This past Sunday over glorious Upminster Park, the first edition of the Windmill Whack t20 began with double header special. In the first match, the Govani Maestros took on the Apple Finance Firebirds. The Firebirds elected to field first and in the first couple overs it looked like a poor decision as Maestro star-player Paul Hurworth smashed 20 in the first two overs including smashing one over the clubhouse. Danger-man Dave Brown was out first ball however, bowled by Oliver White. It was more trouble for the Maestros as two of their star players were dismissed in the same over of the bowling of Ardleigh Greens James Duhig. Paul Hurworths entertaining knock of 21 was ended when his fellow club mate Duhig sent his middle stump rolling back to the Windmill. Mark Schofield (30) and Paul Stratton (25) re-built the innings for the Maestros to set up a late onslaught. 20 million pound man Alan Ison smashed a quick 36 off 20 balls before coming undone to the experience and guile of his older, smarter brother. A late flurry of boundaries from Josh Lamont resulted in the Maestros finishing on a challenging 168/8.

The chase started badly for the Firebirds when James Aggio-Brewe chipped one to Connor Whetstone of the bowling of Chris Ryan. Alan Ison came into the attack and had the batsman in trouble straight away. Nicky Ison survived a close LBW shout which DRS showed later on was ‘Umpires Call’ but Louis Pickering was not so lucky and he fell LBW for 17. Wickets fell at a regular rate for the Firebirds and they never got near the required run rate. They finished on 121/9 with Jordan Tigg decimating the tail taking 3 wickets. The Govani Maestros recorded the first ever Windmill Whack t20 win by 47 runs.

Man of the Match Award- Alan Ison. 36 and 1/13
Moment of the Match- Sam Knowles one hand nonchalant stormer of a catch

In Game 2 the Costcutter Cobras took on the Root 66’ers from the Healthy Roots restaurant.
The Root 66’ers batted first and soon showed intent to take the attack to the bowlers with the returning Michael Rath smashing the bowling to all parts. In the 11 balls he was at the crease for, Rath made 30 including 4 fours and 2 sixes as the 66’ers were 40/1 off 3. The runs kept flowing but wickets kept tumbling was the theme for the 66’ers innings. Julian Whetstone made 26 and Michael Harrison 24 but was followed by ducks for Bussey, Jenkins and Nigel O’Dell. They were eventually bowled out for 126 in 16.3 overs with Jack O’Dowd picking up 3/23.

Thhe Cobras reply got off to a poor start with Alfie James being bowled by Andrew Berry for a duck. Adam Quested and Matt Tigg (36) batted through the rest of the powerplay, scoring at run a ball as the 66’ers bowled with great control. The Cobras found it difficult to get any of the bowlers away with Berry, Whetstone, Bussey and Rath all going at 5 an over or under. The game changing moment was when Harry Jenkins used his 5th bowler and between himself and Myles Timoti they conceded 39 runs off 2.4 overs with Sutha Kailasapillai doing the damage with the bat. Suthas match winning knock consisted of 2 fours and 2 sixes in the highest individual score of the day of 38* to see the Cobras home to an unlikely victory.

Man of the Match Award- Jack O’Dowd 3/23, 11*
Moment of the Match - Sutha Kailasapillai 6 that cleared the path.