St James v Burgh Heath
Saturday 25th August, Norbury
 
Burgh Heath 73, St James 74-5
 
E Dack  0
O Ehsan  9
P Woolley 6 1 catch
J Kleinveldt 13 6-3-6-3 2 catches
N Shiraz 36 7-1-22-1
M Woolley5 * 8-3-13-3 1 catch
A Muneer  0*
R Pierson 4-0-18-0
R Bush  2.4-0-9-2
C Woolley
 
Burgh Heath stepped in as NPL dropped out on a beautiful day at Norbury. Acting
Captain Robin won the toss and put Burgh Heath in on the as ever inconsistent
Norbury wicket. 
 
After Ali injured his hand in the week,Phil Woolley stepped in on his last
weekend in the country and did a fine job behind the stumps. His first action
was to take a sharp catch down the leg side off Mike to grab St James the
opening wicket. Mike was back on the stumps next ball and removed Burgh’s number
three for a duck. These two quick wickets turned the game in St James’ favour
and they never looked back. 
 
Despite a fine 55 from Burgh’s opening bat Mears, no other batsman reached
double figures. Robin took himself out of the attack and brought on Nabeel. Rash
shots cost Burgh their next two wickets as impatient batsmen swung the ball in
the air for easy catches, one wicket a piece for Mike and Nabs. Then John
Kleinveldt (Gary’s Dad) came on and bowled a perfect spell of quick accurate
stuff, clean bowling three more batsmen. Mike then ran out the Burgh number 9
with a brilliant direct hit. At the other end Richard came on 
and bowled Mears before tempting the number eleven bat to bury the ball into
John’s stomach and he held on to wrap up the innings for 73.
 
Ed and Ousman strapped on the pads and headed out immediately with 40 minutes to
go till tea. Ed went back to one that kept low and departed in the first over.
Rather like their Burgh counterparts the St James batsmen both struggled with
the inconsistent bounce and played too aggressively. Ousman and Phil both looked
good before being caught. John and Nabil hung on until tea. 
 
After the restart both men settled nerves with some nice shots as the score
headed past 40. Sadly John was bowled going for a drive on 13. Mike headed to
the wicket and tried to avoid risky shots in order to see St James home. Nabeel
continued to attack, his best shot being a huge straight drive for six. He
eventually fell hitting in the air with three runs still needed. But his 36 was
a match winning knock and next over Mike made sure we got over the line with
only five wickets down. A good win for St James, with good team spirit and
excellent bowling and fielding. Special credit to Phil Woolley who kept with
great skill, especially impressive as he was both injured and hadn’t played a
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