Scorecard

Oratory School, Reading v Incogniti Cricket Club Incogniti CC on Wed 26 Jun 2019 at 11.30
Match was Drawn

Match report On a cloudy morning but with the prospect of good weather later in the day it was an unfortunate toss to lose. The school had no hesitation and asked us to bat. Due to the deluge over the previous evening the pitch had been undercover and was a touch two-paced to say the least.

The openers found it tough going against a youthful but accurate opening bowling attack. We found ourselves 22 for 4 within the first hour with all of the batsmen undone by the ball sticking in the pitch or variable bounce. Ben Birtles and Seb Eyre set about patiently rebuilding the innings. Their application and technique saw us through to lunch without further losses, but with the score still only on 73 off 31 overs there was still work to be done.

After an excellent lunch the pair set about trying to move the score on. Seb was the first to fall to the opposition skipper to a ball that did more than a bit for a patient 25. A carbon copy delivery saw off Paul Lyes soon after leaving the Incogniti in dire need of a partnership. Alex Smith batting down the order moved the score on to three figures with Ben Birtles before Ben was undone for 41. Nav Malik (22) joined Alex (35) and they continued to build the score towards something respectable, potentially defendable or wishfully match winning. Through positive running between the wickets and a more aggressive approach the Incogs moved the score to 153 all out; something to bowl at on a pitch that was still doing a bit for seamers and spinners alike.

After tea we set out in search of quick wickets and the Incogs first ever win in this fixture. Zak Tunda (guest / candidate) and Ben Birtles opened the bowling with early success coming at both ends. A combination of good bowling a helpful pitch and excellent fielding meant we had the school on the defensive after the first 10 overs. With the match winners from the 2 preceding fixtures back in the pavilion we were feeling confident. In a side story the skipper whom we dropped 5 times last year on his way to a match winning century was excellently caught by Alex Smith diving forward at square leg, he couldn't believe it.

After a decent opening spell it was time to introduce a bit of left arm spin and swing as the two Toms took over the bowling duties. Tom Whyte (1 for 6 off 6) put the squeeze on from one end and Tommy Pegler (5 for 35 off 12) took wickets from the other end including his first ever hat trick. It was a classy piece of bowling luring the his first victim from his crease with Seb taking a tidy stumping, the second wicket was caught just behind square and a relieved Gilly held onto a high catch at mid-off.

With the score only on 74 for 7 our tails were up and hopes of a first victory were high. The school were not going to be rolled over easily though and good partnerships between their opener and numbers 9 &10 kept them going well into the last 20 overs. Tommy kept going and threatened throughout his excellent spell while we rotated the bowling between Whyte, Jackson and Birtles at the other end in search of the last 2 wickets.

With all 4 results still possible going into the final overs it was a thrilling game to be involved in. The final over to be bowled by Tommy they required 13 to win and Incogs needed 2 wickets. Tommy obliged with his first delivery, but unfortunately couldn't shift their mainstay. It was an excellent match, played in the right spirit with the school still going for it until the final 5 deliveries.

My thanks go to Claire and |Gordon for scoring and umpiring duties as well as all those who played. Anyone yet to play this fixture should make it a priority, the ground is beautiful, the cricket of a decent standard and the hospitality at lunch and tea top notch.

Incogniti Cricket Club Incogniti CC Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
3nb 3w 5lb 
for 10 wickets
11
143		        
Neil Gill ct Thorby b T Winterbottom 9 2
A.N. Other b O Winterbottom 3 2
Naveed Saeed ct & B O Winterbottom 2
Yusuf Jackson ct & B T Winterbottom 7
Seb Eyre b Wallace 25 1
Ben Birtles ct Thorby b Saunders 41
Paul Lyes b Wallace 0
Alexander Smith lbw b Wallace 34 1
Naveed Malik b Wallace 22 1
Tommy Pegler Run out  0 1
Robert Tierney Not Out  0

Oratory School, Reading Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
No records to display.

Oratory School, Reading Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
4nb 1b 2lb 
for 9 wickets
7
132 (38.0 overs)		     
M. Williams Not Out  73
G. Ganagbalam ct Malik b Birtles 0
H. Thorby ct Ct &b Tunda 1
J. Wallace ct Ct Smith b Tunda 7
O. Winterbottom lbw b Whyte 15
N. Majakas st Eyre b Pegler 10
G. Tikolani ct Tunda b Pegler 0
B. Griffiths ct Gill b Pegler 0
M. Macrae ct Gill b Pegler 9
T. Winterbottom ct Ct & B Pegler 17
C. Thomas Not Out  0

Incogniti Cricket Club Incogniti CC Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Ben Birtles10.0159159.005.90
A.N. Other7.0025212.503.57
Tommy Pegler12.023557.002.92
Yusuf Jackson3.001100.003.67

  • Umpire :
    Gordon Whickman
  • Scorer :
    Claire Whickman