Ben's first ton sets up whopping win
Barnes Common, 7/5/2022
Strongroom won by 152 runs
Strongroom: 266-8 [B.Hartridge 135]
London Itinerants: 114
View the Scorecard
A cracking day was made even better by engineering works which meant Barnes Common was silenced by the lack of trains every three minutes. Myself and Vinay were late, caught up in traffic and then we proceeded to get lost in Narnia - the myriad of pathways crisscrossing through the woodland around this idyllic spot. As it was, Gower senior won the toss, and Ben took advantage of the amended batting order, scoring a superlative 135 - his first ever century. It was a classy, fluent and faultless innings, characterised by excellent balance and shot selection. Henry (35) played excellent second fiddle, in particular playing spin bowling with confidence. The Itinerants bowled well at times, but were let down by some ordinary fielding, and in the latter overs Vinay, myself and Arif had a decent flourish and we ended on an imposing 266-8.
In response, the Itinerants got off to a flier, with skipper Joshi feasting on anything loose. Sandeep was struggling with the hosts pink ball (an essential colour for identifying balls hit into the surrounding undergrowth) and eventually held the ball cross seam to prevent any uncontrollable movement. DG didn’t quite find his full length, but also had two chances dropped in the slips. At 50-1 after seven overs it was time for Arif to be brought into the attack to bring back some control, and he duly achieved this with two key wickets. The Itinerants then went from 50-1 to 66-7 off 17 overs, and thereafter we were in control, apart from Adam (47) who smashed it with some gusto, but as soon as Sam snared him there was no further resistance. Sam ‘The Windmill’ Leach hit a teasing length, Joe Miller bowled with good control, and Seb bowled superbly, picking up two wickets with his beguiling drift. This ended up as a somewhat straightforward win, albeit after receiving an onslaught in the early overs of their innings.
In the image below we see Ben sat upon the ancient tree stump, specially reserved for century makers (well, something like that).
Written By: J.Gower
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