Gardeners divide Strongroom and rule
Toddington Manor, 7/29/2006
Gardeners won by 8 wickets
Strongroom: 172 all out (J.Claro 49, H.Johnstone 5-26)
Gardeners: 176-2 (M.Richards 47, C.Englefield 52)
View the Scorecard
Strongroom made their furthest foray outside the confines of the M25 on Saturday to take on a depleted Gardeners eleven in the beautiful surroundings of Toddington Manor in Bedfordshire. With a squad of 15 to choose from, the team was confident of turning around a recent poor run of results and recording a comfortable win over the green-fingered Toddingtonians.
The only choice to be made before the toss was which of our players to lend to the deficient horticulturalists, and in the end volunteers Andy Orme, Mike Gabbay, Oliver Moore and Chris Englefield – the latter press-ganged into it - made up the opposition’s ranks. Skipper Ray won the toss and opted to bat.
First-up stalwarts Dave Gower and Rich Woolhouse opened up against a disciplined and lively duo of Orme (1-29) and Gabbay (0-26), the former swinging the ball into the two right-handers, the latter pinning them down with a tight off-stump line. Runs were not coming easily, but the opening pair saw off the threat and prepared themselves for some tasty spin offerings. However the Gardeners, noticing the intensity of the inter-Strongroom rivalry in the exchanges between the four key protagonists so far, cunningly decided to exploit any feelings of niggle there might be between the four who had been handed over to the home team and those who had retained their places in the Strongroom team proper. So the skipper tossed the ball to our very own Chris Englefield and Oliver Moore.
And the tactic worked. Chris soon had Dave (13) nibbling at one, which brought in J Claro. Chris was a bit wary of doing the same to James, who was giving him a lift back to London, and instead of the outside off stump line he had been bowling, sent down some juicy half-volleys which James gratefully dispatched to the boundary through the covers. At the other end, Rich (36) finally got the measure of Gabbay, who had changed ends, pulling him twice to the boundary before then falling foul to change bowler Moore (2-26). That brought in Robin Phillips, who also succumbed to his architectural pal, this time playing back and being rapped on the pads, adjacent, as they say. Jon Gower (30) then steadied things with his trademark crashing strokes, but when James (49) was caught in a fine juggling effort by that man again, flame-haired Aussie Chris, one short of a half-century, it meant that the first four wickets had, to all intents and purposes, fallen exclusively to Strongroom players.
The Gardeners then stormed through the breach that the Strongroom lads had made, and the last six wickets went for a paltry 30ish runs. Jon was caught behind off the bowling of Johnstone (5-26), Jolyon fell quickly in the same fashion and Luke played back and, even by his own admission, was plum. Even ever-dependable skipper Simon (16), who looked as if he was on for a quick-fire 30 or 40, fell in strange circumstances, treading on his own stumps. When Pete and Will also fell rapidly, big hitter Dave Proctor was stranded on his own and, shockingly and unforgiveably, there were still three overs to go. With the score on 172, the feeling was that the team had fallen 30-40 runs short.
A fine tea was provided by the Gardeners, and Strongroom regrouped for the coming afternoon’s play, confident that their bowlers would prosper where the bats had not quite succeeded.
Opposition skipper Richards opened up with Aussie Chris, the former gambling yet again that the inter-Strongroom rivalry would carry the day. Chris, of all the four Strongroom exiles, was champing at the bit - not only had he been stuck in with the opposition to make up their numbers, but there had also been some serious questioning of his sartorial tastes the week before when he turned up for Caribbean Mix in a shirt of quite startling loudness. So there was no doubting he was up for it. And he started brightly, as all of the bowlers struggled for rhythm and line, rotating the strike with his clean hitting partner, and generally being a thorn in the side of the Strongroom attack.
Both Simon and Jon found the going tough initially, and only Rich Woolhouse, from the Pavilion End, was bowling with certainty. Jolyon came on for a tidy spell, but the runs kept flowing and some unusual lapses in the field, coupled with an array of extras, mainly in the form of wides, meant that the pressure was seldom on the opening pair. Opener Richards was in big hitting form, eventually succumbing to a loose J Gower ball for 47, which brought in danger man D Woodhouse (36). Simon returned for a fiery spell as the game edged away from the Londoners, and Dave Proctor bowled seven great overs, stemming the runs and halting the march to victory, but it was not to be. By the time Chris (52) got to his half century, the game was up. He was eventually stumped off a Luke leggie, but had done enough, getting wickets, runs and catches to round off a remarkable performance.
The Gardeners romped home with eight wickets in hand, with over three overs to go, and completed an easy win. Strongroom’s all round performance had been untidy, and it was the Gardeners who had come up smelling of roses. The rematch is in Highgate on Saturday.
Written By: J.Claro
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