Division Two

Egham 162 Old Mid Whitgiftian 163-6

Opener Richard Piggin hit 77 while Tony Brugnoli took six wickets as Old Mid Whitgiftian ended their recent barren run with a fully-deserved four-wicket victory over Egham.

In the absence of several regulars the OMW players really rose to the challenge and can be well pleased with their performance. Having won the toss and invited Egham to bat, Mids began well with Matt Winter clean bowling opener Stuart Margetts in the fifth over.

After a sluggish start the batsmen gradually began to take the ascendancy with Egham captain Dave Risk hitting 39 in a stand of 65 with Australian Luke Reece before being brilliantly caught and bowled by Brugnoli.

Reece had played beautifully for 26 when he pulled a ball straight to Matt Kember in the very next over to give Gavin Piper the wicket his consistency merited.

James Tindall battered 21 quick runs before driving a ball from Brugnoli straight to Piggin to trigger a collapse.

Whilst there was some poor batting from the Egham side credit should be given to Mids for some splendid catching.

Andrew Gilmour, Steve Willmore and Jamie Hamilton all threw their wickets away in careless fashion as Brugnoli picked up marvellous figures of 6 for 44.

Egham slumped to 125 for 9 but a fine stand of 37 from last pair Dave Morris and Stefan Kaltner enabled them to set Mids a larger target than they should have been allowed to.

Ben Shorten and Piggin put Mids well on course for victory with another solid opening stand of 65 as Egham were made to regret their decision to retain the old ball.

It was only when the new ball was taken that the bowlers finally began to make any impression with Steve Willmore claiming three wickets in his first three overs to bring Egham back into the match.

Shorten was his first victim, lbw for 24, and he followed it up with the wickets of Dave McSherry, caught in the slips, and Stewart Sales, lbw.

Piggin, who had batted with real panache up to this point, was now forced to show some grit as he ground out an important stand of 35 with Matt Kember (12).

The unconventional batting style of Nick Cook, promoted from the 2nd XI, proved very effective. Cook added 41 with Piggin to take Mids to within sight of their target as Egham were made to rue a succession of missed chances in the field.

By the time Piggin was finally out for an excellent 77 only the storm clouds gathering around Lime Meadow threatened to deny Mids a much-needed win.

However, fellow match winner Brugnoli's unbeaten 16 saw the home side over the finishing line in the nick of time as the rain began to fall.