Sun fails to shine in Walsham

The weather finally turned to summer for the first time this season, but there was no change forthcoming in Walsham’s batting as they hosted Mistley 2s at Summer Road on Saturday. The recent rainfall meant that one day of sunshine wasn’t enough to turn the pitch into a batting one, and when the away team won the toss, they made the simple decision to put Walsham in. The home team’s innings got off to a slow start and never looked like getting any quicker, with wickets falling at regular intervals. Opening batsmen Liam Bryant and Oli Jackson made the most notable contributions to the total, scoring 28 and 27 respectively. Adam Howe, playing through a finger injury, offered some determined resistance with Bryant for a third wicket partnership of 24 but the run rate stayed below 4 an over through the innings, despite a quickfire 20 from Ashley Forbes towards the end. Walsham were eventually bowled out for 126 in 43 overs.
It was always going to be a difficult total to defend but there was hope in the first over as Forbes removed Sam Burkitt in the first over, thanks to some quick hands in the slips from Oli Jackson. However, Matthew Bibby, the other opening batsmen, ensured that any loose bowling from the home team was punished with a boundary. When a couple of difficult catching chances were put down, after Bibby made his half century, there was a sense that it was not going to be Walsham’s day. Last week’s collapse against Tuddenham though, showed the home team that you never know what will happen and the Walsham bowlers kept their standards high as Mistley neared their target. The boundaries dried up for the batsmen and Forbes deservedly picked up another couple of wickets, including bowling Bibby for 77. A simple catch behind the stumps for Joe Scarce and some athletic fielding from Liam Bryant off Mark Rothon’s bowling ensured that Walsham at least picked up a couple of bowling points from the afternoon as Mistley completed a 6 wicket victory in the 33rd over.