Penn Street vs West Wycombe

Penn Street 179-10 (S. Exton 76*; Raheem 4-28) beat West Wycombe 142-9 (R. Parrett 46, Patel 32, D. Jones 25*; T. Armiger 2-19, D. Adams 2-20, H Leitch 2-28, N. Loftus 2-32) by 43 runs

It was the first home game of the season for Penn Street and West Wycombe had the honour of being our guests for the day. Rain had been on and off in the build up to the fixture and relentless rolling couldn’t hide the fact there was some moisture hiding away. Perhaps one to bowl first on…..

Paul “Goody” Goodchild was leading the troops for this fixture and following a quick toss in the middle Penn Street were put in to bat. Nick Loftus and Goody (yes Goody) opened up and after 5 balls Nick was quick to return to the Squirrel beer garden after falling to a caught and bowled. Goody, holding on for dear life, managed to see of some disciplined bowling before falling for 1 run. Not the start he’d hoped both personally and from a team perspective.

Proud Chairman Rob Sutherland entered at 3 to score some quick runs with a notable smash to the boundary for 4 but he could only muster 13 runs after getting himself established at the crease. Fortunately the PSCC middle order consisting of debutant Peter Folkard and Mr consistent Steve Exton were able to hit the accelerator and score quite freely. Peters pinch-hitting to keep runs ticking over whilst Steve was able to acquaint the ball with woods on a regular basis.

Thanks to Peter’s 37 and Steve’s 76 PSCC were on the way to a healthy score and with Cameos from Dave Adams, Parag and Tyler a total of 179 was more than respectable.

The responsibility of opening the bowling after a scrumptious tea fell to Dave Adams and Parag. Dave’s ability to move the ball both ways kept the opening bats guessing whilst Parags strict line meant runs were not easy to come by. An in depth and strong pace attack saw Tyler and Goody come on first change it wasn’t long before one of the West Wycombe opening bats was strolling back to the beer garden. Tyler was also enjoying some movement, as was Goody who was unlucky not to get wicket, which will take him close to 500 PSCC wickets (we won’t mention the runs he’s been knocked for). Will it be as big as Dave Landers 300th catch?

Nick and Harry continued the good work and it became increasingly difficult for West Wycombe to get any momentum and as the overs ticked down it was clear it was going to take something special for them to get close to 179 needed to win. Parag and Dave came back on to clear up the tail and PSCC enjoyed their first home win of the season.

Man of the match: Steve Exton for his 76 runs and consistently excellent banter.