week 17 - Win for Hugo Bradbury in the fantasy cup.

In the third place final there was a win for Stuart McCollum over Wayne Griffiths. 

Back in June the Ist XI beat Biddestone with considerable ease by over 100 runs and this continued Biddestone’s long run of defeats which left them rooted at the bottom of the table. Since that game Winsley have shown a few frailties and Biddestone have won 5 and tied one match lifting them out of the relegation places and probably one win from safety; this was not going to be an easy match! A look back at the scorecard in June shows that only 3 players played in both fixtures for Biddestone and probably explains their change in fortune. (Winsley had 7 returning players). 

Winsley batted first and reached 240-8 at the end of 45 overs. Andy Owen 49 (59fps), JNG 71(131fps) and Rupert Pugh 27 were the mainstays of the innings. At 191-8 after 39 overs Biddestone were in a good position. Thankfully Josh Lewis 31* and, on debut, Guy Timbrell-Whittle 17* managed an unbeaten stand of 49 and took the score above par; those 6 overs were vital! In reply, Biddestone were scoring well and their positive approach put Winsley on the defensive. At 39 overs they were 191-7 with all to play for. Thankfully their innings finished just 9 runs short on 231-9 and an essential win in the promotion race. The wickets were shared with Josh Lewis 2-44 (7fps) and Stuart McCollam 2-35 leading the way.

This result sets up an extraordinary finish to the Ist Division. Bishops Cannings, Winsley, Melksham and Marlborough are all within 15 points of each other. With Melksham playing Marlborough, a win for Winsley at Chippenham will be the only result that guarantees promotion back to WEPL…….perhaps it will rain!

Ben was scoring for the 2nds at Christian Malford and seems to have caught the roving reporter bug although I detect a smattering of help from AI. His report below….

This was my first visit to Christian Malford, a very pleasant ground adjacent to the M4. Like all grounds in the country, the outfield has suffered extensive heat damage and multiple cracks were dotted all over the outfield; some were precisely measured to 1.5 x the length of Peter Merrell's hand. 

Christian Malford are currently 2nd in the league and hoping for promotion. Jon Keepen, deputising for Toby Nightingale who was 'en vacance’, won the toss and chose to have a bat..the ground is small and has been high scoring all season. Jon Keepen and Rob Hawkins went out to bat and waited to ball 5 of the innings before the sole controversial moment of the day. With Jon setting off for a quick single and Rob having to sprint up the other end, the Christian Malford shy at the stumps hit Rob on the back. With claims of "Ben Stokes tactics" from the famous world cup win - a justified not out decision was reached given that Rob had never changed his running line. This was followed by a Christian Malford player falling victim to the challenging outfield injuring his ankle and in doing so managing to activate his pacemaker which was a bit of a shock! The game then settled down with both batsmen playing some lovely controlled shots before Rob Hawkins (52fps) was strangled down the leg side. This brought Gareth Pugh to the crease. With some friendly reminders of his previous defection from Malford to Winsley, a fluid innings of 36 again ended with a leg side strangle through to the keeper. Modester then arrived to join Jon who was starting to accelerate his innings. Modester’s innings was classy throughout reaching 50 shortly after Jon had made his century off 109 balls. 155 was put on for the 3rd wicket before Jon was run out for a very impressive 129. (219fps). Here are two of the younger 2nd xi players enthralled with Jon’s batting including an airborne cricket spike!!

Modester was then sharply caught and bowled for 70 (115fps) with Winsley finishing on an impressive 300-5. 

As the Malford Innings started, Winsley knew that with the short boundaries, 300 was easily within reach and would need defending. Malford's opening pair did not hang about and at 50/0 off not very many, I for one was slightly getting nervous that 300 wasn't going to be enough. At this point, Malford's players had diverted their attention to Ethan Pugh who had been stationed at mid wicket in front of the waiting lower order. Topics of conversation included where Ethan gets his height from if it is not his dad, a critical analysis of Ethan v Rupert, what Ethan's next hairdo will be after "frosted tips" and negotiations re terms and conditions for Ethan to be a founding member of the planned Malford 2nd Xi for 2027 amongst many others. They quickly went quiet when Ethan took a very accomplished catch on the boundary to dismiss their very dangerous looking opener. The hard work continued for Winsley without much success and Malford reached 102-1 in 18 overs with their worm following Winsley's very closely. Peter Orchard (80 fps) then decided he had enough of this progress and took Malford from 102-1 to 106-5 with a Gareth Pugh wicket in the middle and some very sharp catching from Rob Hawkins and Jon Keepen. With Malford's run scoring having disappeared down one of the many cracks in the outfield, Winsley were now well on top. A 51 run 6th wicket partnership threatened to rescue a dire situation for Malford but Erica Baxter took three fine wickets with, what is becoming a regular occurrence, very straight swinging deliveries with some added deceptive pace variation. Christian Malford was eventually dismissed for 219 giving Winsley a well deserved win. 

With league strugglers Biddestone next week, Winsley will be hoping that a lower leg injury to  Peter Orchard is not as serious as it appeared. With all sorts of permutations of who is and who isn't eligible to go up, Winsley go into next week knowing that a win could secure promotion.

The 3rd XI have had some good results of late and are climbing away from the relegation spot although a good result at Swindon Hunters next week will still be required. Potterne 4ths batted first at Southwick and were dismissed for a below par 137. Nelson Owen has again picked up vital wickets with 4-34 (80fps). It is good to see that Sam McWade also had a good spell 2-22 (80fps). The target was reached with the loss of 4 wickets with Matt Cousens leading the way with 81* (156fps). There were 2 more Norgroves appearing for the first time in 2026 with Ben 45fps outscoring Nick -10fps.

It is probably best to just report that the 4ths lost away at high flying Calne. Winsley 57 Calne 58-0. Ben Howe with 16 runs was the top scorer.

There will be some tense matches being played next weekend so make sure you are available to play or, if not, make your way to Chippenham, Winsley, Swindon or Southwick and support!

The week 17 leaderboard is:

Top 5 improving teams of the week:

Team of the week:

This team would have scored 1006 points and would have cost 60 units. With Jon Keepen as captain, it would have scored 1225 points.

League position graph:

Next week’s fixtures are:

Honours Board:

All the best,

Martyn and Ben