An unlikely victory
London Fields, Hackney, 4/28/2013
Strongroom won by 4 wickets
London Fields: 175-9 [T.Utz 40]
Strongroom: 178-6 [J.Gower 46, Sam 43]
View the Scorecard
Strongroom were fielding a strange team for this game, as we had struggled to attract only 5 club regulars. Fortunately we attracted a debutant (Dane), two relative newcomers (Riaz and Toby), and London Fields generously lent us three of their surplus (Tim, Sam and Paul). As a result, we were surprised we managed to win this game, as it is never easy to bring together a an XI of disparate origins into a focused team.
The start of the game was delayed by a good hour or so, as LFCC couldn’t find the stumps (last seen in the Pub on the Park). It was actually pretty cold, waiting around in what was a windy and gloomy Sunday afternoon.
On winning the toss I chose to bowl first (out of character for me), largely as I had little idea what our batting consisted of. The pitch looked a reassuring straw colour from a distance, and for this time of year, and although immaculately kept, was also soft to the touch. Paul Alexander got the ball to swing prodigiously, but also struggled to control his line, and was picked off frequently to the short tree-lined leg-side boundary. I managed to maintain a tighter line and length, and picked up three middle-order wickets - one to a very sharp catch at square-leg by debutant Dane Ellis off a pull shot. Dane also pulled off a brilliant run out to dismiss danger-man Smart for just 2 runs, and London Fields were in some disarray at 40-odd for 5. However, their lower middle order, and tail, wiggled and wagged to great effect, picking off some loose bowling and taking London Fields total to a very respectable 175. Shrewd legspinner Riaz Ashraf was the pick of our bowlers (6-2-8-1), mixing leg-breaks and well concealed googlies to good effect.
I decided to give the opening birth to our borrowed LF players, Sam and Tim. Sam (43) went on to play a wonderful knock, choosing to simply move forwards and swing his bat through the line to anything on a full length, including several 6s. Utz was the pick of the bowlers, yielding good amounts of late away-swing on a full length, ensuring our batsmen were kept watchful and honest. I got off to a steady start (43), and just kept it simple - by defending the straight swinging balls and waiting to pounce on anything wide and short. After Sam’s dismissal to a sharp catch at point off a powerful square-cut, Kiwi’s Chris West and Grant Dixon both tucked into some very useful runs and kept the momentum going in the right direction. However, with the loss of three middle-order wickets there was the chance that we could stutter in our run-chase, but the calm heads of Joe (25*) and Riaz (11*) navigated us into safe waters and to our final target.
Written By: J.Gower
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