order together. He received good support from Rob Rogers, who hit a memorable six, but was then caught next ball trying to repeat the shot. Ben Sturgess helped the score past 175 at the end, and a final total of 178-9 was not going to be an easy target.
Dave Small and Richard Barker opened the bowling, and Small soon had his first wicket, Rogers taking a good low catch in the gully. Barker was expensive early on, with Razalat going for his shots and hitting the ball well. Small eventually got him with a yorker, and went on to remove Bray\‘s top four batsmen.
Rogers replaced Barker at the Church End, starting with an over of full tosses which Baskerville obligingly stroked straight to fielders. For his next over, Alam was on strike. Determined to show his partner how it was done, he hit the first ball straight down Rob Smith\‘s throat at long on. This effectively ended Bray\‘s resistance, Rogers and Small cleaning up the tail. Last man Armstrong connected with a couple of defiant strokes, before giving Small his sixth wicket. Rogers finished with 4-11.
