Wickham & Stodmarsh

Match Report

Another lovely afternoon found the Stragglers at Goodnestone for the game against Wickham & Stodmarsh, which proved to be a virtual carbon copy of 2008. Batting first with an unusually strong top order, the Straggler plan was somewhat dented, when the openers were back in the hutch with 13 on the board. However, Patrick Mitchell (centurion in the same fixture last year) and Toby Cox retrieved the situation. Patrick was overshadowed somewhat by both Toby and then Carl Brown, as they hogged the strike, but neither were able to complete aggressive starts into really big scores, Toby bowled for 61 and Carl for 47. Patrick, however, eased his way past 50 with a six, and then repeated the feat to reach his century, holing out on 104 (one more than last year). Tom Wood joined in with a late flurry, and an early declaration followed at 263 for 6. During his innings, Toby Cox became the seventh Straggler to pass 3,000 career runs.

The pace attack was lead by Toby Snape, successful with his first ball swinging yards and clipping the top of off stump. He repeated the feat twice more to finish with 3 for 10 from five overs. Chris Lark joined in, supported by an athletic catch by Patrick behind the stumps, and W & S were 17 for 4. The Chairman brought himself on to bring them back into the game, but wickets continued to fall, as Jeff Thompson look alike, Philip Hook, picked up two more in a spell of 5-1-8-2. With only 14 overs bowled, W & S had collapsed to 76 for 8. However, in a reprise of the 2008 game, the tail proved harder to dislodge. Surviving the spin of James Chamberlain and the raw pace of Toby Cox (only able to bowl a very short spell, as he had a ferry to catch), the last two wickets fell to Tom Wood with the score at 157, concluding a victory by 106 runs.