E&MWCC host Damerham in The National Village Knock Out

Starting the 2013 season the first competitive match for the senior section was at home in the National Village K.O Cup against Damerham CC from the New Forest area. The Easton skipper Mark Padwick elected to bat first after winning the toss, this left Gareth Goodall and Jamie Fox to open the batting.

We got off to a good start with 74 on the board after 16 overs, with Jamie Fox (50) scoring nicely with boundaries both sides of the wicket and running well with Gareth Goodall (14). We were looking comfortable; however, in the 17th over we lost our first wicket of Goodall with Damerham’s first change bowler getting the breakthrough, which bought John Sparks to the crease. Unfortunately, after adding 11 to the score with Sparks, in the 19th over Fox lost his wicket but with a nice fifty to his name, which followed with a brief occupation of the crease by Sam Dickety only facing one ball which kept low and clattered in to his stumps. This leaving us on 87 for 3. James Seward came in at 5 who scored a swift and helpful 24 smashing three sixes over into nearby houses, along with Sparks who joined in with a couple of 4’s himself, taking our tally up quickly to 117. Seward and Sparks couldn’t carry on the quick scoring, both losing there wickets giving simple catches for the opposition. At 128 for 5, Sean Yeates (0) and Paul Saunders (6) came to the crease again for a brief time, Yeates facing a few balls with no score, like Dickety, getting a low bounce sending him back to the pavilion. Closely follow by Saunders, who hit the ropes once, losing his wicket with another simple catch. 139 for 7, skipper Mark Padwick and Seb Stannard came in, Padwick steadying the ship nicely scoring of the bad balls, Stannard (3) couldn’t quite stay with him who lost his wicket in the 31st over with a catch in the inner ring, in at 10, Ash Wilmott followed and quickly returned to the changing rooms scoring zilch giving catching practice to a close fine leg. At 162 for 9, Padwick carried on with our No. 11 Adam Carrick, who both batted well, scoring confidently, both hit boundaries with the captain hitting the maximum towards the end of our innings, losing no more wickets Padwick and Carrick finished with 46 and 7 respectively, leaving Easton with 200 to defend in the field.

After a quick bite and drinks, Easton took the field with Ash Wilmott and Adam Carrick opening the bowling. Both started well, Wilmott with 3 maidens in a row and Carrick supporting that with one of his own. In the 8th over with only 8 runs conceded, Wilmott removed the opener clipping his off stump with Carrick again matching him, bagging up their number three with an LBW shout. After 10 overs from the openers the first bowling changes came at both ends, with the visitors on 27 for 2. Mark Padwick and Sean Yeates replacing them successfully. With a boundary off Padwick’s first over and Yeates starting with a couple of no balls, they both soon replied. Padwick mixing length and speed of his bowling along with Yeates bowling a great line with the ball moving, the batsmen could only sneak the odd single here and there. With the pressure on Yeates trapped the opener in front in the 14th with well controlled swing and added a couple of maidens. 42 for 3, 18th over saw Yeates bag a couple of more wickets, bowling their number five and having the No.7 top edge one straight in to the gloves of keeper Jamie Fox. Padwick from the other end kept things tight and got his reward in the 19th over by bowling their number 4. Coming up towards drinks Damerham found the boundary a couple of times and added a few more singles to the score, leaving them on 60 for 6, Padwick and Yeates finishing their 5 over spells.

After drinks captain Padwick bought Seward and Saunders in to the attack. Seward had a five over spell first of all struggling with his line but only giving a couple of wides away. He soon got a wicket for himself in his second over by bowling their no.6. With Damerham on 67 for 7, they started playing a few shots, taking a liking to Saunders’ bowling, reaching the boundary seven times in all with a couple of maximums thrown in. Other than those boundaries Saunders kept plugging away with dot balls in each of his overs, keeping the visitors still needing a load off the last 10 overs. After Seawood and Saunders had a 5 over spell each, Padwick bought back the opening bowlers looking for those last 3 wickets with Damerham on 102 for 7. Wilmott returned with a wicket in having their number 8 caught by Saunders at mid-on. The tail started swinging and connecting for four boundaries with 2 maximums, but Wilmott soon finished the game bowling the 9th and 11th batsmen, completing the win in 34.4 overs with the visitors getting the 131.

Overall the bowlers performed well to seal the win finishing on figures as follows, Wilmott (4-25), Carrick (1-21), Padwick, (1-14), Yeates (3-14), Seward ( 1-12) and Saunders (0-34). We now face the winners of the match between, Hursley and Amport.

With a good start competitively, we hope all senior teams can carry this in to the league format of the 2013 season.

With thanks to the Padwick family for providing the teas, much appreciated.

By Ash Wilmott