Penn Street vs Windsor Cricket Club

What a great win today! This was a last minute fixture against the Windsor Cricket Club IV XI, played in the shadow of Windsor Castle.

For those playing for PSCC as far back as 2010, you might recognise this park as where we used to play Cranbourne. It had 5 games running in the park this particular day, all in slightly overlapping circles which meant that on some occasions our fielders would be be chasing the ball down on another ground without it having actually gone for four from ours.

Having won the toss, Captain-of-the-Day Peter Jupp decided to field, despite nearly half of his team (and scorer - the most important one) not having arrived by the scheduled start time. Bold.

Our openers, David Adams and Caitlin Macken, bowled tidily but without reward (no fantasy points awarded for effort, sadly), and it took the arrival of Antipodean duo Sam Saunders and Jeremy Knox to finally break the opening partnership in the 13th over, Sam getting the first opener caught behind by keeper Dave Jones, and their number 3 to a skier caught by Steve Smith, who had time for a quick trip round the castle before it came back down again. Jeremy got in on the act, with two wickets in two balls, the other opener being caught in the deep by DA, and then clean bowling the opposition captain, who came off insisting it was planned, "to give the youngsters a go".

Steve Smith had another batter caught by Alex Adams off his first delivery, although this was cruelly called a no ball by an umpire who had not yet experienced the serious dip at the end of his deliveries and thought there was an issue with height when the batter advanced down the pitch. An over blighted by extras, it was brought to an end by scorer Cally, who had to explain to the umpire exactly how to count to six and if you could end this over now so I don't have to start a new box, that would be greatly appreciated, thank you very much.

At the other end, another two wickets in an over, where Rocco Jupp gained in the wicket column from a one-handed catch by his Dad, Pete "Did you see my catch?" Jupp. A rush of blood to the head from the non-striking batter and some sharp fielding from the combo of Knox and Jupp Jr saw a run out and another walk back to the shed.

The far end saw a cycling of some of our slower bowlers, where Alex Adams replaced Rocco and bowled nicely with no luck, and then Dave Jones, who surrendered the pads to Pete, keeping for the first time in at least 5 years, and receiving a wicket of his own.

The nearer end had the comeback of some of our pace men. David Adams finally getting reward for his endeavours, getting the dangerous looking Patadg out LBW, Sam finishing his spell giving little away, and Jeremy taking his 3rd wicket of the match, by Steve, who surprised everybody by performing an unnecessarily acrobatic dive to dismiss their number 10.

Our hosts put on 224-9 in their 40 overs. Jeremy Knox starred for PSCC with the ball, taking 3-25 in his 7 overs and effecting a run out, ably assisted by Sam Saunders with another 2 and Steve Smith with 2 catches.

Needing 225 to win off our 40 overs, we opened with occasional West Wycombe pair of Dave Jones and Richard Spooner, who announced his retirement from cricket last year, but was unable to resist the call when we were seeing if we could get a side together on Tuesday, for which we thank him. Richard proved he still had it with a lovely pull through midwicket for four, before his fun was ended prematurely when he was caught behind on 5.

Another returnee strode to the crease, Alex Woest, persuaded back with the lure of a relatively local (for him) game and with previous cricketing trauma seemingly long put behind him. Another shot through midwicket, some singles run in tandem with the long-legged Jones, then a high chance to the opposition captain also saw him on his way, thankfully all limbs attached, all joints in the right place, and all blood safely contained.

At 41-2 off 9 overs, we'd had a sedate start, but with big hitter Dave Jones and run machine Peter Jupp at the crease, surely we'd be ok. Not to be. After a 40 partnership and just after reaching his 50, Dave was bowled by one that pitched on off and hit top of middle. 84-3. Pete was now joined by Alex Adams to run quick singles and get that scoreboard ticking. After 9 overs together, scoreboard pressure was telling on Pete, who managed to psyche himself out and was bowled.

109-4 from 25. 15 overs left to get the required 116 runs.

Father walked in to join son. Dave had been stood on the sideline, cool as you like, waiting his turn. One sighter was all he required, seeing off a dot ball and then dispatching the next back over the bowler's head for 6. Dave was certainly not hanging about and seemed intent on ensuring that Alex slept well that night, calling him through for quick singles and twos, until Alex played one shot too many, getting caught having added a useful 10. 141-5 off 29.

7.6 runs required an over is not within Steve Smith's natural game. In fact, last time we were here, he scored a valiant 5 runs in 71 minutes. However, with DA at the other end, everything was gravy. He would keep hitting, Steve would just run. With 7 runs added to the total, the bowler got revenge on Dave for hitting him for another 6 by clean bowling him.

147-6 off 30.3. Run rate required at 8.2. Penn Street needed a hero.

In came Jeremy. With no defensive technique to speak of, he played the only way he knew how, smashing 9 off the remaining three balls of the over, before brutally taking 2 6 4 6 4 6 off the bowler at the other end, which included being caught by a player on the pitch the next one over playing a completely separate game.

184 off 31. Jeremy was not done yet.

Regaining strike from Steve after the 4th ball of the over, he only had time for a 4 and a 1 to end over 32 on 192. Over 33 saw twin 4s that registered Jeremy's 50, taking only 17 balls and a mere 14 minutes to complete. 200-6. Only 25 to win, the RRR reduced to 4.2.

Four singles, 204-6, 21 to win.

After three runs scored, lots of running and even more watching the ball sail repeatedly over the boundary, with the end in sight, Steve was bowled.

In came Rocco, with not much of a job to do other than stay in and run when told to, and was off the mark first ball. 207-7 off 35.

Over 36 was distinctly unfriendly, with Jeremy pillaging another 6, and more, before the ball was sent to the boundary by Rocco. Scores tied.

One ball was all that was required. Sent over the boundary for 4, and Jeremy had won us the game. Upping the run rate to 13 an over, he'd spearheaded chasing the final 78 runs in less than 6 overs, and with overs to spare, finishing with a personal best 67* in 25 minutes.

A very enjoyable game, though I think Windsor were a bit shellshocked by the onslaught at the end. We hope to host Windsor for a return fixture some time in the future!