Strongroom blown away in unenjoyable encounter
Wray Crescent, Islington, 9/27/2020
Palm Tree won by 122 runs
Palm Tree: 259-3 [D.Perera 140*]
Strongroom: 137-9 [G.Jones 57]
View the Scorecard
This game turned out to be a brutal reintroduction to London cricket, across all observable dimensions, following a wonderful tour to Devon the previous weekend.
An uninspiring grey sky provided a suitably grim backdrop for the rest of the day, which started badly with a 90-minute delay due to a football match. When we finally got going, we agreed to a 20 x 8-ball over format, in order to save some time resetting the field between overs.
The scorecard tells a different story, but we actually fielded one of the strongest XIs in recent years, including the welcome return of Will Davies after a six-year hiatus. However, to our surprise, Palm Tree were much stronger than recalled from previous encounters (albeit a decade ago), and their left handed opener Perera smashed 140* off 77 balls, and with it took the game away from us. Overall he struck 16 x fours and 7 x sixes, helping Palm Tree storm to a total of 259-3.
Mohmed picked up all three wickets and bowled well, but all of our other bowlers felt the heat, except Riaz and Vinay. Vinay bowled an exceptional spell, for no reward, producing a wily range of deliveries and all executed with good control. Our fielding was poor at times, but we were on the back foot, literally, as Perera hammered powerful blows upon us.
Chasing 260 was clearly a significant challenge, and in gloomy conditions. As it was, Palm Tree also had some decent bowlers, and our top four all had their stumps knocked back by quick, probing yorkers (the best delivery to bowl on this surface). Only Gwyn (57) and Ben (20) caused any concern for the opposition, and Gwyn passed 1,000 Strongroom runs as he secured another fine half-century. We lost by a big margin, and this proved to be an all-round miserable experience. But hey, cricket does this sometimes.
Written By: J.Gower
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