Impressive bowling display underpins comfortable victory
North Middlesex CC, 5/10/2009
Strongroom won by 5 wickets
Bohemians: 132
Strongroom: 135-5
View the Scorecard
The sunny start to the season continued with this away fixture at the North Middlesex Cricket Club ground. Our scheduled game with Washington had been canceled due to their lack of players but fortunately Bohemians stepped in to fill the gap. Oliver won the toss and put Bohemians into bat on a rather crumbly looking track that had clearly been played on several times before (disappointing considering the £110 pitch fee).
Paddy and Ujjal soon got into good rhythm in a threatening opening partnership, bowling good pace and lines, and getting movement in the air and off the deck. Paddy got things underway by breaching the solid defence of Kanwar (who scored an unbeaten 95 in Bohemians’ victory over us in 2008) with a gem that started to shape away before cutting in to hit the top of off stump. Bohemians were struggling to defend and attack and there was no let-up when Martin came on first change. Tom and Hem both bowled some good stuff and generally maintained the pressure on the batsmen, though any stray deliveries were punished on the fast outfield and one short boundary. A run out (Paddy/Dave G) did for one of Bohemians’ main batsmen, and this contributed to pegging back any meaningful rebuilding. Joe bowled his brisk (Panesaresque) spinners with plenty of fizz as well as accuracy and was unlucky on several occasions. Ujjal came back on to good effect, using his second spell to bowl a couple of tailenders. The innings was eventually wrapped up after some stubborn resistance (and perhaps a slight drop in Srongroom intensity) by a creaking Oliver (regretting standing at slip all innings) getting an outside edge, and then debutant James Hickland with a full swinging yorker. 132 all out. Bohemians were doubtful about their ability to defend this total, but Strongroom were aware of the potential for a nervy collapse on an uneven pitch with an untested batting line up. Dave G kept wicket for Bohemians’ innings and didn’t do a bad job to the pace bowlers (taking two catches), though a few byes escaped him and he struggled to stand right up to Joe’s fizzbombs. Apart from one dropped outfield catch (Tom) the fielding was pretty sharp.
Tea: adequate. Nice to have a fresh cup of tea. Sandwiches and cake OK, but limited options and no frills.
Bohemians were hampered by an injury to their regular opening bowler and so opened up their response with the left arm medium pace of Meier from one end and left arm wily spin of Archdale from the other. Oliver and Paddy provided a tall opening pair. Paddy was playing perfectly – stout, straight defence mixed with positive and low risk shots – but the pitch again bit back when an Archdale delivery bounced like a tennis ball and looped off Paddy’s gloves to the keeper. Simon Ray looked in good touch at number 3, steadying the ship and keeping the scoreboard rotating nicely, punishing anything loose. Oliver seemed to be making good progress until bowled by a good Archdale arm ball. Damien joined Simon and again averted any immediate concern of a collapse. Damien seemed to be making steady progress until done for by an lbw decision in which umpire/bowler may not have detected a touch of bat. Martin replaced Damien and with Simon soon seemed to be making relatively easy progress as they upped the scoring to well above the asking rate. Two Ray fours in successive balls underlined this and it could have been 3 in 3 if Simon had pulled a Whyte half-tracker instead of patting it back to the bowler. Still the batting collapse didn’t materialise, as Tom turned in a calmly positive display at 6. Martin again demonstrated his ability to put bad balls away for 4 or 6 as guest Bohemian Gokani struggled for length. Left arm spinner Cook took an over to settle in, but bowled a good spell and eventually lured Martin out of his crease to be smartly stumped. Dave G joined Tom and did nothing more than hang in as Tom played increasingly confidently to ease Strongroom home with some lofted on-drives and plenty of overs to spare.
Looking back, Oliver’s choice to bowl first (combined with a good bowling display) had been an important factor. It would have been tricky to set a total on a combination of an uneven batting surface yet fast outfield and one short boundary. Another 30 or 40 Bohemian runs would have made it interesting, and might have made Strongroom’s fairly regular loss of wickets more of a cause for concern, but overall this was another strong display to continue the promising start to the season. And it was nice to have some support from Dave P, Ol B and a late cameo from Guy.
Written By: D.Gower
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