Wick CC v Vale CC – Brought to you by R Llewellyn Groundworks

Sunday 7th July 2024

Thank you to this week’s sponsor, local business R Llewellyn Groundworks Ltd (Rhydian). It makes such a difference to our club to have support from local businesses, and it is very much appreciated!

A special thank you also goes to David Bowen for his generous donation to the club.

After a rare foray into Saturday Cricket, it was back to Sunday and the warm embrace of ‘proper’ village cricket for Wick, as we welcomed our neighbours/rivals/ground sharing friends, Vale CC to the village green. 

Much of the pre-match talk had been about one man, the Vale of Glamorgan’s wickets for hire, Kenny Thomas, and where his allegiances would reside on Sunday. Cometh the day and cometh the Kenneth, stood on the village green resplendent in the blue of the Vale, any questions of his allegiances had seemingly been put to bed.

Vale CC - 123 all out (35.1): Dan 30, Iestyn Jones 4-8, Neal Wostear 1-5

Wick CC - 124 for 4 (33.4): Owen Thomas 61, Steve Collins 33

Although no toss took place, Wick were put in the field. With Russell missing, captains for the day Rob and Andy decided to open with the tried and tested partnership of Owen and Gutsy ‘The Police House Express’ Dixon, but, like any other train in the British rail network, the chances of it turning up on time are slim, and so proved to be the case*. With the game due to start at 1:30, a voice message from Gutsy to the team WhatsApp at 1:21 confirmed Wick were going to be one short for the first few overs and Andy opened with Owen against none other than J. Iscariot himself, Kenny.

Kenny and Gov made a solid start to the Vale innings, reaching 15 before Gov fell to Andy (1-14). Kenny, unperturbed by the sledging coming from his sometimes-depending-on-if-there’s-a-cider-in-it-teammates, carried on reverse sweeping anything that came his way, making 21 before finally being bowled by Mr Hollywood himself, Simon (1-22). In a reflection of the true spirit of cricket, Kenny was congratulated on his innings by the entire Wick team as he left the field. Vale were 68-2 at drinks and Wick were feeling positive.

Readers will be pleased to know that Wick, having identified early in the season that catching practice was needed, have done absolutely nothing about it. Lady fate played her cruel hand as Owen, having given Gutsy some verbals for his earlier drop off his own bowling, shelled a straightforward catch from Kenny which elicited a cry of ‘you dropped me, you k**b-head’ from the turncoat batsman. Special mention also goes to Amal’s unsuccessful but impressive one-handed catch attempt.  

Newton’s Third Law tells us: ‘Every Action has an Equal and Opposite Reaction’ and this came in the shape of Simon hitting the stumps with a superb throw from a tight angle to run out the opposing batsman, much to the amazement of the rest of the Wick team.

The high-quality bowling continued after drinks with Neal ‘Well, I’m still going to call it Snowdon’ Wostear bowling a fine spell ending his 3 overs with 1-5. If Gutsy’s bowling is the unstoppable force then Amal, back in the side for the first time this season, is also the unstoppable force, as the bandana’d pace merchant took a wicket with the second ball of his spell to dismiss Dan for a fine 30 and ended on 1-12. After a few overs from Ian that kept the Vale batters to taking singles where they could, it was time for the Spin Doctor, Iestyn Jones to step up.

In no mood to hang around and his Two Princes surely starting to feel the squeeze from his custom Wick budgie smugglers, Iestyn set about dismantling the Vale tail with an emphatic 4 wickets for 8 runs off his 3 overs leaving all out for 123 (and Steve also took a wicket).

And so, it was up to Wick to chase down the total and to maintain their unbeaten home form this season. Chris, rewarded for his fine displays with the bat this season, opened the batting alongside Steve against a youthful and very impressive Vale bowling attack. After Chris fell in the 3^rd over leaving Wick 3-1, Andy and Dickie, no doubt tired of hearing Owen talk about the one decent score he’s had all season (for a different club, suspiciously), decided to make him put his money where is mouth is and put him in at three.

Steve, the still point in the ever-turning world of Wick’s batting lineup, played another fantastic opening knock, bringing a sense of calm to the middle as Wick slowly chipped away at the Vale lead. Wick were 83-1 at drinks and feeling good, in spite of a barrage of (light hearted) sledging from the Vale field.

They say every dog has his day, and unfortunately for the rest of the club it was Owen’s day, as he not only reached his maiden half century for Wick but ensured a good bit of publicity for his sponsors: villagecricket.co – for all your cricketing needs. Having gotten his 50 and declared ‘I’ve got nothing left to prove’ he was swiftly bowled out for 61. Followed closely by Steve who was caught for 33, and with thoughts of last years implosion against Vale at the front of everyone’s minds, it was up to Gutsy and Iestyn to bring it home for Wick.

And bring it home they did. Gutsy scored a quick fire 6 before getting out, allowing Simon to come to the crease and watch on as Iestyn, having taken four warm up swings, finally made sweet contact with the ball, launching it to the boundary and sealing the win for Wick.

Thank you to Vale CC for the game and based on the talent on display the future of the club is looking very bright with some great young players making the transition to senior cricket. We look forward to the return fixture at Corntown in a few weeks’ time!

Wick will be back in action on Sunday 14^th July against Lisvane at the village green.

– Owen Thomas

*Additional material by Rob Dixon