The Ambush v Swinbrook (12th June 2013)
Back row (l-r): Chris Grain (cpt), Baz Floyd, Mark Westaby, Tim Lowe, Stew Moss, Will Hook
Front row (l-r): Robbie Mills, Huw Neyroud, Hass Olympia, Ed Juszczak, Bill Donegan
Swinbrook CC
l-r: Joe Parker, Liam Walker, Joel Graham, Nigel White, Richie Parker, Graham Shrive, Lewis Stayte, Mark Read, Ryan Hunt, Evans Bolland, James Dover
The Ambush travelled to picturesque Swinbrook for this weeks' midweek league tie but despite some beautiful scenery and excellent batting and fielding performances, the real feature of this game was the rain. A constant, miserable drizzle that game from a leaden sky; what happened to flaming June then?
So it was a soggy Ambush that took to the field, hoping for a first league win after their encouraging batting performance at Uffington in their last outing. Tigers skipper, Chris Grain, won the toss and elected to bat. A popular decision amongst the Tigers who, looking at an early downpour, must have been expecting the game to finish early.
One of Tigers' young batting technicians, Tim Lowe opened with debutant Stewart Moss. The two looked comfortable as they took advantage of the short boundary on The Swan public house side of the ground. While Stewart dug himself in early, Tim looked to take the fight to the home side with some deft but aggressive strokeplay. The youngster's innings was cut short at 13 however when he found the hands of Shrive off the bowling of Boland.
Tim Lowe opens up to crash one through mid-wicket on his way to 13
With the departure of Lowe, skipper Chris Grain entered the fray hoping to build on an excellent 37 not out against Uffington in the last game. And so he did. As the Swinbrook bowling attack toiled away in the heavy drizzle, Stew Moss and the skipper set about them with gusto. By the time the second opener lofted to Walker off the bowling of Lewis Stayte for 25, the pair had put on over 50 for the second wicket and looked to have the home team on the ropes.
New Tiger, Stew Moss, drives through the covers on his way to 25
As the Tigers' captain continued to carve himself another decent innings and the overs ticked by however, the Ambush batting began to falter. Mark Westaby, earning his first stripes for the Tigers tonight, looked to move the scoring on quickly. But, in his quest for quick runs, our Mark misjudged one from Swinbrook's Reid and heard the rattle from behind him as he walked for 8.
A brief break in play as Swinbrook search for the ball in the brook
Next out for the Tigers was one of last weeks' batting heroes, Hass Olympia, who must have felt confident before the game following his knock of 41 against Uffington. However, his stint at umpiring and the fall of Westaby's wicket left Hass struggling to get himself to get padded up in good time. The rush to get his gear on and the desperation to add quick runs caused Hass to swing big and miss big as the first ball he faced from Stayte found its way under his bat to hit middle and off. Hass gone for a golden duck.
Tigers' skipper, Chris Grain, flicks through square leg on his way to 55
Next to leave the crease for the Tigers was the skipper as, on 55, he drove a straight one from Stayte directly back into the grateful bowler's hands.
Stayte's hat-trick ball would be at the third of the Tigers' debutants, Will Hook. Will was not in the mood for the walk back to the pavilion however. He wasn't in the mood for running between the wickets either as he decided to smash Stayte's first ball at him for 4 through long off. The young bowler's earlier jubilation at two successive wickets dissipated quickly as Hooky crashed a six and another four before running a quick single to let the other new batsman, Huw Neyroud, have a go. Not having had a chance to get his eye in however, the last ball of the innings was marked with a dot. But the Tigers had once again amassed a very competitive total of 128 and the Swinbrook batsmen would need to be on their game to knock the runs off.
As Hass Olympia and Bill Donegan opened the Tigers bowling, it looked for all the world as if the home side were heading for defeat as opener, Shrive, drove Hass into deep cover only to be smartly caught by Tim Lowe. And Shrive's opening partner, Graham, joined him on the long walk for just 1 as he hammered Bill Donegan into wide deep mid-wicket to be snapped up by Will Hook. Well a rugby player was hardly likely to drop a ball coming at pace was he?
With the openers gone, batsman Reid and Hunt looked to steady the wobbly Swinbrook ship. Hunt got off to a promising start by hitting Bill Donegan for 4 but misjudged the same shot on the next ball and skied one to Mark Westaby. Mark had a lot to do but the outcome never seemed to be in doubt as he grabbed the catch at a jog. Swinbrook were now decidedly shaky at 13 for the loss of three wickets.
Despite the Tigers' early success, Reid got himself on the front foot and in a legside assault began to amass runs at an alarming rate. Tigers' Juszczak, Hook and Robbie Mills tried to break Reid and his partner Walker but the runs continued to pile on. Even as Robbie Mills and Will Hook combined to dismiss Walker with another fantastic Hook catch at long on for 27, the battle was as good as won. Swinbrook skipper Nigel White would need to play a simple cameo as Reid powered Swinbrook over the finishing line with another mighty four.
It might have been another league defeat but an excellent batting and fielding performance by the Tigers meant that most of the Ambush came away feeling at least encouraged by those aspects of their night's work. And we should remember that both Uffington and Swinbrook are both league teams thus having players that play week in, week out.
All things considered, we're doing pretty well in our first midweek league season and Baz and Chris Grain, as always, would like to extend their sincere thanks to each and every Tiger who braved the drizzle to play a game of cricket at the end of the working day. Tigers, we salute you!
Click here to see Tigers batting and Swinbrook's bowling
And click here to see Swinbrook's batting and Tigers' bowling
Earning their first stripes for the Tigers v Swinbrook ...
Stewart Moss (63) opened his Tigers batting account with an excellent 25
Mark Westaby (64) hit a quick eight and took an excellent catch in his debut
And Witney RFC's Will Hook took two smart catches, smashed a quick 15 and turned in bowling figures of 4-0-43-0 as he became the 65th Tiger to don the orange and green since we were formed in 2009
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