Viking of the Week - Why have one when you can have four?

In this week’s roundup you’ll see the first team put in a solid bowling performance, but just fall short with the bat, the second team have the most Hollywood underdog victory over top of the league bootle, whilst the third team shift gears and cruise to victory, and the fourth team find themselves lead in style to victory by their skipper.

​In spite of some spots of rain and bouts of wind, the vikings still took the field on Saturday, hopeful of chasing some more points in the attempts to cement their places in their new leagues. This week, the choice of our champion was made ever harder by outstanding performances in every single team. The first XI made their way down to Norley Hall, who they managed to restrict to 152 runs on the board before bowling them out, with James Geen taking his first ever fifer. Despite this compelling performance on the field, the team struggled at the crease and fell short this time round, but are looking to translate this field and bowling performance into next week’s fixture.

The second team, however, decided to make a Hollywood-worthy story out of their fixture, going in as underdogs against top of the league Bootle, who only had two defeats to their name. After battling their way through a tough innings at the crease that went well past tea, the second XI took to the field, ready to defend the their modest 156 runs. It was a nail biting performance from Bootle who looked ready to dispatch their target, until the spinners made their way onto the strip, with all ten wickets falling against spin. The fixture made it into the final hour of the day with the batting side having plenty of wickets in hand to throw at their goal. But just as despair began to set in across the Mill Hill Road balcony, Harry Wilkes steps up to bowl, having already knocked down some of the opposition, and with a fully outstretched arm as he flung himself through the air, grabbing at the mishit ball as it cruised back towards him and taking the much needed catch, giving the Vikings their breakthrough. This was the wicket that would invigorate the side to fight back until the final over in which the second team bowled Bootle out for 152.

I can imagine this fixture will be immortalised at the club and talked about for years to come, with Harry Wilkes taking 6 key wickets, and TJ at the other end dispatching another 3. It seems spin is the way to go this season, and I’m sure the second team will walk into their next fixture with their heads held high, ready to take on their next challenge after toppling the league leaders.

It was one success story to another at Irby this weekend, with the third team travelling to Bootle and yet again managing to clinch a victory from the jaws of defeat. The third XI took to the field first, with their opposition managing to rack up 177 runs before declaring. But as is typically the way, the Vikings held in there and clawed their way to victory, with Mahi DeSilva notching 101 runs not out, with Jack Bough holding down the other end, adding 42 runs of his own, with a huge six to finish the innings off in style.

And then there was the 4th XI, who went into their fixture with one goal, to come out with a victory. They took to the field first, with Rich Evans (3 wickets) and Kyle Vernon (4 wickets) spearheading the attack. They managed to limit Caldy CC to only 129 runs, and went out with captain Tomas leading the way with 51 runs.

It was an incredibly successful anniversary weekend for the Vikings, with not one or two, but four candidates for the esteemed Viking of the Week award, with one hailing from each team - are these performances signs of the weeks to come? I guess we’ll have to wait and see!