Indifferent performance!
Regents Park, 7/13/2014
Malgudishire won by 50 runs
Malgudishire: 175 [Nikhil 88, G.Dixon 2-24]
Strongroom: 125 [G.Dixon 56]
View the Scorecard
A belting hot summer’s day in Regents Park. Doesn’t get better than this. We had two late drop-outs, and Otto bravely stepped in to semi-fill the void! Dave P lost the toss, and so Malgudishire CC elected to bat first. We took the first four wickets quite quickly, with Grant in particular hitting a nice length. Byron made a decent start on his Strongroom debut, achieving some nice away drift. In fact, there was a strong wind breezing across Regents Park, and so at both ends we managed to get some natural drift both ways. However, Malgudishire then compiled a solid partnership for the 5th wicket, with Vijay (88) proving particularly difficult to get past. John Rajeeve (4-20) delivered another good spell, htiting a consistently full length, and fully deserved his four scalps. I managed to take two catches! However, the Gower brothers bowled poorly. Otto bowled very nicely. Dave P did a good job behind stumps, and dealt well with some uneven bounce. We finally made the key breakthrough (Vijay), and then some easy wickets ensued. We fielded well overall. 175 was probably a good score on this febrile surface - and was perhaps 30-40 more than it should have been.
We scoffed some Subway sandwiches, due to added expense of The Hub tea!
So, then we batted… Dave Gower looked solid, but then the ever-threatening Kunal got some drift, and took out Dave’s leg stump. Then Kunal whipped out Byron on his 1st ball, and I soon followed LBW! Kunal was probing around on a full length, and with late-away drift was a dangerous proposition. Grant Dixon (56) batted batted with characteristic self-confidence and gusto! Yes - he rode his luck, but his generally positive attitude paid dividends. Notable also was his enthusiasm in taking on the pull shot, Dave P batted with great concentration. Alex also batted really well - and hung around for a good amount of time, displaying his much-improved technique. Then, Otto and Guy’s daughter Tilly showed us how it should be done in the final overs! A disappointing loss this. Basically we gave away too many runs in the first innings...and we were always behind the get-go.
Written By: J.Gower
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