James White got his Sunday season off to the best possible start with a chanceless 124no as Wooburn played out a winning draw with Little Marlow.
Little Marlow away is always a fixture that Captains never have to worry about availability for. A well maintained track and picturesque surroundings always attract a keen team, and this year was to be no exception. There was a slight doubt over Jerry Tennant, who had spent the morning dashing round London supporting a friend running the Marathon. As the captains walked into the middle, Superclub DJ Tennant was nowhere to be seen. Winning the Toss, Captain Cooper elected to set a target for the hosts to chase, and promptly donned the pads for the first time in 2007 to lead the team out, opening with Martin Dale.
The Narks innings got off to a traditionally slow start, both openers feeling their way around the wicket, Dale calling for a new bat after two balls owing to trusty his Slazenger deciding it didn\t fancy starting another season of village cricket. However Dales’ new bat was not to do him favours, and the bales flew with only 10 on the Narks scoreboard. A freshly lubricated David Small entered the fray, but failed to establish himself before flashing a drive to extra cover. A similar story was to be told for Shearer and Taylor, as Cooper saw his carefully selected top order collapse around him.
By now the crowd was sensing that the Wooburn Wobble was in full swing, and it was only a matter of time before the tail was at the crease. White however had different ideas and starting brightly, raced to a 50 with some very nicely controlled strokes and sensible cricket. With the half century barrier conquered, White turned on the style and inspired Cooper to follow his lead, both batsmen making full use of the carefully nurtured wicket.
As the firth wicket partnership flourished, the game was reduced to a mere pedestrian pace, both batsmen spraying the ball into the thick foliage surrounding the ground. This was epitomised by a classic White pull shot which battered the roof of the pavilion.
With the bulk of the work done, Cooper couldn\t quite middle another drive and mid-off took a smart catch to send him back to the pavilion for a captain’s performance innings of 71.
Chris Hall helped White bring the innings to a close with an unbeaten 9, leaving White with a sensational 124no.
After a well received Tea, Narks took to the field looking for a bowling performance to match the batting. With no word from Tennant, the club made full use of talented 12th man Ben Barker. A tight start put Little Marlow under pressure from the off, Richie Barker and Tom Lees finding good pace and lines, their efforts not being rewarded with any wickets however. Luck was not running with them as the ball regularly flew over the slips, or between White at first slip and Taylor in his specialist position of Gully. Taylor was getting frustrated with this poor run of play and vented his frustration with bouts of industrial strength language that has no place on a cricket pitch.
By the first bowling change Little Marlow still had all wickets in tact, but also had an issue with the required run rate, which was steadily creeping up. Captain Cooper had some decisions to make, and brought on the bustling David Small and ever growing talent of Matt Paine to try and inject some life into the flat lining game, and pair duly obliged. Paine was firing the ball into the batsmen with real menace, with Small generating swing and bounce at the other end. Small then claimed his first of 3 wickets, bowling Armitage for a respectable 51. It was then time for the Wooburn boys to turn up the pressure, a succession of wickets followed, and deservedly so. Taylor took a neat catch at point, off an exhibition of spin from the multi-talented White, Small bowling the long staying Cressfield, and taking the much prized scalp of Glennister thanks to a strong edge to Hall behind the stumps. It was only at this time did Tennant decide to make an appearance, a massive 5 hours late. Calls for this to be added to the clubs achievement board will be carefully considered by the committee. By this time the game was beginning to pan into a draw so Cooper made further changes to the bowling bringing in Taylor and Ben Barker into the attack. Taylor was hampered by an ankle injury despite bowling full and straight, whilst Barker B went on a mission, taking two wickets in a frantic third over that saw a smart stumping from Hall and a well taken catch from Payne. Barker was revelling in his performance all-be-it a proud dad at mid-on was cursing his bad luck after failing to get a single wicket himself.
An interesting and at times entertaining game played under sun-drenched sky’s and a cracking way to begin the season. Long may it continue .. although DJ\s valiant attempt to gain favour with his team mates by buying a round of drinks after the game may not guarantee selection ... the promise of more refreshments may!
