Strongroom do it again...
Turney Road, Dulwich, 8/3/2014
Strongroom won by 99 runs
Strongroom: 267-6 [J.Kelly 78, J.Rahman 55*, R.Umin 50]
Gardeners: 168 [T.Leahy 59, J.Elliot 43]
View the Scorecard
A fantastic hot summers day greeted us in Dulwich, but also a strong wind that blew diagonally across the ground. We were playing on a different ground than usual at Turney Road, on what appeared to be a somewhat grassy but hard track. The outfield looked fast, and was notably shorter on one side of the wicket.
Gardeners came into this game seeking to address their freakish defeat at Highgate Wood the previous weekend, whereas Strongroom were feeling confident with a very strong and well-balanced XI.
Dave Proctor won toss and obviously batted first. Jon Gower was soon out, however, snared at gully, off a delivery with some extra bounce and swing from the probing Navratil. Both Navratil and his opening partner, left-armer Cunningham, achieved prodigious swing, accentuated by the strong wind. Jimmy Hall [20] again looked fluent and reeled off some delightful cover drives, but again got ‘in and out’ before really doing his talent justice. Ridwan [50] played with verve and gusto, in an innings of risky shots, but successfully carried off with his natural confidence. At one stage Ridwan flicked four consecutive fours to the square-leg boundary, and then hoisted one enormous six into someone’s back garden. After 13 overs Strongroom were 105-2, and some enormous totals were being talked of. However, then Gardeners pulled the momentum back with some sustained and accurate bowling, and committed fielding.
Jules [78] took some time to play himself in, but then proceeded to play beautifully, in probably his best Strongroom innings to date. He was more than ably supported by Joe Rahman [55*] , who also took time to get himself settled before launching into some aggressive shots, including one sublime straight six.
Greg Cavanagh played well on his Strongroom debut, especially considering he hadn’t played cricket for six years, and showed good balance and poise at the crease. Skipper DP [15*] again secured a perky not out, and also looked good, in a welcome return to form. Strongroom were more than content with our final 267 off 40 overs. The wily Clayton was the pick of the bowlers, and Gardeners stuck at it well, but unfortunately for them their support bowlers were hammered by Jules and Joe respectively.
A fairly average tea in the club house.
Elliot (43) and Leahy [59] both played really well, and got Gardeners to 100-0. By this stage we knew we would have to work hard to make inroads into their innings, especially with such a fast outfield and two settled batsmen at the crease. However, we had a strong bowling line-up, and we just needed to be patient.
The critical breakthrough came when Joe had Elliot snared by a brilliant catch at slip by Jules Kelly. Clayton played sensibly, but by now Gardeners were behind the rate, and risks had to be taken to eat into the target. Grant Dixon bowled well, but not as good as we are quite used to, though Riaz was in fine form. The pick of the bowlers though was Ridwan (3-26), whose natural angle into the right-hand batsmen was made even more awkward with the stiff cross-wind. Jimmy and Byron both had a bowl, but wickets fell at steady intervals, and though Gardeners took the game into the final over, the result was never in doubt. For Strongroom this was a big win over a much-respected opponent. We now look forwards to a much more competitive game in 2015!
Written By: J.Gower
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