A Double win for WWCC on T20 Weekend

Wexford 1 V Malahide 3

Sunday 19/6/22

Wexford’s first XI played host to Malahide on a glorious Sunday afternoon in Park. The Wanderers batted in the T20, hoping to put on a big score. The openers struggled, with Sean Graham out for another poor score, of just 5, he is yet to find his form this season. Fellow opener Haq posted 17, with captain Nithin scoring 22, including some lovely boundaries. 

But it was a similar tale for the Wanderers First XI, as Ibrar Jan top-scored with a fabulous 63 runs, which included 9 boundaries. Jan is the first Wexford batter to pass 300 runs in the season, and it’s only the middle of June. It would surprise me if he didn’t pass 500 runs for the year given his important role in the team.

The runs put on by Haq, Nithin and Jan saved the day for the Wanderers as the other 8 batsmen all fell for single-figure scores (excluding Alan Murphy who was the not-out batsman). Including a duck for Sean Dunk and Adeel. Extras resulted in the third-highest scorer for Wexford. A stat no cricket team wants to see.

Wexford put on 140 runs in their 20 overs. Their bowling has been good this season, especially from skipper Nithin. Their hopes again would fall on the bowlers to drag them to victory. 

Malahide were never going to roll over easy. At 7 runs an over to chase, it was not out of a question that they would be heading up the N11 with a win. Lhuan-dre Pretorius, their opening batter, matched Jan’s high score of 63.

Thankfully skipper Nithin was able to dismiss him. If he had stayed in Malahide would have felt an awful lot more confident about winning the game. Sean Graham impressed with his bowling. Graham took a wicket, while also taking a catch. Boundaries seemed to be an issue for Malahide. They only scored 10 boundaries all game, one more than Jan did in his innings alone. Nithin and Sami Jan picked up the other wickets of the Malahide innings. 

The wickets that Wexford picked up, and the effort in the field restricted the Malahide run rate throughout the game. As to be expected, the game came down to the final few overs. Wexford managed to get over the line with an eight-run victory. It is another win to add to the collection for Wexford, but the batting performances will have to be looked at.

There is certainly room for improvement in this department. It will be interesting to see if someone can step up and match the standout performances that we have seen. There is plenty of experience in that Wanderers first XI. It is only a matter of time before it all clicks for them. In the field, they have been close to flawless. While their bowling has been difficult to score off which is always a positive thing. 

It is worth mentioning that the team are winning games and thankfully those who they are reliant on have stepped up when it counts. In the T20 competition, they sit top of the group with 4 wins from 4. 

Wexford 2nd V Pembroke 5

Sun 19/6/22 

Playing away to Pembroke, Wexford won the toss and elected to bowl first. The two young Pembroke openers, Bruce Whaley and Ethan Clarke played very well and were timing the ball nicely. Tony Murray was as usual going for no runs, opening the bowling for the away side. Captain Attila brought himself on to snag the first wicket. After swinging and missing a few times Whaley got frustrated, played early and hit the ball uppish towards Adrian Campbell who took a great diving forward catch. 

The 2nd wicket was a long time coming, even though the Pembroke number three, Guy Chilton, sprained his wrist when slipping over. Chilton was hitting boundaries and Pembroke were looking on top at this stage until the amazing arm of Bishnu got him with a direct hit runout. 

Dhavan came on towards the end of the innings and seems to have picked up a few yards of pace, bowling exceptionally quick. Aaron Murphy took a good catch off his bowling, and then Dhavan knocked out the middle stump twice to bring up his first 3-wicket haul for Wexford. 

Pembroke finished on 5-112 off 20 overs.

The run chase could not have started any better with Murray hitting a 6 in the first over. And that’s pretty much how the innings went for the Wanderers. Murray put on a batting masterclass that was quite impressive. Defending the good balls and putting all the bad balls to the boundary he raced to 49*, well supported by Murphy. Tony was stuck on 49 then for a couple of overs and had a bit of luck. But eventually got his much-deserved half-century.

After a very good start, Murphy eventually got bogged down a bit in the middle overs, he then played a lovely hook shot, sending the ball flying over deep-square leg for a big 6. Murphy eventually fell LBW for 19 with the score at 77 for the loss of the first wicket. The skipper then joined Murray in the middle with 35 more runs needed off 6 overs. Murray continued to hit boundaries (5 fours in a row at one point), with Stahlut hitting the winning run to finish on 7*, and Murray finishing on 80*. It was a splendid innings by Murray, his highest knock of the season. 

The Wanderers won by 9 wickets with 9 balls to spare. Captain Stahlut said after the win “It’s a great win, and keeps us in the hunt for the semi-finals. Brilliantly fielded by everyone in the team and I just want to thank the 11 gents that played for their commitments and efforts – it was a great team victory”. 

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