|
||||
 |
LIST OF OFFICERS
As I reflect on one of the hottest July for many a year one of the highlights of the month has to be the club's float in the annual Sway Carnival. It was a splendid effort by those involved and a very enjoyable experience to have been on board. Hopefully our participation will also become annual. Continuing his success, Martin Wood ("Woody", as he is affectionately known) has proved to be an excellent choice for the captaincy, leading the team through some memorable victories. The club's annual midweek fixture against Zurich Insurance on July 14th saw a nail-biting last-ball victory for Sway, and was without doubt one of the most exciting finales, for both players and spectators, to date. Well done, Woody. Keep it up! The only real disappointment of what was a very eventful month was the cancellation of our match against London Welsh Rugby Club. Paul Miller, our president, and an ex- L.W. player himself, reported that they had some lastminute cancellations from players and did not wish to contend the match with a depleted squad. A somewhat disappointing result after twelve months' planning, but perhaps we will be more successful next year. One last note: the club's annual dinner dance and players' awards night has been scheduled for Saturday October 8th at Shorefield Country Club. Tickets will be available shortly to both members and non-members alike, so make a note in your diary and come along and join in the fun! , SWAY vs. HYDE Hyde were put into bat, and the decision was rewarded as early as the second ball when the opener was caught at square leg off Osborne's bowling without having scored. The next wicket saw the addition of 56 runs before the introduction of Sturley to the attack swung the match back in our favour. He took two wickets in his first over, including that of Hyde's most dangerous batsman, Veit (who scored 93 against us last year), to a good catch at slip by Cooksey. Sturley went on to claim four victims as the visitors were restricted to just 121 runs. Once again our openers performed well. Wood was first to go, having scored 20 runs from just five scoring hits. The loss of the second wicket might have sparked an early collapse, but Wilkie, Randell - Turner and Baker pushed the score comfortably towards the target. Suddenly, however, the game seemed to turn away from us as four wickets fell in the space of four runs, three of them with the score at 98, and we were left in the situation where the last two batsmen (once again we only fielded ten men) were left needing to score 24 runs. A combination of good fortune and good strokes saw Sturley and Osborne follow up their earlier success with the ball to steer us home by just one wicket! The season has certainly turned good for us: this was our fifth consecutive weekend without defeat. HORDLE vs. SWAY
SWAY vs. BRITISH RAIL Our first target in this game was to improve on the dismal batting display in our first meeting with BR this season. This was achieved by the opening pair, whose club-record opening stand of 68 was 17 more than the whole side achieved that day. Indeed the batting continued in similar vein, with all five who came to the crease scoring twenty-plus, Alexander becoming the first batsmen to score two half-centuries for the club. Extras top-scored, however, with a mammoth total of 52 conceded, over half in byes as our total reached yet another club best. Both our highest and lowest ever scores have now been against the same team, and in the same season! BR's response was never going to be anything other than an attempt at a draw, but those hopes disappeared the moment Sturley caught their opener at backward point off Osborne's first over with no runs scored. The visitors' innings slumped steadily to 19 for 5 before stands of 28 and 51 offered hope of a recovery, but this was short-lived and only two further runs were added. Lawrence, guesting from Lymington, claimed a wicket with his only over, before Osbome sealed victory, claiming the last to round an excellent bowling performance. SWAY vs. ZURICH INSURANCE We totally failed in this limited-overs friendly game to make any impact with the ball, and the Zurich batsmen were always on top. With it compulsory to retire at 25, however, none could really take control, and this worked in our favour, as the target set us was never really high enough. In response all but one of our batsmen batted, but with three of them retiring the result was never in danger of going against us. In the end it took some rather generous umpiring to take the match to the last ball, with erstwhile opener Wilkie running up a single to secure another Sway victory. The previous Thursday an even-friendlier friendly against Tescos, more a fun get-together in a large field than a cricket match, also resulted in a victory for us, but by a more comfortable (though apparently unrecorded!) margin. SWAY vs. NRSC Our winning run continued with the visit of National Reserve Social Club, this being our fifth successive weekend victory, and our eighth game without defeat! NRSC batted first, with opener Beck making 25, but he received no real assistance and only one other batsman reached double figures as we were set a lowly 65 to win. Yet again we adjusted the batting order, but still recorded a six-wicket victory in double-quick time. Randell - Turner top-scored with 15. CALMORE vs. SWAY
|
|
|||||||||
