The Week
at The Wick

Buoyant after last week’s excellent win, the 3s travelled to Epsom with a much-changed side — made even more changed on Saturday morning when Mitch withdrew, allowing new member Archie Talman to step in. Nirmal, Gavin, Rupert and Archie all made their 3s league debuts, while Craig and Will Taylor returned for their first appearances of the season.

On arrival it was clear Epsom were in a rebuilding phase much like ourselves: a clubhouse mid-construction and a toilet block that wouldn’t look out of place on a Romanian building site. Winning the toss, skipper Rahul chose to bat on what looked a good deck. The partnership didn’t last long — Nirmal edged behind. Rahul joined Gavin and immediately went on the attack, thrashing both bowlers to all parts before departing for a rapid 30.

While Gavin accumulated steadily at one end, wickets tumbled at the other — the low point being Dom Spray’s unfortunate dismissal, nutmegging himself before rolling back onto his stumps. A big score is coming, Dom. At 114–6, Gavin finally fell for a well-made 28. This brought Rupert Fuller and Tim Jones together, and their positive running and clean hitting pushed the score to 146 before Tim was run out. Rupert launched several powerful boundaries, including a huge straight six that narrowly missed the Epsom drone. The Wick finished 182 all out in 43.5 overs.

TJ delivered the perfect start with the ball, removing their opener with a lovely inswinger. At 28–3 the Wick were on top, but some uncharacteristically sloppy fielding allowed the new pair to settle. Sahib bowled with excellent control, tying the batters down, while Rupert produced a hostile spell. The pressure finally told just before drinks, leaving Epsom 90–4. Sahib struck immediately after the break with two caught-and-bowled wickets in the same over. Epsom eventually chased the target with 1.1 overs to spare. A strong effort from the Wick, but not quite enough on the day. We look forward to welcoming Epsom to the mighty Kingsfield later in the season — and getting our revenge.

Round 4 saw the 5s welcome South London to the Rose Cottage on another broiling hot day as London basked in a very uncharacteristic late May heatwave.

South London and the 5s have developed what many would describe as a "hate-hate" relationship. We hate them, and they hate us. South London are a grossly unlikeable side to play against, with games against them characterised by agricultural batting, absences of senses of humour and a complete dereliction of sportsmanship.

Thanks to half term, holidays and some sporting event called the Champions League final, the 5s were much changed. The 5s were delighted to give league debuts to U14s Seb Green and Henry Spray and to welcome guests Paul Adams and Dominic Quantrill to the side.

Losing the toss and fielding first was always going to be a tough ask, but the 5s remained in their fight. The bowling was very accurate — Joe Green, Ali Sufi, Harry Williams, Skipper Le Feuvre and Henry Spray producing several deliveries which challenged the batters, whilst Paul Adams and Raj Shanmuganathan challenged with changes of pace and deliveries hitherto unseen on a cricket field. Despite the good bowling, the 5s did not display their usual high standards in the field. A total of 11 catches were dropped, the overwhelming majority of them regulation. This, combined with South London's trademark agricultural batting and a glass-like outfield, saw the opposition rack up an imposing 312. Henry Spray and Sam Williams's bowling stood out, both showing skill and resilience to take 3 and 2 wickets respectively when facing a batting style they had not seen before.

The 5s were always behind the rate in the chase and ultimately fell short of their quest for maximum batting points. A combination of poor shots throughout did not help, but cameos were provided by the skipper, the Green Brothers and Sam Williams. The highlight of the chase was U14 Harry Heath, who played a very mature innings to top score. Attractive shots both sides of the wicket, good judgment and excellent running were trademark features of a superb innings which rightly earned Harry enormous praise from the entire South London side, the majority of whom shook his hand as he left the field. A glimpse of the very bright future.

With lots of learnings to take from the game, the 5s enjoy a friendly this week against Old Hamptonians before a big local derby against Teddington Town the week after.