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     Originally, this week was a "home" game at Frimley Recreation ground, but as we needed to put into the conference we decided to go for away instead. 54th OCA near Worcester Park were a totally unknown quantity to us on this overcast but gradually clearing day. Matt won the toss and put us into bat but his luck ran out on the first ball of the game when, as non-striker, he was run out taking a second run that looked increasingly tight, too tight in fact! After that we struggled against both tight and wayward bowling (there were 18 wides). Dave Lamb proved that runs were possible with a determined innings, however he remained the only West Endian to reach double figures.

     Two wickets were ground out of 54th OCA but with opener Dolby belting the ball hard, there was to be but one result. That came in the 14th over as another delivery screamed toward the boundary for a massive six - in fact into the tennis courts the other end of the park. As far as Medium-Weak goes via the Club Cricket Conference, this was a probably slight mismatch, not helped by our only having nine players that day!

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     It has been ten years or more since we last played Lyne, who still play on a lifeless artificial pitch. This was a remarkably similar event to the previous week (see above), save for the rather hot weather. WECC batted first and each batsman was out for less than five apiece, apart from Tim Lamb who, like his brother Dave last week, scored most of our runs - 41 from 68. Extras were the second highest score at 13. It needed a miracle in our fielding with some tight bowling.

     We set to the task with an hour to go before tea and Adie Barrett and Craig Weston kept niggling away in the heat. Soon, there were breakthroughs as Weston trapped Richardson leg before, and the left-arm, over the wicket Barrett got a quicker one to straighten and caught a surprised Griffiths in an identical manner. The latter bowled Carter without troubling the scorer but no.4 Winter was digging in and picking out the less than exemplorary delivery. Suddenly 23 for 3 became 43 for 3 at tea. The miracle never arrived. in the second over after tea Winter - despite playing and missing a few times - continued his power hitting at a rapidly increasing rate and Lyne won within 16 overs.

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     The annual derby for the Gladys Chitty Memorial Cup. Usually a good game, with an even spread of winners over the years. Beefy Turner won the toss (Matt was away) and we batted first. Tim in his natural opening position took control of proceedings, though lost Johnno Greathead in the second over for 0. Succeeding men scored steadily but Brookwood's bowlers kept reigning in any small escape from their mean bowling from time to time. Tim was eventually bowled by Wills (one of four for him) for 47. In an attempt to push the score along Terry Axe was bowled with the final ball of the innings: do or die. 

     Brookwood kept pace with the run rate and almost every batsman got of the mark. Wills, who did the damage in West End's innings, started the early runs flowing and those that followed retained the momentum. West End's bowlers fought hard early on but Brookwood took a firmer grip and the game slid slowly away, despite hope brought by a couple of later wickets. Boy, we need a win.

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     Another fixture which can go either way. Last year we lost this match to the weather but today was a blisterer. The pitch was something else: by that, deliveries held up slightly and the bounce was variable, but slight. Pirbright's bowlers - especially the opening pair, Millar and Ward - were exceptionally mean and frustrating. Their finished combined analysis was 17-10-19-3. It was the seventh over before we bothered the scorer; at twenty overs the score was only 22. Only three of WECC's batsman made double figures and the innings finished in the 40th over, time for tea.

     In reply, Pirbright had a not-so-easy ride either but they managed to edge ahead of the run rate, a trend that continued throughout their innings. Wickets fell regularly though with quite a few just missing the edge of the bat. Dave Lamb missed what would normally be an easy catch but it was lost in the sun, a couple more difficult chances were also put down. Some mis-hits also managed to find the gaps between the fielders especially from Howard Turner who grafted through 16 consecutive overs in the sometimes stifling heat. Millar was the last batsman required though, a few hard-hit fours sealing West End's fate of yet another loss. Hopefully, we can get some recompense toward the end of the season. What we really need is more runs to either defend of catch up with.

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