2015 - The Year when Wargrave got its very own Folklore…!!!

2015 - The Year when Wargrave got its very own Folklore…!!!

The entire 2015 season was an up and down affair for the Wargrave Ones but it was great to see the team never lose its focus, team spirit and most importantly its urge to win every game no matter what the outcome of the previous game was.

On 5th September Wargrave Ones faced their old rivals and neighbours Hurst for their final game of the season. The equation was quite straight forward; win the game and leave the final result to luck, destiny and fortune. Wargrave Ones played well against the Div2 Champions Boyne Hill previous weekend after almost snatching victory from the jaws of defeat and all we wanted was to take that confidence into the final game of the season.

The entire Club congregated around 10.45 a.m. at the Rec to get their picture taken with their respective teams and it was great to see the entire Club turn up for the last league game of the season. After filling ourselves with Bacon Baps, courtesy Huw, the Ones were looking forward to winning the toss and bat first.

Unfortunately Mandip (Birthday Boy) lost the toss and Hurst decided to bat first, thus removing any chance of a 25 point win. At that moment all the odds were against us as now Bagshot CC had to only target 8 points to stay up in Div2. We left those thoughts aside and got down to the task at hand. Putting us in the field did charge us up and you could feel that the team was now really pumped up.

Alex and Mandip opened our bowling session and it was amazing to see Alex bowl with a lot of aggression and passion. He was virtually unplayable and he was just carrying on with his spell in Boyne Hill last weekend. Mandip was the first to get the breakthrough by trapping M.Carroll lbw for a quick 25 after two loud consecutive lbw appeals. Soon after that Alex then got his first wicket. Hurst scorecard then read 40/2 and when Euan and Mandip took 2 more wickets in quick succession you could feel that something special was in store for the Wargrave Ones. Mandip then took the prize wicket of the dangerous G. Smith for just 9 runs. When 38-0 quickly turned into 70-6 , Wargrave Ones were feeling very confident about wrapping up Hurst’s innings quickly.

It took Wargrave Ones 20 more runs to get their next breakthrough as Hurst were resisting to buckle under pressure but Mandip and Euan kept bowling at the right areas and kept them on their toes. The Woods’ Brothers then got into action and took 2 wickets apiece and ended Hurst’s innings at 121. Mandip Sohi and Alex Woods ended up taking 4 wkts each and Euan Woods took 2.

The Woods’ show continued further during teas as Michelle served us with an amazing tea where we discussed on what lied ahead for us for the rest of the season, football for a few, taking a break from cricket for a few and lifting 190 kgs for one.

Wargrave Ones were feeling quite confident given the low target to chase but Mandip and Luke kicked off our batting innings with the sole purpose of getting us to a good start. The team was keen to improve its batting skills against a good spin attack and given spinners got most of the wickets for Wargrave it was right to assume that, but how wrong were we!

Andew Cording used Wargrave pitch to his advantage and bowled at the right line and length and was instrumental in reducing Wargrave Ones to 28/6 in a matter of few overs. Neal Robinson at the other end watched wickets falling every few balls and you can see he was getting frustrated with the way the other batsman were getting out, playing across the line.

Neal, armed with Mandip’s 2lb 12oz bat, then took matter in his own hands. When Faaez got out caught by the keeper, Huw went into the middle to join Neal. You could see Huw was pumped up esp. as I was with him when Luke mentioned, “show us how to bat Huw” to which Huw said in his very friendly demeanor, “to be brutally honest, that’s not the point Luke” and boy did he prove that point. Next ball, Huw Thomas was dropped by A.Ruddock from his own bowling. Taking advantage of this opportunity his “wait on” grew louder and louder and Neal showed more confidence in Huw as he was clearing boundaries at will at the other end and giving strike to Huw. It was clean power hitting from Neal and his distinctive walk behind the stumps, not looking at the ball after hitting it long over the ropes was becoming a common sight, much to the delight of the batsmen back in the hut.

Neal and Huw pulled off an amazing victory from the jaws of definite defeat (from 48/9 to 123/9 with Neal on 78 not out) and the entire team ran into the middle when Huw smashed the ball (one of many things that gets smashed by him that day) behind gully for the winning runs.

Wargrave eagerly awaited the result from the Bagshot game and to their surprise, Hayes had done them a massive favour. Hayes had beaten Bagshot (6 points) and therefore, Bagshot (215) were relegated, and Wargrave CC (216) were saved.

C’mon the Wargrve Ones and let’s make sure we give all the Div 2 teams a good fight next year with more preparation and hardwork during the winter. Until then let’s just savour the amazing victory and talk more about it during winter as we prepare for another stint at Div 2.

I distinctly remember Tom walking towards me earlier during the day and saying “Sunny, if Huw and Neal pull this off, it would be sang as a folklore in Wargrave for years to come” and yes indeed, we do have one now.

So here’s to the Wargrave Folklore which needs to be passed on to future generations for years to come in our friendly, welcoming and loving Cricket Club with great members, Wargrave CC.

Skipper Sohi’s comments on the situation: “ If there was anyone I could have picked for this type of surreal challenge, it would have been Neal. For Neal Robinson, this situation was like having a good net session…! And he did promise me a lovely birthday present anyways...!”

Match Report by – Sunil Kumar