Tuesday 7th June
Day three of our tour took us further south than originally intended, again following in Brian's footsteps as he had been to see Hereford v Berkshire at Colwall yesterday and seen some tremendous run scoring in the visitors second innings of 411-5. A very different day today unfortunately as the sunshine of the previous two days gave way to a cloudy, sultry morning. Our journey south through Shropshire started well, quickly round Shrewsbury, over Wenlock Edge and mile after mile of wonderful scenery. However nearing Worcester, we encountered a long tailback of traffic trying to enter the city. So a diversion was called for and we arrived almost an hour late.
Colwall, Herefordshire under the Malvern Hills
By this time, the home side who were chasing a target of some 440 runs to win had already lost three wickets for 90 runs. What followed was a total collapse which saw them to 101-8. The last three tailenders hit out and picked up a few runs but just before the scheduled lunch interval the game was over. Hereford all out for 179 and Berkshire had won by 269 runs. The main architect of this surprisingly easy victory was former Middlesex slow left armer Chris Peploe who took 7-66, with most of the runs coming in the tailenders final flourish.
So time for a picnic lunch on the Malvern Hills and a scenic drive along the Herefordshire side of he hills before returning into Worcestershire and again giving the Worcester city centre a wide berth. Now it was on to Stourbridge in the north of the county and on the fringe of the Black Country industrial area. Here Worcester 2nd XI were entertaining Durham 2nd XI in a three day championship game.
The Stourbridge pavilion
Durham were batting and had been piling on the runs during the sunny afternoon.
Muchall had already been out for a century and when we arrived Poynter and Weighell were laying about the bowling in fine style. Both were well over fifty after tea when we had a chat with Kevin Sharp, the former Yorkshire batsman, now coaching at Worcester. He was obviously enjoying things with so many young players doing well in the first team as we can tell from John Winn's report from Headingley.
One of the football stands which rather spoil the view
However with approaching black clouds and rain imminent we made a hasty departure shortly before the players also went off with Durham in a commanding position. They batted on the next morning to make 450-8 and eventually won the game by an innings and 95 runs. Good to see Tom Fell back in action for Worcester after suffering from testicular cancer and also Ben Twohig, yet another Yorkshire exile.
No comments:
Post a Comment