Roberts Century Leads VCL Boys to Victory

Sun.22^nd July 2018
Village Cricket League
Effingham .v. Loxwood

With at least six senior Sunday VCL players unavailable for this attractive fixture, Effingham took the opportunity to promote some of the younger members, including four colts.

Asked to bat first, the visitors got off to a reasonable start with 25 on the board before losing opener Adam Iqbal for 16. That soon became 25-2 with the early departure of No.3, Ben Windsor. A brief recovery took the score to 33 after 10 overs when Josh Farrell was bowled for a very patient one run, having faced over 30 balls.

The time had come for some sensible batting and that is exactly what 18 year old captain Joe Roberts and Tom Cobb produced in a solid partnership of 51, before Tom Cobb was bowled for a very competent 17. 84-4 moved on to 84-5 when Tom’s younger brother, Sam followed immediately, leaving Owyn Haylings to face the dreaded hat-trick ball. He made sure that the bowler didn’t do any more damage and with Joe Roberts gaining confidence and playing some excellent shots, they lifted the visitor’s score to 110-6 when Owyn Haylings was bowled in the 29^th over for a very stubborn 14.

This young Effingham side were showing some real determination and although Simon Fuller departed at 126-7, Joe Roberts had shown no sign of wanting to leave the crease and another partnership of 27 moved the total on to 153-8. Both Ollie Tebbitts with 6 and Sam Partridge, 5, promoted from their normal U16 and U13 roles respectively, offered valuable support to Joe Roberts, which meant that he was anxiously approaching the prospect of reaching his first century. With No.11 Ian Barnard at the wicket at 167-9, he kept the score moving and despite only having 4 overs left, Joe Roberts continued to find the boundary all-round the ground, finishing with a brilliant 118 not out, in a total of 208-9dec.

Owyn Hayling opened the bowling for Effingham with a maiden, and at the other end, Ollie Tebbitts shrugged off two boundaries before taking the first wicket, with only 8 runs on the board. His next two overs cost only a single in each and he struck again, finishing with 2-30 in his 4 overs, leaving the home side on 18-2.

Not wanting to be left out of the action, Owyn Haylings took two wickets in consecutive balls, setting up the second possible hat-trick of the match; but again it was avoided, leaving him with 2-30 off 5 overs and the scoreboard had the somewhat unexpected look of 18-4.

Loxwood’s middle order started to turn things round with a rapid 56 partnership, but with the score on 74, things swung back in Effingham’s favour when three wickets fell very quickly. Bowling changes had created the opportunity for two new wicket takers to underline the versatility of Effingham’s attack – Ben Windsor took 2-9 in his first over, but with 6 and 15 off his next two, his final figures suffered a little at 2-30 from his three overs: 74-6.

Sam Partridge had been brought on after a succession of fours and sixes in the partnership of 56 and he bowled very accurately, claiming his first wicket in his second over for a very economical 1-3, which took the score to 78-7. This left the home side facing an uphill battle, which prompted a few boundaries in Sam’s next couple of overs, but he showed a great deal of maturity by coming back with two more wickets in three balls to finish with 3-22 in his 5 overs. With Loxwood on 131-9, Effingham were sensing victory and the final bowling change brought on young Tom Cobb, who has taken wickets on a regular basis this season. With the first ball of his second over, he didn’t disappoint and his 1-7 left Loxwood all out for 131 – a very well-deserved, 77 run victory for a young Effingham team that played throughout with great confidence.

Ray Pritchard