Return of the snake insufficient for Windsor 3s!

On Saturday Windsor 3rd 11 were hosted by high flying Chiswick and Latymer 2nd 11, this time
without previous weeks man of the match J. Ganapathy. On what seemed a very bowler friendly
green top Haynes won the toss and following a team consultation decided to bowl. Windsor once
again showed that even without the 7 frontline bowlers the 2nd 11 had they were still able to control
the Chiswick attack with the score at 97 at drinks following very tidy opening spells from D. Bean,
the ever impressive I. Smith and the recently promoted Ollie Jordan. After drinks Haynes decided
to turn to spin and with the return of both J. Grewal and Kevin ‘the snake’ Condon the 3 rd 11 had 2
recognised spinners. Unfortunately for Grewal today wasn’t to be his day, he did however show in
glimpses what he can offer to Windsor, however the Chiswick batsman took a strong liking to his
bowling. Condon however bowled a respectable 10 overs until Chiswick’s number 4, a pinch hitter,
decided to get after him and sent a couple of large bombs into the distant housing estate. Chiswick
completed their 52 overs on a large 273 for 7. Irrelevant of the mammoth score Windsor’s bowling
attack stuck to their task and actually bowled very well.

A very impressive tea was had by all and Windsor then looked to chase down the target. Windsor’s
start didn’t go to plan and the early exits of Rob Noble, O Jordan and R. Borg meant that the
possibility of victory was none. So with Haynes and Richard Noble at the crease it was decided
to hold out for a draw. With Haynes going before drinks, Lickely shortly after and Lloyd retiring
hurt it turned to Noble and Condon to try and withstand a very good Chiswick attack which
they did remarkably well with bat, pad and head. Condon looked to increase the tempo with a
number of delightful shots including the accustomed slog sweep which reaped a number of much
needed runs. The outstanding partnership was eventually broken when Noble edged behind to
the change in bowler. Although not one of his most eye catching or fruitful innings this could still
have been Noble’s most influential innings of the season as without it Windsor would have surely
lost. Condon’s innings was also shortly brought to an end however before it did he showed some
delightful shots and showed what we have been missing this season following his big money move
to Worthing, a massive thank you must also go to Kev for stepping in at the last minute. His wicket
meant Windsor’s ‘Bermudan Train’ Bean got his chance with 10 over to go. Bean then decided, to
the horror of Windsor and delight of Chiswick, to block any ball on the stumps and try and hoist
everything else out of the park, fortunately for Windsor he connected with none and were all
good ‘leaves’. Bean was joined by young Smith and he once again showed what he can offer with the
pressure and number of close fielders raising he blocked out a number of key overs before finally
being caught and bowled with 4 balls to go. The retired hurt Lloyd had to stick his pads back on and
block out the remaining balls.

Although a negative result there were number of positives and a number of lessons for captain,
fielding and batting team to learn and take from. Chiswick were comfortably the better team on the
day, and a good group of lads so we wish them well for the rest of the season, for Windsor next sees
Bagshot travel to Home Park which will hopefully see Windsor 3s return to winning ways.