Wokingham Conservatives versus Reading East Conservatives cricket.

           Yesterday afternoon I took a break from the Euro crisis to play cricket.  Wokingham challenged Reading East.

           It turned out to be a close fought and exciting match. The players  dodged the showers. The bowlers got plenty of turn, seam movement and swing from the slightly green wicket and the atmosphere.

        Wokingham won the toss and elected to bowl. Wokingham bowled Reading East out for 107 runs, in a little less than the 35 overs allotted. It was a good performance by the bowlers, with Anthony Pollock, a slow spinner of the ball, carrying off 3 wickets. Reading East were well led by their Captain, Rob Wilson, who was difficult to dislodge as one of  their opening batsman. Their team had a long batting tail, which proved more vulnerable.

        When it was Wokingham’s turn to bat they  discovered it was not easy. Reading East had a great bowling line up, including some lively and promising young players who posed all sorts of problems for Wokingham’s  occasional batsmen. Reading’s bowling attack was pacier than Wokingham’s, and was also capable of getting some movement of the ball.

         The match went down to the last over, with Wokingham needing three runs and Reading East needing just two wickets for victory. Wokingham kept their nerve and managed to score what was needed. What had seemed like a modest run chase had proved testing. No one watching could  be sure until the last over which team would win. Reading East had come very close to up ending Wokingham’s batting.

           Highlight of the day was the team tea provided by Hilary Pollock and her helpers. A cake commemorated the occasion, with a cricket pitch and two batsmen iced on.