Strongroom fudge it
Highgate Wood, 5/6/2021
Strongroom won by 82 runs
Strongroom: 150 [F.Gandhi 59]
Cairns Fudge: 68 [A.Chandna 4-14]
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Damp pitch after a day of rain, but now under a very warm sun and a light breeze. The outfield was shaggy and long. DP was running late, due to a lost pair of spikes, and I lost the toss and we were duly inserted to bat (which we would have opted to do anyway). Cairns Fudge were a new opposition for us - named in celebration of Chris Cairn’s failed fudge business venture. We were down to 10 players, due to one of our guys experiencing a bad astrazeneca reaction.
And so we batted. The Fudge opened with a tall leg spinner and skipper Stu - a very accurate medium pacer who attacked the stumps off a deceptively short run. Max went back to a full delivery and was done in by a feathered inside edge lbw, so that is two unfortunate lbws in two games for Max. The surface was quite true in bounce, but was keeping low at the shed end, in particular. Ankit got a beauty that tickled his off bail as skipper Stu changed his angles and went around the wicket for the last ball of an over. JG got to a somewhat chancy 28. Fenil again played very well for 57. We were ticking along nicely at 120-4, and the talk in the shed was of a final total in the area of 180-200 - but then we experienced our first collapse for a long time, as we lost 6 wickets for 30 and ended on a weak 150. DP was ran out, much to his frustration. Guy was out in a comical dismissal - he hit a high no-ball straight down square-leg's throat, only to be run out off the same delivery as he tried to scamper a single. The Fudge bowled quite well, but dropped a few key catches.
DIY tea for all.
Max (3-16) took a hattrick, only the fourth in our history. Bertie bowled a decent spell of away swing. Ankit (4-14) bowled a really good spell, achieved considerable away swing and more than made up for his lack of runs with the bat. Fenil kept wicket nicely. DP ‘dropped’ what would have been a phenomenal, instinctive one-handed catch above his head at short midwicket. Vinay removed the dangerous skipper, Stu (24), with a full beauty that he played over. This was the key wicket. Aman picked up two at the end, on debut. Overall we were somewhat fortunate to come out of this game with a win, considering our paltry total, but our bowling was disciplined and good enough to get the job done. DP also innovated some interesting and effective field placings.
Written By: J.Gower
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