Match Report by Keith Smart:
The 2003 season began with a home fixture on May 4th against South
Woodford CC. The sun shone and a strong wind blew down the ground.
Hopes were high, with the mighty Horizontals' ranks bolstered by an
influx of players from the now defunct Stoke Newington Tup CC.
On winning the toss the WHCC captain elected to field, primarily due
to the unknown quantity of the players at his disposal.
A little bit of early season rust from the opening bowlers, Smart
and Webster allowed South Woodford to move largely untroubled into
the mid 40's without loss. But the first wicket to fall, at 49, brought
about a change to the pattern of play. Some very tight bowling by
Smart in particular meant that the next 10 overs yielded only 13 runs,
during which Webster picked up another couple of wickets. Bowling
changes were then made, which whilst producing wickets, also saw the
scoring accelerate. At tea South Woodford declared on 190-8, not a
bad score on a very slow Low Hall pitch. Matt Webster fully deserved
his return of 4-42 on his debut for the Horizontals, and Ken Leon
pitched in with 3-37 from 6 overs. Four dropped catches at vital stages
looked as if they might come back to haunt WHCC.
After a very decent tea the Horizontals padded-up to attempt to overhaul
the 190 runs set for them. Burgess and Cockerton set about the task
stoically and withstood the first10 overs without alarm, indeed Richard
even managed a majestic 6 hit over long on - I don't think I've ever
seen the man from Altincham hit a six before !! However, soon afterwards
the first wicket fell, Richard trying to take on the bowling and being
caught.
This brought to the crease Nick Sloman, who had earlier performed
admirably with the gloves in the absence of a regular keeper: my vote
is that he keeps 'em. Nick and Paul forged a solid partnership before
Paul was out. At that stage 190 seemed a long way away and wickets
continued to fall at regular intervals. A brief flourish from Martin
Morris, (two sixes in an over) raised hopes, but his dismissal, quickly
followed by the loss of the returning Colly Myers and Ken Leon meant
that the Horizontals were up against it. Nick Sloman batted very well
for his 35 but the game was up and the Horizontals subsided to 116
all out.
A defeat by 74 runs may sound bad, but there were many positives to
come out of the game. Mainly, these were our new recruits who have
certainly strengthened the Horizontals and I for one think that we
can go from strength to strength.
