Sandhurst Wanderers 207 for 8 dec (Gale 50, Clive 50*, J Ireland 3-52)

Cryptics 137 all out (Dean Spencer 38, James Pym 30, Osmond 5-15)

Sandhurst Wanders win by 70 runs

Not so much a game of two halves, but a match of four quarters, summarised the Cryptics attempts to gain another win over the Sandhurst Wanderers. Good solid starts in both bowling and batting innings could not be maintained throughout the innings and in the end a comfortable win for the Wanderers ensued.

One could have suggested that the writing was on the wall at the beginning of the match - Dr Walker's open air clinic was doing a roaring trade before the match started attending to a variety of Cryptics ailments, meanwhile the Wanderers were running up and down with abandon and getting stuck into fielding drills. Eyeballing our opposition we concluded that we would not outdo the oppo on fitness levels.

However with the sun shining in a glorious setting optimism was in the air, and like the true heavy-weights that this Cryptics side was, the bowlers put In some heavy punches in the early rounds. William Wilkins bowled with good pace and movement and the ever reliable Chris Ward was a perfect foil at the other end, with both bowlers picking up a wicket apiece. Based on previous experience at this ground early spin was introduced with Joe Ireland and Paul Massey working in tandem. Joe bowled beautifully with control and variation, at one point had figures of 2-24 off 10 overs (finally going on to take 3-52), and although Paul did not bowl as tightly he still picked up 2 good wickets. Alex Hutchinson then took over from Paul and started well in tandem with Joe. At the 25 over mark and drinks, although the Wanderers had scored at a good pace, with 6 wickets down we felt confident of bowling them out and chasing. However superior fitness and a very good knock from their captain with 50 n.o. meant a fairly daunting target of 207 for 8 was reached.

However, revived by excellent cream teas, The Cryptics had a very good start to their innings. An excellent opening partnership between James Pym (30) and guest member Dean Spencer (38) gave good impetus and with Chris Ward, promoted to no.3 for timings reason, and Rob Walker also getting starts the Cryptics were on course at 99-2 with 20 overs to go. Sadly the fourth quarter went the way of the second. Just when we thought we were through the best bowlers, from no where the no. 7 bowler stepped up to run through there majority of the remaining batting, taking an extraordinary 5-15 off 7 overs, leaving the Cryptics innings to close on 137, a few overs short of saving the game.

Ultimately the Wanderers had much more strength in depth and deserved the win, but it was an excellent afternoon of cricket, with one of the most stunning backdrops you could wish for in a game of cricket. A game played in the best possible spirit made for a fun afternoon, but in future the captain will need to prescribe more runs in his treatment plan!