Strongroom ease into winning ways at home
Highgate Wood, 4/30/2011
Strongroom won by 75 runs
Strongroom: 221-7 [J.Kelly 53, R.Woolhouse 40]
Elite: 146 [James 56]
View the Scorecard
This was scheduled as a fixture against Bohemians, but they were unable to muster a team, and so we were very grateful that Elite CC were able to step in and make the journey from Ealing.
Strongroom won the toss and chose to bat on a beautifully sunny, breezy day. Jules was a little late, so Dave and Rich rolled back the years and set out as the opening partnership. After 10 overs Strongroom were 20-0 after surviving some excellent swing bowling, especially from James. The pitch was in reasonable shape for a Highgate track in April, but there was still the typical uneven bounce (all day), and Rich took one in the jaw early on. The respectful batting paid off, especially for Rich, as the run rate then surged forward as the change bowlers offered looser deliveries. The first wicket fell on 67, and the game then swung strongly back towards Elite as left-arm pace (Jayneil) and off-spin (Piral) took three further quick wickets to leave Strongroom teetering on 76-4. Jules and Ujjal then forged a crucial partnership, combining watchful defense, pleasing drives and glides (Ujjal) and well-placed lofts and cuts (Jules) and some crazy running. Ujjal fell to a nice outswinger, but Jules pressed on to an attractive 50 before succumbing to some low bounce. By then, Strongroom had reached a competitive score, but could they press on to something very strong or unassailable? The tall left-handers Joe and Zorain blasted an unbeaten partnership of about 50 in about 5 overs including some large 6s, but none larger than Zorain’s monster over deep, deep midwicket.
Tom laid on a superb tea.
Elite skipper Jayneil had badly damaged a finger on his bottom hand while fielding. He came in to open, but left the field when it became apparent that he would struggle to hit proper shots. Zorain delivered a hostile, probing opening spell, but went wicketless. At the other end Hem initially struggled with the strong breeze, but settled in to a nice rhythm from around the wicket, and soon picked up a wicket thanks to Bhasvar’s long distance stumping. Once the early breakthrough had happened, Elite were always going to find it difficult to maintain a chase of 7+ per over on an alien track. All their batsmen came out in a positive frame of mind and tried to take the attack to Strongroom. Hem bowled his 8 overs straight out and was replaced by Mike, who began very impressively. At the North end Joe had an exploratory 3 overs and then gave way to Tom, who also kept the batsmen playing and giving the pitch the best chance of betraying them. The best Elite batsman was James, who played some quality rasping shots, especially down the ground. He eventually got his eye in against Mike and dented his figures as the fielders were kept up to press for another wicket. Eventually James played one big shot too many and Tom got one to keep low and bowl him. The end came fairly soon afterwards as Ujjal came on to collect his 50th wicket for Strongroom, and Zorain returned to pick up the couple of wickets that his bowling throughout deserved.
Strongroom were OKish in the field at times, but got sloppy when it seemed that Elite were unlikely to reach their target. Apart from a catch off Hem, a run out, and the stumping, all the wickets were bowled. The park had emptied and the shadows were
lengthening at speed by the time we finished. Elite had been a good opponent and it would be good to try and encounter them again one day.
Written By: D.Gower
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