Match Report

Awesome Pidgeon

The 11 Wooburn players turned up on time (guess who was the last to arrive, yet again?!) to find a pitch that would turn out to be runs for fun and a square that was roughly double the size of the one at Nark park.



The day started with an odd proposition for Dave Small, hit a six to the largest boundary and James White would perform on him! News on the result of this later on….

Paul Cooper unfortunately lost the toss and the Narks had to face the daunting task of bowling first on a hot day where runs should come easy. Little did they know that opening the batting for Taplow was Sanath Jayasuriya 2 and his foul mouthed friend. Sanath took a liking to the extra pace that Mark Tennant and Dave Small put on the ball and dispatched them to the boundary on several occasions during the opening overs. His more defensive partner was dismissed relatively early on, with Tom Lees taking a good catch off Smally.  However, this did not deter the ruthless Jayasuriya 2.



The introduction of Ritchie “short shorts” Barker slowed the batsmen down and also gave Wooburn their second wicket. A substantial partnership was then put on by Jayasuriya 2 and some guy who clearly didn\t know the meaning of the word TEAM! Some dubious decisions kept this partnership alive, the umpires reactions to some of the lbw appeals left the Narks team shaking their heads.



The run-rate was considerably slowed down by Ritchie “calves” Barker who took a further two wickets. However the introduction of spin set Jayasuriya off again which saw him pass 100 runs. The innings was prolonged by some poor Narks fielding but finally ended with Dave Small bowling Jayasuriya 2 for a well made 139.



With a batting line up filled with talent and big hitting in the lower-middle order the Narks were always confident, and were given a perfect start by openers Paul Cooper and Dave Pidgeon. Paul eventually fell for a well made 28, and was out after in the strangest possible circumstances after a Taplow player took an age to appeal after Coops knicked one down the leg side. 



Dave was joined at the wicket by Tom Lees and yet another good Narks partnership was made, with Pidge passing his fifty. The partnership was ended when Tom edged a quicker ball that hit the wicket keeper\s thigh and landed perfectly in 1st slips hands, needless to say Tom was unimpressed! He had made 28.



James White looked in good touch, yet again, before miss timing one to a fielder that could catch! Dave Pidgeon then passed his 100 after hitting several sixes over the fence, surprisingly no balls were lost.



Jerry rounded off what was an uncharacteristically poor day with a duck, he is obviously saving his best for the league matches. The Narks were closing in on the target, however the run rate was still reasonably high. Thankfully Luke Carter and Rob Hall were able to give Pidge the strike as well as getting important runs themselves.



In the final overs Pidge peppered the short, leg side boundary and passed his 150, not bad for his first innings of the season! He was eventually run out for 154 and the final runs were knocked off well by Dave Small and a glorious pulled 4 from Rob Hall.



A great victory for the Narks and their 3rd highest run chase of all time.

Rather fortunately for all involved Dave Small was unable to hit a six and an embarrassing and life-scaring moment was avoided. Although Whitey did look slightly disappointed, Keep an eye on him Mrs White!