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| Loxwood CC v TWCC | |||||||||
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September 13th 2026
Maybe it was the longer than usual drive to an away game, maybe it was
the drizzly afternoon. Or maybe it was because we were missing the
cheery face of always-chippy-Charlie. 72 and counting - 11 required!
(Rumour has it that certain players with vested interests dropped catches...) Match report Paul Hunter with additional extensive Captain's thoughts as a bonus
But as another wicket fell and Twineham collapsed to 141 for 9 chasing 192 Tom and Paul were agreeing that there was a slightly depressing end of season feeling as the 70 over game was moving quickly towards a fairly heavy defeat. With James Taylor stumped for 8 and walking damply to the pavilion he passed Matt who strode to the wicket with little hope and less expectation. A minute later and the atmosphere had changed as Matt crashed a fierce four to the boundary and followed it up with a six that smashed into the pavilion roof. Kanishka was now inspired and well hit singles to long on were interspersed with a couple of towering sixes. The bar emptied and 53 off seven overs which had looked ungettable was suddenly 24 off 24 balls. Still a long way off with Loxwood’s fielding and throwing a little sharper than our own. But, with two drops, at long on and long off, the pendulum had swung and the pressure was now on the home side. A towering six over the pavilion and into the car park followed by a steady run of singles left Matt facing the final over from the nippy and unorthodox Ollie Reynolds who had mixed some loose bowling with the odd peach. Just one to tie, two to win. A thick edge would see us home. The buzz of excitement was now a far cry from the atmosphere only fifteen minutes earlier as our eyes were glued on Matt as the bowler ran in…Wow…A fast, very straight yorker and the bails went flying! We rose and cheered the end of a great match. The game had started five hours earlier with drizzle threatening and a damp, green pitch, surrounded by a hard and dry outfield that produced some nasty bounces for the fielders. Matt opened the bowling. After an inauspicious first over, very inauspicious, it was he rather than the reliably accurate Rob Rydon who made the breakthrough clean bowling Harry Hearn in his second over. A partnership started building until the ninth over when with Loxwood pegged back at about three an over Matt struck again with Virun Gandhi taking a sharp catch at mid off. It wasn’t one of Matt’s better balls, but they all count! Matt’s blood was up, the drizzle had stopped and two lovely balls dismissed both Woodhouse and Gillett setting up the opportunity of a clean bowled hat trick which may have happened before in TWCC history. It didn’t happen this time either. Rob got some justice with Chinu holding onto a sharp catch in the covers and James Taylor continued to keep the pressure on, removing the accelerating Matt Green for 37 with a caught & bowled. Loxwood 88 for 6 in the 19th over. This brought captain Nick Ranson in to partner his son, Lachlan. TWCC had no answer to these two as Chinu and Kanishka tried their hardest with a wet ball, only the tight bowling of Varun produced any sort of control and the family partnership added 103 in the remaining 16 overs. 175 seemed about a par score, 191 looked tough. A fine tea followed, cut short by the desire to get back out while conditions were dry. Paul and Tom opened the Twineham innings and faced some tight bowling from Chloe Newman and her father Michael. A slow wicket and some variable bounce but both seemed to be coping until Tom went for a drive that probably wasn’t quite there and played on to his off stump. 30 runs off 46 balls, slightly below the required run rate but with a packed batting line up it looked about par. 10 overs later with another 45 added Mikey fell to the speedier Green and then the trouble began. Feeling the need to up the scoring rate on a tricky wicket where timing the ball was difficult Nikar Vijay, more used to bouncier tennis ball cricket, skied one for a caught and bowled before Rohit, normally good for some quick scoring, was bowled by Green for 1. Chinu made a quick 5 before getting caught and that brought Virun to the wicket. Fresh off a long flight and used to the hard wickets of the subcontinent he managed to get his timing right for big six that sailed into a neighbouring garden before mistiming the next and departing for 9. Rob, batting at eight, came to steady the ship which lasted until he was given out lbw in the 23rd over. Six wickets had fallen for 27 runs. James Taylor came to the crease with 86 required from 12 overs. Paul followed the others to the pavilion after his running wasn’t quite fast enough to beat the field and in walked Kanishka to take charge of the tail and almost save the day. He and Matt made the day. P.H. After the game the Gazette was pleased to also welcome TWCC's captain's thoughts into the inbox. (It's actually more of a complete second write up... I have tried to edit Paul's and Tom's pieces together, and I even asked Sharon to have a word with her friend Claude... but he made a real pig's ear of it, so I'm just going to copy it all in and you can enjoy the unfiltered versions of both contributions! Ed.) Warning: the below contains heartbreak Fielding Visited Loxwood after a 3 absence and they were as friendly as last time Skippers Nick and Tom did the toss which Loxwood won the toss and chose to bat first in a 35/35 win lose game Matt Brock opened the bowling from the road end and was struggling with the surface and proceeded to bowl one of the most entertaining overs of the season with two balls being bowled behind him. Rob opened up the from the other end (football pitch end) and brought much control to proceedings by bowling his normal metronomic line and length Matt (now wearing the skippers shoes) found his stability and found middle stump to take the wicket of Harry Hearn. Reynolds and Jones put on some runs before Matt Brock was back in the wickets with a searching full toss that was clothed to new overseas recruit Varun Ghandi in the covers. Matt then quickly had 3 wickets to his name by taking Woodhouse’s off stump and then 4 wickets straight after with Gillett also losing a stump…. And you know what that means (although there was an interlude due to the end of Matt’s over). During the interlude, Rob got himself in the wickets by removing the dangerous Jones with a very good catch by Chinu at point. Now back to Matt and not only was he on a 5fer but he had the chance to replicate his Dad’s own clean bowled hattrick (allegedly)….. didn’t happen. Matt was an inch away from a perfect yorker but it was very well dealt with by Green. Matt didn’t complete his 5fer but finished his 7 overs with an impressive 4-29. James replaced Rob and Kanishka replaced Matt and Loxwood started their recovery job from 43-5 to 88 until James managed to get a ball to pop up to Green who could only chip it back into James’s safe hands and left for a very quick 37 off 32 balls. That wicket brought the father and son duo of the Ranson’s together who proceeded to put on a very strong partnership of 103 with Lachlan getting 59. Skipper Tom mixed up his bowling options with Chinu and Varun but as the September drizzle turned into whatever the middle is between light rain and rain, the ball became soft and harder for TWCC’s spinning options to control the ball and Loxwood finished on 191-6 which was a very commendable recovery from 43-5. TWCC took refuge from the September rain in the Loxwood pavilion and were greeted by the most welcoming of teas…. Smoked Salmon and Coronation Chicken sandwiches were the winners. Thank you Loxwood! Batting Having digested the wonderful Loxwood Tea, Paul and Tom put their mind to chasing down Loxwood’s tricky total of 191 on a wicket that had taken on a bit of water in the last hour. Tom got into his stride quickly with a couple of well timed 4’s and some good running with Paul between the wickets until Tom found himself taking a stride too many and played on to his stump by Newman for 17 and a partnership of 30 with Paul. This brought Mikey to the crease who was more of watchful version of Mikey that we’re used to and allowed Paul to put on the runs, taking the score up to 75 just at the halfways stage before a ball kept low to Mikey and we out for 8 but a solid contribution to a 45 run partnership with Paul Drinks and Nikhar was in and then out again….. and then Rohit also followed….. and then Chinu and it was starting to look like one of those TWCC collapses from yesteryear and TWCC were 91-5 with 100 still to get in 14 overs…. Still doable Varun set about trying to make light work of the remaining 100 with a massive 6 into a neighbours back garden but he then quickly fell to a similar fate of his colleagues. Fear not, this brough Rob to the crease….. Oh Rob has been given out LBW and TWCC are 106-7. Well at least we still have Paul…… oh Paul’s been run out although surprisingly not by himself this time. Unfortunate end to a very well crafted 45 by Paul that had given TWCC some stability in the mayhem around him. 110-8….. 81 needed from 10 overs….. tricky Not for Kanishka though, who ably supported by James, found the gaps in the Loxwood field and two of them added on 31 runs in 4 overs (up with the rate). Sadly for James his fun came to an end with some quick work behind the stumps by skipper Nick. 141-9….. 51 needed off 6 overs….. enter Matthew Brock. First ball… down the ground four…. Second ball….. 6 over the pavilion…. Someone has had their Weetabix! 158….. 34 from 30 balls needed Kanishka now gets in on the action with some wonderful straight drives for four….. 169…. 23 from 24 balls Tight over from Loxwood stems the barrage….. 172….. 20 from 18 Matt goes nuclear again with another 6 to the pavilion and another 4 down the ground from K, pushes TWCC ever closer…. 183…. 9 needed from 12…. Single digits. More power hitting from both Matt and K and its 190 with 1 over left…. 2 needed to take TWCC to the promise land Matt B on strike and……… d’oh….. not the sound of wood that TWCC wanted to hear with the ball crashing into Matt’s off stump….. heartbreak for Matt, and K and the 9 other TWCC members but jubilation for Loxwood winning by just the solitary run. No better way to spend a Sunday. Closing skipper's thoughts What a wonderful way to spend a Sunday afternoon, even if the weather didn’t quite match the spectacle of the match. Matt Brock was the star of the day, not only with the ball (which we have become very accustomed to this season) but also his batting prowess, which alongside with Kanshika (and not forgetting Paul’s anchor knock of 45), nearly gave TWCC the unlikeliest of victories. Loxwood were a very friendly bunch as well and a special thanks goes to Nick for the jug of beer for commiserations after the game and I hope we can avenge this result next year (two very close games we have had) As always though, the result isn’t the only thing that matters with TWCC, and it was another Sunday where each TWCC member played their part in one of the most exciting games in recent times I can remember for TWCC. A great way for my season to finish and a privilege to have been the marshal of the troops. T.F. Scorecard Loxwood CC won the toss and chose to bat first in a straight 35:35 over game Loxwood CC Innings: H Hearn bld Matt Brock 8; M Jones ct C Sharma bld R Rydon 20; O Reynolds ct V Gandhi bld M Brock 4; D Woodhouse bld M Brock 0; J Gillett bld M Brock 0; M Green ct & bld J Taylor 37; L Ranson not out 59; N Ranson*† not out 47. DNB C Newman,M Newman, L Ranson. Extras 16 (B5, LB1, W3, NB7) Total 191 for 6 (35 overs). Fall:1-12, 2-31, 3-31, 4-35, 5-43, 6-88. TWCC Bowling: M Brock 7-1-29-4; R Rydon 7-0-28-1; J Taylor 7-0-36-1; K Bhattacharya 7-0-45-0; C Sharma 3-0-27-0; V Gandhi 4-0-20-0. -
TWCC Innings: P Hunter run out 45; T Firth*†
bld M Newman 17; M Pearce bld M Green 8; N Vijay ct & bld L Ransom
1; R Pruthi bld M Green 1; C Sharma ct (unsure) bld D Woodhouse 1; J
Taylor st (N Ransom) bld H Hearn 8; K Bhattacharya not out 33; M Brock
bld O Reynolds 26. Extras 25 (B4, LB1, W16, NB4) Total 190 all out
(34.1 overs).Fall: 1-30, 2-75, 3-79, 4-90, 5-91, 6-103, 7-106, 8-110, 9-141, 10-190. Loxwood CC Bowling: J Gillett 2-0-14-0.; M Green 3-0-11-2; H Hearn 3-1-35-1; C Newman 7-0-32-0; M Newman 7-0-21-1; Lachlan Ranson 2-0-10-2; Lily Ranson 4-0-31-2; P Reynolds 2.1-0-14-1; D Woodhouse 4-0-17-2. Loxwood CC win by 1 run. Top of page |
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