Week 1 - Rain causes all Winsley matches to be abandoned without a result. Tim Merrell early Fantasy League leader.
Rain causes all Winsley matches to be abandoned without a result. Tim Merrell early Fantasy League leader.
Firstly welcome to the fantasy league for 2026, the Winsley centenary year. This is the sixth year that Ben and I have organised this and we are encouraged that there are 50 teams..a record! Just a reminder to you all that entry to the Fantasy League is free but if you would like to make a £5 donation then please do this by BACS to Winsley CC sc 40-13-17 ac 91419471 and reference FANTASY + Your surname. If we all paid £5 then Dorothy House would benefit by £250 so please try to contribute. As usual we will be sending out a report by e-mail as soon as we can after the close of play on Saturday evening. In reality this usually means Sunday evening at the earliest as we are entirely dependent upon the results arriving on the WCCL website. We will also be keeping an eye on the Women's XI in WEPl although for their first season we have decided not to include these performances in the fantasy league. Many of you will have seen that their first match ended in defeat against Golden Hill last weekend. Golden Hill 214 ao Winsley 106 ao. Top performers for Winsley were Jemimah Barker with 25, Apphia Barker 2-26 and a good all round day behind the stumps for Fi Llewellyn.
The first weekend of the league season was marred by rain and all four games were abandoned. The Ist XI began their season at Wootton Bassett. New captain Josh Norgrove-Gray inserted Wootton Bassett and they were eventually bowled out for 197 in 38 overs. Gareth Pugh (95 fps) was man of the match with 4 catches, including a splendid one at second slip, and 2-29. JNG also had a good day with 2-52 and 2 catches. (65 fps).
As I was umpiring, I was fortunate to have a close look at Winsley in the field.A very enthusiastic performance had put Winsley in a good position and a good deal of rustiness would have been overcome. As a geographer, I was also able to watch the cloud development of a classic depression as the warm front approached.At about 1.30 pm the mares tails were well formed and this quickly changed to cirrus and alto stratus. During the innings break the cloud lowered to nimbostratus and rain fell with Winsley just 10-0 after 2.4 overs.
My thanks to Pat Spencer for this photo around 3pm showing superb alto stratus.
The 2nd XI were at home to Beckington and had reached 155-5 when the rain came. Simon Richards man of the match with 48 (63 fps).
The 3rd XI also travelled to the Swindon area to play Swindon Super Strikers. Winsley batted first scoring 226-8 off their 45 overs. Michael Sherring opened and top scored with 87 (112 fps). With only one of batsmen 2-6 getting above double digits, Winsley’s innings looked destined to falter but was rescued by some lower order hitting from Daryl Ball who hit 54*. (89 fps). Swindon Super Strikers, with some good hitting, reached 63-0 off 9.3 overs when the game was abandoned.
Finally the 4th XI played the first league match at Winsley’s new second ground in Southwick. Having seen the photos and videos, congratulations to all those that have made this second ground possible over the winter months. Winsley batted and reached 118-8 off 38 overs when the rain arrived. Rupert Holiday-Evans was man of the match with 39 runs (54 fps).
Our First Leaderboard of the new season is:
