Whalers culled ruthlessly by Strongroom
Barnes, 9/9/2006
Strongroom won by 8 wickets
Whalers: 49 all out (Bully 5-27)
Strongroom: 50-2
View the Scorecard
On a gloriously sunny afternoon in Barnes, new opponents Whalers were put into bat by Simon Ray. The track appeared hard, with patches of grass and a couple of ridges which looked interesting. But could have anyone have could have foreseen such a destructive rout?
Simon opened the attack, and worked up a fearsome pace from the outset. Opening bats Osbourne and Morgan both had their stumps shattered in Simon’s first two overs, with both batters appearing nervous to come forwards after receiving some awkward ‘chin music’ treatment. This was hostile, fast bowling at its very best, and it was exhilarating to watch. Whalers never really recovered from this hostility, and at the other end Bully (5-27) claimed his first Strongroom five-for in an excellent display of medium pace away-swing bowling. Cannon claimed two of his scalps behind the stumps, and two more were clean bowled as Bully stuck to his task with impressive discipline.
Ivan Boote (3-4) replaced Simon at the pavilion end, and bowled with great skill and good pace. Chris Englefield took a sharp catch in the slips, Pete another good catch behind the stumps, and Ivan completed the destruction by clean bowling no.11 for a duck. Whalers had been bowled out for only 49 in just 16.1 overs.
No tea was taken due to the rapidity of the game, and within minutes Rich Woolhouse and John Baddeley were out in the middle. Rich slapped two fours off the first two balls on the innings, but was soon out for 9, trying to smash a straight one out of the ground! James Claro (9) and John Baddeley (19*) both exhibited excellent concentration and sound judgement as they contended with the accurate bowling of Khalil and Jeff. James was removed with an outstanding running catch at fine-leg, but Chris Englefield prevented any further drama by clipping the winning runs through mid-wicket.
This was an astonishing victory by Strongroom, who had completely overwhelmed their somewhat shell-shocked opponents. The Whalers certainly appeared a much better team than their score suggested, so this defeat was for them a bad day at the office, and for Strongroom it represented the results of their outstanding bowling.
* Read the Whalers report of this game *
Written By: Jon Gower
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