A damp end to the NCCA T20 campaign for Wiltshire CCC 1st XI
NCCA T20 Competition (Group 5) @ South Wilts CC 6th May 2024
Wiltshire CCC NCCA T20 XI v Cornwall CCC NCCA T20 XI
Following a disappointing day watching the rain fall in Exeter on Sunday, Wiltshire and Cornwall arrived at South Wilts only to discover that the rain had fallen here too. However, despite ominous looking clouds the rain held off sufficiently for the first game to get underway soon after 11:00am. Cornwall won the toss and elected to field. A combination of tight bowling and the occasional loose shot soon had this looking like a good choice as wickets tumbled with regularity. Wiltshire soon found themselves in deep trouble with only Jake Goodwin 14, Ed Young 19 and Ben Draper 10 making it into double figures. With the score on a meagre 67 for 9. Batters 10, Josh Croom 14 not out and 11, Will Hope 7 put on another 22 runs taking the total to 89. Max Tryfonos 3 for 12 and Ellis Whiteford 3 for 22 did the damage with the ball. Opening bowlers Callum Wilson 2 for 12 and Will McVicar 1 for 16 started the rot, but sadly, Wiltshire had no answer.
If there were any thoughts about it being a difficult wicket for batters the Cornwall openers Alex Blake and Matthew Robins soon put matters right. In a batting masterclass Alex Blake (Kent CCC 2007-2023) scored an exhilarating 71 from just 34 balls with 5 X 4 and 6 X 6. Matthew Robins, no slouch himself , scored 18 from 17 balls as Cornwall saw themselves race to victory in just 8.3 overs.
At lunch the heavens opened and any further play was washed out giving the Wiltshire lads no opportunity to gain revenge … or save themselves from further embarrassment! Wiltshire know they have capable players who, on their day, can perform much better than today’s showing might suggest. Let’s hope next Sunday at Marlborough College is their day!
