Finally…we overhaul the Mix!
Highgate Wood, 8/8/2009
Strongroom won by 67 runs
Strongroom: 175-5
Caribbean Mix: 108 [Shah 55]
View the Scorecard
At the 6th attempt we finally managed to defeat Tooting based Caribbean Mix, and in so doing won the inaugural day out for the ‘The Boote Cup’, specially bought to commemorate this fixture.
Rewind to early afternoon, and Mix skipper Jim Ferguson won the toss and decided to insert Strongroom. Conditions were good overall – cloudy, but bright and humid, though the track was still recovering from heavy rain on Thursday. New dad Rich Woolhouse [34] was welcomed back from self-imposed exile, and slotted back in nicely to his opening slot, this time sharing the heavy responsibility with Martin [34]. Both batsmen had to show a degree of patience, as the Mix opening bowlers established some nice lines, which along the juicy surface made for some awkward bounce. Not long after sweetly hooking a 6 deep into lesbian corner, we were all surprised to watch the top of Martin’s off-stump being clipped back by a perfectly positioned late away-swinger. Enter KP, “the man at 3”. Whilst Rich and Ken weren’t our quickest runners between the stumps, they both continued to show sound judgment in shot selection and eased the score along with some characteristically robust defence and occasional pugnacious biffs to the boundary where possible. Rich W was just starting to unleash some trademark ‘rifle-blow’ drives through the ‘V’ when the wily left-arm spin of Shumon induced him to drive over a fuller one. By this stage, Ken had tried to give his wicket away several times, usually by slapping mis-timed cover drives into the air, much the frustration of the opposition. Left-armers Johno and Shumon together bowled a fine 16-over spell, but they were let down by only 10 men in the field, and many of those seemed older and slower than in previous seasons. OK, this report is getting a bit long…I’ll speed it up now. Ken was bowled by the shrewd Toney. I got a bit stuck in defend/attack mode, and was caught at mid-wicket for 27. D.Gower [25] played another delightful knock, upping the energy with some neatly clipped shots and smart running, and Velu [16] attempted many big shots, but struggled, like many others over the years, with the slowness of the track. A final score of 175-7 was reasonable, and around par [180] for Highgate Wood.
Tea: A tasty spread of chicken, salad, bread and water melon courtesy of the Gowers.
I noticed that Johno, their dangerous opening bat, ate two portions of chicken, and I like to think this played some part in his lazy shot straight into the hands of cover, off only my third ball. At the other end Adam Ransfield bowled with good pace and maintained a testing line, and was unlucky not to collect more than one wicket. It was clear that the Mix were struggling from the outset, as the wickets started to fall at regular intervals, though the hard-hitting Shah [55] batted defiantly amidst the rout. For Strongroom, Newkirk bowled another tight spell, and then Joe and Tom bowled a fine 16-over spell, taking 4-48 between them. Where Tom persuaded the Reader ball to swing away nicely from the right-handers, at the other end Joe settled immediately into a rhythmical spell of probing line and length. A smart catch was taken by Adam at square leg from a sweep off Joe’s spin, and other than an entertaining cameo from T.Brown, there was no support for Shah, who was finally captured by a stunning reflex catch by Martin at point, one-handed above his head.
And so victory…finally, was ours! Jim made a nice little speech in front of the shed as he presented me with the Boote Cup, and batsman and bowler of the match awards went to Shah and Joe respectively. All in all, a good day’s work.
Written By: J.Gower
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