Zak just about pulls us through
Barnes Common, 6/21/2012
Strongroom won by 1 wicket
London Itinerants: 86
Strongrom: 89-8
View the Scorecard
We were lucky to get a game in at all, what with the heavy showers that continued throughout the afternoon, and although the pitch was podgy and soft, it actually played pretty well all considered. Although Barnes Common is visually a pleasant little ground, surrounded by woodland, these aesthetics were somewhat shattered by the constant commuter train, helicopter and Heathrow bound air-traffic. Sumer lost the toss, and our new opponents batted first. Gorman and Dixon got off to a brisk start, picking off some rustiness from Ed Boiling (his first Strongroom game for some 7 years), whilst debutant Asif Zain bowled a tidy, probing full length. However, with Joe’s introduction, the two openers were dismissed and non-one else managed to get into double-figures. Sumer changed the bowlers around nicely, and spin bowling in particular proved hard to get away, with steepling, awkward bounce. Guy Wilson executed a good run-out, and Zak did a tidy job behind the sticks. London Itinerants had started well, but their middle order seemed over cautious. Strongroom started badly! Jimmy was done by an absolute peach first-up, swinging in and then away, and just nibbling the top off-bail. Guy then slapped a full ball vertically to mid-off, and even his belligerent bellowing of “DROPPPPP IT!” did nothing to affect the concentration of the fielder. With Karan’s dismissal we were in some trouble, but fortunately Zak played really solidly, and without him we would have lost the game. The rest of our middle and lower order played loosely, leaving it to this author and Zak to deliver the winning runs with two balls to go! The final few overs were quite tense, as London Itinerants bowed really well, and with some aggressive batting they would have had the better of us.
All in all a very entertaining game of midweek T20. We look forwards to the next two!
Written By: J.Gower
|