Room' bowlers in devastating form
Highgate Wood, 8/17/2019
Strongroom won by 121 runs
Strongroom: 163 [M.Godhi 63, Vijay 5-27. Rochak 4-25]
Millwall Stars: 42
View the Scorecard
Masses of rain overnight. Brown pudding pitch, but it actually dried out a bit and performed quite well. Better this consistent stodge, though, than a sun-scorched and inconsistent hard-baked surface. DP back as captain. Habibullah debut. We had pulled together a strong team for the Gaieties, but they couldn’t raise a team, and so Millwall stars thankfully stepped in and provided us with a game.
We batted first. Godhi opened, played a great, composed innings, watchful and punctuated by occasional rasping, powerful and punchy drives. Slow outfield. JG gave him some assistance, and we got to 56-1. Then wickets fell steadily. Millwalls’ bowlers probed away well, getting lateral movement, slow tennis ball bounce, making it hard for us to get in and feel totally secure. Fayaz and Riaz also slammed boundaries and we ended on a reasonable 163. Not a strong score, but we also had a very strong bowling line-up, primed and ready to go.
Tea. Vinay again (thankfully) purchased a supermarket DIY tea, and again Fayaz conjured a chicken biryani couriered directly to the ground! Very good.
Quite simply one of the strongest and most disciplined bowling performances I have seen for the Room’. Godhi and grant opened up. Godhi was off his pace slightly, but very accurate as always. Grant bowled a lovely slower ball to scatter the stumps. Riaz was back to his best. Nisar was a real handful from the scorers shed end; he gradually built up his pace, and ended up bowling relentless and rapid yorkers from around the wicket. Habibullh slinged it like Malinga and generated lots of yorkers. We fielded well. Vinay and Nisar were very good in the field. Grant pulled off a great stop-and-throw from a pull shot off fayaz to square leg, which ended the innings. The opposition only managed one boundary in their 42, and wickets were shared equally. This was a very strong performance, it was just a shame Gaieties were absent for it!
Written By: J.Gower
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