Headley 175 all out (tall off-spinner 5-for) tied Wallington Tudor 175 all out

Headley's dream of an unbeaten season remains alive, but it took a monumental team effort to turn this into a tied game. With Headley defending a modest 175, the game looked over when visitors Wallington Tudor reached 110-1, but Headley fought back to leave the visitors needing 15 to win on their last wicket. The momentum swung again when Philip Chapman wilted under the pressure and was hit for two big sixes, but he responded with a swinging yorker to bowl Tudor's tail-end Pakistani and tie a thrilling game.

The game marked a first run out for new skipper James Midmer, who started well by winning the toss. With temperatures nudging 25 degrees there was only one decision that wouldn't have sparked instant mutiny and Headley batted first. Senior players all round rushed for the tanning oil and it was the two 15 year olds, Mitch Pickering and George Tyson, who were sent out first into the furnace. Both batted well. Tyson looks a real prospect and crashed the ball around with some sweet timing. Pickering Jr. x3 produced his usual array of big hits and sharp singles and the pair put on a promising opening stand of 50. Pickering was looking assured against the medium pace, but the introduction of a tall off spinner saw the red mist descend, and a wild mow proved to be his last shot. Former skipper Phil Chapman has been in good early season form, but he was rapped on the pad first ball and departed for a golden duck. The call of the mow then proved too strong for both Noble (9) and Tyson (27), whose innings ended in shots they wont look back on with any pleasure. Hopper and Pickering A calmed things down and batted very sensibly. Pickering A was the only batsman who looked comfortable against the off spinner, hitting him powerfully down the ground on a number of occasions, whilst Hopper played a few flashing back foot drives off the variety of filth on offer at the other end. With the score up to around 90 Pickering decided it had been a while since the crowd had seen a mow and heaved one straight to midwicket. Midmer joined Hopper at the wicket and the pair took the score towards 150 with some attractive shots and watchful defence. However, having looked comfortable, both batsmen then mowed their way into the pavilion, and despite a brief cameo from Grant Waller, the Headley innings was over rather too soon at 175 all out. In the midst of all this Wallington Tudors tall off spinner had taken a cheeky 5-fer . Bowling from round the wicket in the style of Derek Underwood, he was very accurate, and as Chapman remarked ruefully, "must have been turning it square" to get the number of LBW decisions he received from the away umpire.

Headley were optimistic at tea, which in a similar manner to the Headley innings was a real team effort , with players and spectators alike ignoring the unhygienic nature of its preparation. The chat at tea (mainly from the low scoring batsmen) was that the pitch had looked tailor made for defence, possessing the Headley triumvirate of slowness, lowness and uneven bounce, but this optimism soon drained away as a combination of unorthodox leg side hitting from the Wallington openers and a healthy supply of full tosses saw the Wallington score racing along with just the solitary wicket down (though Headley did drop the other opener four times) . Even the normally reliable Grant Waller received a caning from the opposition skipper and things were looking bleak when he gave the skipper the wry shake of the head with the score at 110-1. Headley needed inspiration and it came, not for the first time this season, from a controlled spell from Andy Pickering, who put the brakes on with a series of accurate overs from the Cock Inn end, and then took the key wicket of the oppo skipper. At the other end George Tyson came on to bowl a short accurate spell and removed the other opener off a top edge. At 120-3 the game was on again, and the confidence seemed to ebb out of Wallington, who fell under the spell of the returning Waller and the effervescent Chapman, who worked up some genuine medium pace from the Box Hill end. Whereas everything had gone wrong in the field earlier, it now started going right, Waller got a couple of LBW's, Chapman moved the ball as if it was on a string, and even the fielding was better, as Midmer hurled down the stumps from deep extra cover, and stand in keeper Mark Hopper held on to a brilliant catch standing up to Waller. Under the influence of all this Wallington Tudor had collapsed to 160-9 but they had one Pakistani trump card left at the crease, and he put two full tosses from Chapman into the trees to level the scores. It took an age to find the ball leaving both batsman and bowler time to think about the next ball, and Chapman won the battle of minds, producing a pearler which swung away and tied the game.

It was a real baptism of fire for new Headley skipper James Midmer, who remarked that he was glad not to surrender the unbeaten run. "We didn't play our best cricket today" mused the new man, "but it was a real team effort to pull it out of the fire at the end".

Chapman was in more bullish mood "I thought I bowled excellently today" he remarked modestly, "whilst we gave them slightly too many runs at the start I was always confident we would get the breaks at some stage. The Headley track always keeps you in the game."

After the game Chairman Andy Pickering refused to either confirm or deny reports of some new signings in the pipeline, including a further Australian. "What we have seen this year is the benefit of a strong squad, and we have been looking at a number of options to augment the side, in what has been a remarkably fluent start to the season" said Pickering. He added "we are in a position to make a real statement this year, and want to support this as much as possible"