A patched up Wooburn Narkovians 1st XI put up a good fight before going down by 79 runs to fellow promotion contenders Finchampstead 3rd XI. Fielding just one player from last week’s team, and with four players making the first appearance of the season, Wooburn surpassed expectations by performing excellently in the field and then reaching 91-2 in reply. However, reality eventually took hold and a disappointing, but not unexpected, batting collapse destroyed their hopes of victory.
Finchampstead opted to bat on winning the toss, making a solid start against the pace of Phil Cuthbert and the guile of Rob Rogers. The wicket offered plenty of encouragement to the bowlers, with spin and some variable pace and bounce, but Finchampstead’s openers survived to add 73 for the first wicket before Potter was run out. Rogers then brought Wooburn back into the game with three quick wickets, the visitors finding themselves in some trouble at 124-5.
Clarke and Henderson then added an important 58 for the sixth wicket, Wooburn’s back up bowlers not quite finding the consistency needed. Cuthbert returned to remove both men, both brilliantly caught by a diving Dave Rogers, Rob Rogers then completing a fine spell by polishing off the tail and ending with figures of 5-83.
For Wooburn, much depended on the top order, but they got off to a bad start when Stuart Foster, persuaded out of retirement for this game, fell to an inswinging yorker. Dave Rogers and Alan Cuthbert worked hard to build a stand of 56 in difficult batting conditions. Paceman Whiteman extracted disconcerting lift, hitting the ambitious young wicket-keeper’s helmet on one occasion.
But it was left arm spinner Brown who caused most problems. His seemingly innocuous deliveries were transformed by the variable bounce and pace of the pitch, making run scoring very difficult. Cuthbert departed for a hard fought 22, but stand-in captain, Angus Porter, continued the fight, striking four boundaries before he too was deceived by the pace and bounce.
Wooburn hopes now rested on Dave Rogers, and the Wooburn opener battled his way to 43 before miscuing a skier to deep mid off. With Rogers’ dismissal, the innings subsided, eight wickets falling for 19 runs. Brown finished with 5-31, and medium pacer Simmonite took 4-21, while offering plenty of advice to Wooburn’s lower order.
TVL selector and secretary, Kevin Fraser, looked in to check the form of Wooburn paceman Mark Tennant, witnessing instead a ‘Wooburn wobble’ of epic proportions.
A bad result, but the Wooburn team could be proud of their efforts in this match. We look forward to the return of the real 1st XI next week.
