Form man Wickes sets up win to lift 5s out of drop zone

The 5’s travelled to Streatham and Marlborough off the back of 2 good wins, but still not clear of the relegation zone.

When receiving the text from Aaron confirming your selection, there is also included a motivational quote, this week it read “Gold medals aren’t really made of gold. They’re made of sweat, determination and a hard-to-find alloy called guts”. This was the approach needed to get the better of a good Streatham side.

As we are now in August and the format has changed to a 45 limited over game, Aaron won the toss and with a strong batting line-up, he decided to bat first and set the opposition a target.

Brijesh Patel and Jonny Wickes opened the batting. Avin Ramani opened the bowling for Streatham and his accurate line and length caused early problems. Brijesh was caught for 14 and he was replaced by Ross Gurbutt. Streatham had now introduced spin and both Jonny and Ross seemed to be settling in for a big partnership. Ross got a ball that held up on the pitch and he was caught off the spinner Glazier, for 19. Jonny was batting really confidently, despatching the bad ball in every over to the boundary. In form Sam Gregson, got a long hop and unfortunately found Glazier, for his second wicket, for 5.

It was very unfortunate that Matt van Staden’s off drive was deflected by bowler Glazier on to the stumps, with Jonny backing up. Jonny was going really well and was unlucky to be run out for an excellent 77. Glazier was having an impact on the game and he was also responsible for the wicket of Matt, caught and bowled. Michael Ramsden joined Steve Cross at the wicket. Steve was striking the ball really well when he was judged to have been caught for 15. The 5’s were now 6 wickets down for 150, as Manoj Rajarethinam entered the fray. Michael and Manoj built an excellent partnership, interrupted only by Manoj calling for a new bat. The partnership grew to 70 before Manoj, still using the same bat, was bowled for 42. Abhijit Lohokare hit an enormous 6 before being bowled for 7. Michael, on an impressive unbeaten 40, saw out the innings with Aaron on 2 not out. Priory finished on 240 for 9.

Steve and Manoj opened the bowling and were both rewarded with an early wicket each for accurate bowling. Steve was bowling particularly well, getting some good pace out of a dry wicket. He took two more wickets in his 9 over spell finishing on an impressive 3 for 38. Streatham were 3 wickets down and falling behind the required run rate. The fourth wicket pair of Simon Wright and Rhys Williams began to build a partnership that began to address the balance in the game. The initial Priory intensity began to wane and fielding mistakes began to creep in, as Streatham came back into the game. Ross came onto bowl and in his first over he got the wicket of Rhys Davies, clean bowled. Ross said, “ It was the best ball I have ever bowled!”. This was quickly followed by a run out for Abhi and the Priory energy had returned. Michael had the dangerous Simon Wright caught behind by Jonny for 88. Ross took 2 more wickets to finish on 3 for 11 and Michael finished on 2 for 31. Streatham were all out for 160.

A run of three wins has moved the 5’s up the league table, but not to position of safety. If the team adopts the same determination, sweat and guts seen in the last 3 weeks, a win on Saturday is very much on the cards.