Whisper it quietly but Headley's Sunday XI look like they could
be building something special this season
and the manner of their
victory here, against strong opposition, showed
much promise for the season. Having chased down a total to win
last week, this week Headley did it the other way round, smashing a
dominant 257-2 declared before bowling the Princes Head out for 220
thanks to a classy century from 17 yr
old Tom Laudy, and clever bowling at the close from stand-in
skipper Andy Pickering. That the Prince's Head crumbled from a seemingly
dominant position showed Headley's fine fighting spirit.
Earlier on Headley lost the toss
and were put in to bat. The visiting skipper was obviously deceived by
the greenish tinge to the wicket, but found out, like many before him,
that this was a soulless road.
Headley made the Prince's Head pay for this
Nasser Hussain-esque moment,
although Max Page again produced only a
cameo knock of 6 before toe
ending a pull shot to mid on
(perhaps the pressure of the pre-season hype is proving too much). The
returning Phil Chapman looked in more determined mood and smashed
his way to a half century with the minimum of fuss. Chapman's
innings played second fiddle however, to a stunning knock from Tom
Laudy who emerged at No.3 to hit
a gem of a century. Laudy is a compact left hander with a classy array
of shots through the off-side.
He also possesses an aggressive pull shot which he used to punish
anything remotely short. By the time Chapman fell for a well made 85 the
pair had put on 191 for the second wicket and put Headley firmly in
control. Laudy continued to
stroke the ball around and ended the innings unbeaten on 104 not out.
The Prince's Head were chasing a daunting
258 to win, but to their credit they had victory
firmly in their sights throughout, thanks mainly to their opening bat
Smith, who made what was surely
one of the fastest hundreds on record at the ground. Headley had two
early successes, with Alan Clarke and Mitch Pickering both picking up a
wicket, but the Richmond pubs talisman made light of this to smash
his way to 100 inside 16 overs. Faced with some fairly charitable
bowling, he began by putting
several over the road before switching
his attentions to the longer boundary and becoming the first
batsman this season to hit the pavilion roof.
At 160-2 the Prince's Head looked odds
on to complete a decent run chase, but Headley fought back thanks
to some brisk seam from Phil Chapman, and a superb spell from Andy
Pickering, whose decision to bowl his own left arm dobbers from the Cock
Inn end proved inspired. Pickering bowled a succession of Prince's Head
batsmen by cramping them for room from
over the wicket, and when he removed the key man to leave the
score at 180-6 the game was anyone's. Some big hitting from the Prince's
Head captain at No.7 threatened to swing the game their way, but Chapman
and Pickering kept removing his
partners, and the skipper eventually holed out to the safe hands of
Grant Waller to give Pickering his 5-for. With the last pair at the
crease, Chapman completed an impressive comeback by bowling the last
man.
When quizzed about the game stand in skipper Andy Pickering said- "It
was good to get another win on the
board and to see the spirit to fight back in the field. Once
again there were parts where the
game was getting
away from us but we responded magnificently. It's always nice for a part
time bowler such as myself to get among the wickets but I'm not going to
get carried away and bowl myself every week".
When asked about the continuing speculation surrounding the captaincy
Pickering said "Look, we've been here before and I've made my position
clear. It is good to be skippering a winning team but I'm happy to be
merely laying winning
foundations for a new man to come in, whomever that may be"
Ex-skipper Phil Chapman was in good spirits at the close- "It's great to
be back in the ranks and I felt good with the bat
today. Hopefully this will be
the sign of things to come and the leg side will be peppered with
many more slogs this
season" He ruled out a quick return to the captaincy saying "Sorry
chaps, my wife's on the phone..."
Round the back of the clubhouse, tearaway
batsman Max Page shrugged off his poor early form "I'm the man around
these parts and anyone who doubts that will be made to look silly. I
wasn't feeling it today, but class will always tell".
