Hatfield v Chorleywood

'WOOD TO WILE FOR HATFIELD

A beautiful day and a beautiful pitch greeted the noble warriors as we descended onto Hatfield. Chorleywood fielded a strong side for this match bringing in Ryan Hodgkinson to strengthen the batting after posting there season best score the week before.

There were no surprises considering the weather and our line-up when Tonka decided to bat first.

However things got of to a shaky start after Seaholme chipped one to extra cover with 0 on the board in the second over. This bought Osman to the crease and while he looked the part with some well structured shots he then fell to a grubber that didn't get above ankle height. This man is looking pregnant with runs and it won't be long before he gives birth on a pitch near you.

So with the 'wood struggling Hodgkinson came to the crease to try and put the innings back on course. Ryan set about constructing a very fine innings by mixing intelligent stroke play with hard hitting. Williams provided the perfect foil for this partnership by picking up runs and leaving Hodgkinson to set about quietly demolishing the opposition. At one point 'wood were looking at posting 200+ before Ryan gloved one behind of the spinner Rock for an excellent 51. Then Reeve after making a couple of good clean hits for 11 holed out to deep mid-wicket and when Saville hit one down long-off's throat for 0 'wood were tottering on 130-5 with Swan taking all 3 wickets.

Ruskin was next in and with Williams into his stride 'wood looked to consolidate and continue their push forward. Williams was then given out LBW for 29 when he looked to accelerate after playing some nice shots in the last over while Ruskin was getting to grips with Swan, launching him through mid-wicket for 6.

Tonka also looked to favour the bowling before he was slow out of the blocks after a quick call from Ruskin which saw him given run out. DTipping was unfortunate to have his off-stump clipped from a ball pitching short while Junior was out after he tried to call for a quick single making him Ruskin's 2^nd victim for the day Run Out. Calvin-ul-haq finished on 20* as 'wood declared on 159-9

So with about 43 overs to get 160 Hatfield needed a good start, surprisingly after an innings of pure punishment from the 'wood batsman the ball was still in good nick and had some shine which the Tyler's used to good effect. The breakthrough came in the second over when Junior who seemed to be able to swing the ball both ways gave the opener a pearler in his first over. He received a ball starting on off stump and then proceeding to swing in and tear out his leg stump. In the very next over Tonka removed the armor clad number 3 without scoring after getting one to lift off a length and flick the glove before being caught behind for 0, the 'wood were on top and looking to tidy up.

The word around the slip cordon was that Junior was visible quicker then his brother and proceeded to bowl his best spell for the club. However justice did not prevail this time and he received no extra reward as the batsman looked to consolidate and hope that 'wood had nothing left in the hutch after the "Tyler two".

They didn't reckon on Chris Saville though coming on 1^st change. Wile who has had an excellent season so far thrived on the bouncy pitch and managed to add an extra zip of this pitch as the batsman struggled to get him away or even get near it. Wile's first victim was the other opener who he bowled off-stump, two overs later after the batsman missed one outside off-stump going forward Calvin had the bails off and he departed for 0 stumped.

The same fate then occurred for the next batsman, however with a lot more luck. The ball left the batsman outside off-stump fizzed through hitting Calv on the glove via the pad and onto the stumps with the batsman stranded, a nice piece of luck but when they're skipper was cleaned up by Wile going for a big shot Hatfield were 6 down.

By this stage 20 overs had been flashed up and D Tipping was on at the other end and after inducing the edge on more then one occasion he managed to bowl Austin for 0. Edges not finding players and some dubious non-leg bye calling ruined Rock Star's figures but with Saville going for 2 runs per wicket, runs were not a problem for 'wood as Hatfield looked to try and salvage a draw.

With 7 overs remaining Tonka took the decision to toss Sosman the ball. By this stage Perciful had reached a nice 50 and was looking to bat out the remaining overs for a draw. However when Sosmans first ball fizzed past his nose this thought quickly disappeared.

Wile took his 5th wicket after Reeve took a smart catch to dismiss Perciful after making 55. 5 overs left with 9 and 10 batsman in and Sosman starting his 2nd over he made no mistake mopping the tail up. After ripping out no 9's off-stump he then conjured up a lifter for the left handed batsman first ball which was taking at square leg by Hodgkinson leaving him with figures of 2-1 off 2 overs.

The result shows the 'wood win by 60 runs or more accurately with 6 overs to spare.

An excellent atmosphere was generated whilst fielding to help focus on the target and Tonka must be a very happy man with the effort his team showed. With Wile's figures of 5-11 off 9 overs and Hodgkinson's 51 standing out everyone contributed to the performance and we can look forward to next week.