The Cobham Cavaliers Walking Cricket side recently played their first indoor friendly matches, away, against The Change Foundation (TCF) Walking Cricket side based in Wallington. They had met once previously at The Lords Walking Cricket Festival where the Cavaliers had just come out on top. TCF had been the 2023 seasons runners up in the Central Division of the Surrey Walking Cricket league, so a competitive morning’s cricket was expected.
In the first match, having been asked to bat, the Cavaliers found runs hard to come by as they adjusted to the smaller indoor hall. Only Tony A and Colin M managed to work the ball into space, to enable a walked run (scoring 2 plus a further 1 if the ball hit the side wall as well) to be completed. With others in the team chipping in, the Cavaliers set a gross target of 252 (starting from 200) from their 8 overs, but having lost 4 wickets, this resulted in a net score of 232.
It was imperative that the Cavaliers took early wickets which unfortunately was not the case and TCF finished their 8 overs on a gross score of 263, reduced to a net score of 248 by virtue of the loss of 3 wickets, meaning that the Cavaliers lost by 16 runs.
In the second match, the Cavaliers bowled first, starting with a bang with Mark P bagging 3 wickets in the second over. This was quickly followed up by Chris F with 2 and Nick W with a further 4. In total the Cavaliers took 10 wickets thanks to an excellent mixture of crafty bowling and good fielding led by Tony A. TCF finished on a net score of 204 off their 8 overs, a total that the Cavaliers could easily achieve subject to a steady batting performance. This was duly achieved, with the Cavaliers coming out deserved winners by 35 runs.
To round the morning off, our excellent hosts, provided a delightful lunchtime spread and a promise of a further round of friendly matches in early 2024. For those statisticians amongst you, the relative scorecards can be accessed by the links below: -

Scorecard Match 1

Scorecard Match 2