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BGCC 1st XI vs
Worcester CC
With the ground looking a picture and Tim Williams back from his trip to the
supermarket to purchase the sandwich fillings home skipper Chris Smedley
called correctly at the toss and elected to bat first against his former
club.
Some early movement was extracted from the pitch by the Worcester opening
attack of Weston and Keyte(jnr) however this was interspersed with some
rusty bowling with a number of extras and 4 balls served up. Weston still
managed to strike an early blow dismissing Golder LBW after the batsman had
caressed an early loose offering to the cover boundary.
The entire top 6 bar Kev Golder spent a little time at the crease with both
Rich Williams and Chris Smedley getting to 19, however Worcester who mixed
up their seam attack managed to take regular wickets until Tim Williams
joined utility player Jez Clarke at the crease. Tim was happy to offer the
majority of the strike to the broad shouldered Clarke who dispatched
punishing blows to all areas of the ground. He was particularly harsh on
former Green player Dan McKay who needed assistance from a local taxi
company to retrieve one of Clarke’s lusty blows.
Clarke entered the 42nd and final over on 90 and was unlucky to offer a
chance early in the over which was accepted on the point boundary. After
being 80-6 home skipper Smedley was delighted to have posted a total of 249
as he entered the tea room to see all 3 of his horses fall quickly out of
contention in the Aintree Grand National.
Worcester’s reply could not have got off to a worse start with talented
opener Bolton offering a simple catch to mid on off the evergreen Williams
to leave Worcester 4-1 at the end of the 1st over. Williams and Spencer
carried the attack to the Worcester batters and also suffered with some
early season rustiness as Simon Keyte seized on anything loose and looked in
fine early season form. After a brief spell at the bowling crease by Richard
Brown spin was the order of the day and Andy Ford was joined by his spin
twin Chris Smedley who managed to put the brakes on the Worcester run rate.
Ford was unlucky not have Keyte stumped by keeper Adam Binks, the umpire
ruling that Keyte has just managed to regain his ground. Regular wickets
halted the flow of runs and this pressure led to McKay being dismissed for a
well made 50 and Smedley claiming the wicket of the dangerous Keyte for 57
as vicious turn and bounce penetrated his unwise cut stroke.
Some of the Worcester youngsters managed to dig in towards the end of the
innings as the required run rate rose to 9 per over but the pressure put on
by the spinners managed to make their task impossible. Williams retuned to
take a late wicket finishing with figures of 2-66 off his 10 overs, Clarke
completed a fine all round display with figures of 2-20. By far the pick of
the bowlers however were Andy Ford, 2-33 and Smedley who showed great jug
avoidance skills returning figures of 4-30.
In the end therefore the Green turned out worthy winners and started the
season in a manner which they hope will continue.
BGCC 249 all out- Clarke 90, Williams Jnr 25, Potter 3-27
Worcester 212 all out- Keyte 57, McKay 50, Smedley 4-30.
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