Wanderers off on tour (From Barry And District News)

Wanderers off on tour

ON a hot and humid day, the Wanderers Cricket Club took part in the second game of their Taunton tour. The opponents were Brampton Ralph, in the picturesque and idyllic setting of Brampton, deep in the Somerset countryside.

However, the peaceful surroundings were soon to be disturbed as the Wanderers set up camp on the side of the pitch. With Welsh flags hoisted, music blaring, numerous beers cans being opened and the the dulcet tones of Richard Johnson, Andrew Ferguson and Dave Morgan being heard on the boundary, all was set fair for another day on tour with the Wanderers.

Captain for the day Andy Fenton won the toss and elected to bat. Unfortunately, Patel and George could not inspire the Wanderers to a flying start and they were both out early doors.

Fortunately, two old heads steadied the ship and batted with real authority: Lonny Lonagan was especially ruthless and capitalised on anything loose, dispatching the ball to the boundary regularly, while Ed Sheriff scored a solid 40, before being caught.

Ellis continued his productive tour by scoring a quick-fire 32 before eventually going for one too many. Smudger Smith performed admirably with bat and scored a useful 16, before succumbing to Lentil, one of his four wickets.

Lanagan top-scored for the Wanderers for 85 and this enabled the Wanderers to post a more than challenging total of 242 for 9, with Granty Cole dispatching the final ball over the boundary for six to end the innings with a flourish.

After tea, the Wanderers opened with Becks and Fenty, but they were unable to get any success with both D and T Gilbert hitting the ball hard and scoring at a rapid pace, with the first 50 coming off only eight overs. However, perseverance told as the Wanderers finally made the breakthrough, as skipper Fenton stuck to his task and took the first wicket. To their credit, Brampton Ralph continued to set about the total and the score moved to 119, before Lanagan got T Stone LBW.

BWCC then moved up a gear and Lanagan continued his fine match and swung the match in the Wanderers' favour.

Party time had started and Fenty brought on some occasional bowlers, namely Ellis, Smudger Smith and Ed Sheriff, to provide some light-hearted entertainment for audience on the boundary, as they weasled out the lower order with some unusual styles of bowling. A day of much merriment all round, culminating in a 77 run victory for the tourists.

The team were grateful to those on the boundary for singing and chanting the Wanderers to victory.

The Wanderers celebrated with a customary game of ten-pin bowling, followed by an Indian at the local Taunton curry house.

BWCC travelled to Uphottery for their final match of the 2004 tour. The hosts, Uphottery, have a quaint little ground about 15 miles from Taunton, which was scene of a great match a couple of years ago which ended in a draw. This game was to be no let-down either and yet again was played in beautiful conditions.

Sooty Coleman lost the toss, much to the dismay of his teammates and Uphottery duly elected to use the favourable conditions and bat.

Granty Cole and Andy Fenton opened the bowling and both were unlucky not to get wickets as they bowled with pace and venom.

However, the Uphottery opening bats cleverly utilised the pitch, using the pace of the bowling and the short boundary to move the score along rapidly.

With both openers scoring quickly, Coleman elected to change the bowling and brought on slower bowlers Lanagan and Hassett and this did the trick, with Stevens and Fensome both departing and enabling Hassett to pick up two wickets.

This only brought R Crabb to the wicket. He got his claws into the Wanderers' bowling, dispatching the ball to all parts of the ground for a magnificent 127 not out.

Richard Johnson came in for some particularly harsh treatment at the end of the innings.

Uphottery finished on 245 - 6 after 40 overs.

The Wanderers had not given up hope and the new opening partnership of Ferguson and Ellis started brightly, with runs coming at four an over. Ellis soon got bogged down with the tight line and length bowling of A Smith and holed out to deep mid-on. Dave Smith then continued his fine form with a great knock of 45, which kept the Wanderers in the hunt. Ferguson then departed for 42, to leave the Wanderers facing an uphill task.

However, with Fenton and Johnson at the wicket, arguably the two hardest hitters at the club, all was not lost and these two increased the scoring, enabling the Wanderers to pass the 150 mark with eight an over required off the final 10 overs.

A late-order mini collapse saw Coleman join Johnson for the final fling and these two almost pulled off a miraculous win.

With seven required off the final over, it was not to be, as accurate bowling and fading light brought an end to the heroic effort, Johnson being stranded on 51 not out off 30 balls.

A great game of cricket, though, to end a most enjoyable tour.