WCC V CHIPPENHAM 4^TH MAY

 Chippenham 185
WCC 171

WCC lost by 14

Another Sunday another full side. Or so we thought. Pre-match sharpeners were blighted by the news that Sparkles had done his back and was out. Shortly afterwards came a call from Peter Lee who’d gone to Chippenham in Wiltshire, then off the first ball of the match Husaini turned in the field and tore a calf muscle. It’s only a matter of time before the Government replaces the discredited ASBO with the captaincy of the Weekenders as a reality check for young offenders. But d’Inverno’s face wore its usual benign smile as he bagged a brace of boys from the oppo.

Chippenham’s Heather made beefy runs against us again but largely thanks to Dunne’s rejuvenated bowling and a stupendous catch from Richie Patel the hosts’ innings suffered a mid-life crisis. Dunne seemed to shed as many years as calories as he bustled through to his first five-for for a while, followed by a well-earned plate of warmed sausage rolls.

There were useful contributions from most of our top order, notably Dunne and Hickman making his debut. The borrowed boys did us proud but it was Richie Patel’s gutsy, well-paced innings that steered us to a winning position. Needing 43 off the last twelve overs with six wickets in hand it was a done deal.  As cakewalks go, it was in the bag with icing on its cherry.

Predictably enough the Enders dug deep to produce a platinum class choke and expired fifteen runs short.

Chippenham 185 all out from 41 overs

Heather 86
Douglas 9-1-31-1; Dibley 11-2-39-1; Patel 4-0-32-1; Dunne 10-0-48-5; L Ward 4-1-6-1; Hickman 3-0-17-1
Catches: Lyons (wk) 2, Dibley 1, Hickman 1, Patel 1.
Stumping: Lyons 1

WCC 171 all out from 35 overs

Husaini 4, L Ward 7, Patel 74, Hickman 20, Dunne 21, Lyons 1, S Ward 15, Douglas 8, Vuletich 2, Dibley 3* d’Inverno 2
Debuts: L Ward, S Ward