WCC v Princes Risborough 27^th April

Princes Risborough 172-5 dec

WCC  176-4

WCC won by six wickets

Three sides turned up to play this new fixture at Princes Risborough’s splendid ground. When we arrived the other set of visitors were already there in matching shellsuits kicking a football around. Not that we were intimidated but it would have taken us far too long to remove our clogs and espadrilles to join in so we just watched politely. After a tense twenty minutes it appeared that, for once, the fault wasn’t ours and our rivals were sent away. The Weekenders took the field, relief tempered by anxiety that it wouldn’t be long before the home team started wishing they’d played the other lot.

The groundsman here used to be on the groundstaff at Lord’s and he’d prepared a belting track with plenty of pace and carry. Unfortunately neither bowlers or batters were able to exploit it much. A father and son pair, whose chunkiness belied their cautious approach, got the Princes Risborough innings off to an unusually steady start. Things became, if anything, steadier as the innings progressed and, apart from young Pitt who made 80, the star performer was probably d’Inverno whose bowling changes somehow chivvied the hosts to 172.

Not to be outdone in the steadiness department, the Weekenders soon managed to get behind the asking rate. And with 16 scored off the first ten overs it looked all over bar the  incoherent shouting. But there was a beer-style drink called Creamflow on tap in the bar and an abundance of all-weather armchairs from which to watch our gentle slide to oblivion, so no one was too upset.

Except that is for Sparkles Cooper who strode onto the square at 100 for 4 determined to strike a blow against the forces of steadiness.  

He scored 65 in 19 scoring strokes off, we think, 24 balls. It was, unlike the Creamflow, intoxicating stuff and it was over before the home side had time to do anything about it. Sparkles turned a target of 73 off  seven overs into an easy win with an over to spare. The last time a Weekender transformed a game like this was at Chippenham just under a year ago. The batsman then as now – the Sparkler.

Princes Risborough 172-5 dec
Overs 42.4

D Pitt 82, R Nunn 37.
Douglas 10-2-22-1; Bowman 9-2-19-0; Dibley 6-0-22-1; Cooper 9-0-42-1; d’Inverno 2-0-27-0; Dunne 3.4-0-13-1; Harvey; 3-0-17-1.
Catches: Lee (wk)1, Cooper 1
Stumping: Lee 1

WCC 176-4
37 overs

Lee 23, Harvey 6, Bowman 22, Lyons 21*, Dunne 28, Cooper 65*
DNB: Douglas, Dibley, Vuletich, d’Inverno

DEBUT: Bowman