Strongroom finally win a game!
Peter May Centre, Walthamstow, 8/30/2008
Strongroom won by 36 runs
Strongroom: 186 (B.Scott 67)
Rose & Crown: 150-4 (Sam 80*)
View the Scorecard
Strongroom chose to bat first on a straw-coloured track, under a blue sky. It looked like runs galore, but this track had some springiness in store for us.
Jules can consider himself unlucky, as the ball came off his blade and trickled onto the base of the off-stump, and the bail duly toppled off. Veteran Devonian cricket-guru Bill Scott [67] played a blinder, and effectively won the game for us with a typically determined and gutsy innings. Bill showed our team of young bucks the benefits of leaving balls, defending many others, and building an innings steadily. There were some mutterings about our modest rate of scoring, but I knew the ‘Way of the Bill’, having witnessed many such well-crafted innings over the years. Paddy spooned one up, I gloved a bouncy one to the keeper, my brother did the same trying to increase the run rate, Joe was curiously run out, Ujjal holed out to deep square-leg (much to his annoyance), Proctor hit the ball very hard indeed but then committed hari-kari on a single that never was, debutant Kiwi Chris West struck the ball well but was trapped infront, Knighty edged one behind, and the Hemster remained undefeated [showing considerable improvement in his batting]. No one else had managed to score over 20, but most of the guys managed to score between 10-20, which meant we finished on 187. I had wanted 200, but this was satisfactory, especially as the track had some curious tennis ball bounce in it. R&C had stuck at it well, Dave in particular bowled a nagging line from the A406 end.
Tea Report: Probably the largest tea I have ever seen at a cricket match [barring gut-busting scones, jam and cream at Stoodley Knowle, Torquay, in my youth]. Lovely to see some watermelon action, and some fresh tea out the back of a car. Good effort all round.
So, Strongroom, fresh off a run of 5 consecutive defeats that stretched back to June, were desperate to get off to a good start. And how we did just that. After 20 overs, R&C were 35-0, and Strongroom had bowled as well as I’ve ever witnessed in all my years with the club. Paddy, Knighty, Ujjal and Proctor bowled great lines and nagged away at the R&C openers, with Paddy and Ujjal bowling 8 maidens between them. Proctor bowled well and picked up his 50th Strongroom scalp. This was a curious run-chase in that R&C never really threatened to take the game away from us, even after the 20 overs drinks break, as I was expecting. Myself and Chris West came on and did a decent job in maintaining the pressure. Chris deserves some credit in playing his first ever ‘proper’ cricket match, having spent many years playing backyard cricket in his native New Zealand. His left-arm spin looked pretty tasty in his pre-match chuck-downs, and he picked up his first wicket and showed good potential in his first outing. I must mention that we dropped several catches though. I have to name them – Proctor, D.Gower, Joe…and myself and a couple of others managed a few ‘refusals’ to add to the mix. However, the outfielding was good, and Hem was outstanding at short-cover, throwing himself around on many occasions and probably saving a good 20-30 runs in the process. With 10 overs to go, R&C needed another 100 runs, but still seemed reluctant to throw the bat. Paddy came back and continued to bowl great lines, picking up two wickets, including a fine running catch from David Gower at deep cover.
Well…we won! It felt great to finally win a game, and Joe and Ujjal finally witnessed that we can actually win games sometimes! Thanks again to Bill Scott, the wise one, who held our innings together and kept tidily behind the timbers.
Written By: JG
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