Veterans Gower and Orme sink Black Rose
Highgate Woods, 9/2/2006
Strongroom won by 98 runs
Strongroom: 202-7 (D.Gower 57)
Black Rose of Highgate: 104 all out (A.Orme 4-28)
View the Scorecard
Simon returned after a long absence and promptly won the toss and elected to bat, on what is likely to be the last home fixture of his current term in office as club captain. The weather forecast was filthy but despite a raking, wild wind tearing across the ground and the occasional bit of light drizzle, play was amazingly never weather interrupted.
Rich was sporting a dodgy back from over-exertion in the garden, so chose to ‘have a go’ from the start. Some viewers probably didn’t notice much of a difference, but he did wind up and unleash some supreme swashbuckling. After slapping a full toss straight back to the bowler (dropped) first ball, Rich went on to compile a rapid 29. Strongroom were rattling along at 6+ an over and Black Rose infuriation spilled over to some disharmony in the field. Dave Gower enjoyed himself at the other end and was delighted to get some runs after a season of struggling to get out of the 20s. He was joined by a perky John Baddeley and runs continued to come at a healthy rate. Black Rose finally put some breaks on when skipper Mishra (unlucky to go wicketless) bowled a superb spell of attacking left arm spin. The breaks were further applied when Rommel joined in at the other end with some extravagantly flighted chinamen. He promptly picked up John (30) and Dave (57) and caused plenty of problems despite getting hit for a couple of big boundaries. Jon Gower (17), Simon (13) and Luke (11) chipped in with useful runs. Brett compiled a classy XX and Dave Proctor underedged all four of his deliveries to compile another useful not out for his soaring average. Strongroom ended on 202 off 40 overs – perhaps not as high as it seemed early in their innings, but a daunting total nonetheless.
Tea Report 7/10 Chris (dodgy guts) Englefield improved mightily on his previous tea adventure with a pile of Tesco tuck. Perfectly adequate, but following the adage (later proposed by Andy Orme as a club standard for discussion at the AGM) that a purchased tea shouldn’t really be able to score more than 7.5, he’s got a 7. Andy chipped in with some bubbly.
Strongroom took the field with plenty of enthusiasm, cranked up on Sunny D and champagne. Brett and Andy bowled great opening spells. Andy rose like a phoenix from his hangover to bowl a super-tight line and length. Brett looked especially dangerous, was often unlucky, and had a good physical and verbal battle with one of the Black Rose openers. Black Rose seemed to be getting through the opening exchanges unscathed when Simon plucked an astonishing, leaping, one-handed stunner out of the air at cover off a rare Orme full toss. The door was open and Strongroom piled on the pressure. Dave Proctor bowled a tasty, probing spell and picked up 2 wickets, while Andy continued to eat into the Black Rose batting, ending with a well-deserved 4-for (amid ridiculous talk of retirement). Oliver Moore and Jon replaced Dave and Andy and both ran in well and bowled tight spells. Ollie came back especially well from some targeted hitting off his first over. At 53-6, Black Rose were in meltdown. Simon finally brought himself on, and tore in ferociously from the hut end. As with Mishra and Bret, what seemed to be the most threatening bowling in the match went unrewarded. Dave G was given a twirl and picked up a couple of cheap wickets, with Luke’s superb stumping off a wide leg side ball capping an excellent performance behind the sticks. Black Rose were all out for 104.
So, a comfortable win for Strongroom was the reward for some really good cricket against a team that were a much better match than the final result might indicate. It was especially good to see Shah (albeit in the opposition) back on the field and talking of a Strongroom return in 2007.
Written By: David Gower
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