Chiswick
6pm
20 overs (retire at 25)
Weather: dry and sunny
Dodgers won the toss and elected to bat
Dodgers 99 for 8 (Peirce 30*) lost to HMRC Dragons 100 for 5 (Fox 4-0-20-3) by 5 wickets
Man of the Match: Fox (8), Peirce (3)
Match report by Peter Lee:
On a lovely sunny day in picturesque Chiswick, Dodgers took on the unfamiliar HMRC Dragons XI in a lively 20 over thrash. The mysteriously named opposition, none of whom appeared to be either mythical beasts or Welsh, lost the toss to the ever-punctual Captain Carr and were invited to field. A giant inflatable penguin from the Falkland Islands was one of the more unusual onlookers as the teams took to the field.
Priest and Peirce, forming a virtually anagramatical partnership, strolled out into the middle to face the tasty Dragons attack. Priest got off to a quick start, responding to a short cover placing by thrashing the ball past the startled fielder for the first boundary of the game. Things were therefore looking good until the previously inaccurate Raj produced a peach of a yorker to send his holiness's middle stump cartwheeling in the general direction of Brentford. When McBarron followed next ball, shuffling across to another cracking full delivery, the two main stalwarts of the Dodgers batting were gone with only an unlucky 13 on the board.
Westhead survived the hatrick ball, and even assayed a cheeky chinese cut off the rampant Raj for a welcome boundary. At the other end, Peirce dug in and awaited the bowling change. Only another 10 were added before Raj picked up his third rearrangement of the furniture, spreadeagling a static Westhead's stumps for 6.
This was the signal for the strike bowler to be withdrawn and for the introduction of two Dragons bowlers who decided to take a very close interest in the middle of the track. Peirce, a back foot player by nature, cashed in quickly, swatting a half tracker imperiously away for his first six in nearly 20 years of playing the great game. Carr battled gamely at the other end, constantly on the look out for that rare commodity - a pitched up delivery. The pair added a more than useful 43 before Carr sliced one to gully. He was rapidly followed by Cousins, caught at slip off half-track bowler Johal.
Peirce brought up his retirement with another towering six, middled off the top-edge (shurely "struck off the sweet spot". Ed) down to fine leg. A tremendous return to form for the runner-up in last season's "Most Handsome Player" award. However, the overall team run-rate was on the low side and, despite some spirited late running from Lee and the not out Fox, 99 for 8 off 20 overs was seen as well below par.
A strong Dodgers bowling attack game some cause for hope, encouraged by an early breakthrough by Cousins when he cleaned up Radford for a big fat quack. However, this was quickly extinguished as the unfortunately named Cant and No.3 Sampat set about the bowling and the short boundaries with gusto. Sampat in particularly played probably the shot of the season, effortlessly lifting Cousins to the long off boundary for six. Dodgers dropped their usual quota of catches and by the time the two batsmen retired, the game was almost up.
Fox generated some late excitement, bowling an excellent line and length and benefiting from the slightly softer Dragons middle order to pick up another 3 wickets and seal his MoM award. Lee bowled a mixed spell that also saw him pick up a consolation wicket. However, Dragons sailed past the required total with overs to spare to condemn Dodgers to another defeat.
Fox bagged 8 votes for an MoM landslide, with 3 mentions for Peirce for his well-judged 30 not out. The evening was rounded off with cold showers for all as the ever-helpful CSSC staff had already turned off the hot water, along with the changing room lights and their ability to smile.
Scorecard
6pm
20 overs (retire at 25)
Weather: dry and sunny
Dodgers won the toss and elected to bat
Dodgers 99 for 8 (Peirce 30*) lost to HMRC Dragons 100 for 5 (Fox 4-0-20-3) by 5 wickets
Man of the Match: Fox (8), Peirce (3)
Match report by Peter Lee:
On a lovely sunny day in picturesque Chiswick, Dodgers took on the unfamiliar HMRC Dragons XI in a lively 20 over thrash. The mysteriously named opposition, none of whom appeared to be either mythical beasts or Welsh, lost the toss to the ever-punctual Captain Carr and were invited to field. A giant inflatable penguin from the Falkland Islands was one of the more unusual onlookers as the teams took to the field.
Priest and Peirce, forming a virtually anagramatical partnership, strolled out into the middle to face the tasty Dragons attack. Priest got off to a quick start, responding to a short cover placing by thrashing the ball past the startled fielder for the first boundary of the game. Things were therefore looking good until the previously inaccurate Raj produced a peach of a yorker to send his holiness's middle stump cartwheeling in the general direction of Brentford. When McBarron followed next ball, shuffling across to another cracking full delivery, the two main stalwarts of the Dodgers batting were gone with only an unlucky 13 on the board.
Westhead survived the hatrick ball, and even assayed a cheeky chinese cut off the rampant Raj for a welcome boundary. At the other end, Peirce dug in and awaited the bowling change. Only another 10 were added before Raj picked up his third rearrangement of the furniture, spreadeagling a static Westhead's stumps for 6.
This was the signal for the strike bowler to be withdrawn and for the introduction of two Dragons bowlers who decided to take a very close interest in the middle of the track. Peirce, a back foot player by nature, cashed in quickly, swatting a half tracker imperiously away for his first six in nearly 20 years of playing the great game. Carr battled gamely at the other end, constantly on the look out for that rare commodity - a pitched up delivery. The pair added a more than useful 43 before Carr sliced one to gully. He was rapidly followed by Cousins, caught at slip off half-track bowler Johal.
Peirce brought up his retirement with another towering six, middled off the top-edge (shurely "struck off the sweet spot". Ed) down to fine leg. A tremendous return to form for the runner-up in last season's "Most Handsome Player" award. However, the overall team run-rate was on the low side and, despite some spirited late running from Lee and the not out Fox, 99 for 8 off 20 overs was seen as well below par.
A strong Dodgers bowling attack game some cause for hope, encouraged by an early breakthrough by Cousins when he cleaned up Radford for a big fat quack. However, this was quickly extinguished as the unfortunately named Cant and No.3 Sampat set about the bowling and the short boundaries with gusto. Sampat in particularly played probably the shot of the season, effortlessly lifting Cousins to the long off boundary for six. Dodgers dropped their usual quota of catches and by the time the two batsmen retired, the game was almost up.
Fox generated some late excitement, bowling an excellent line and length and benefiting from the slightly softer Dragons middle order to pick up another 3 wickets and seal his MoM award. Lee bowled a mixed spell that also saw him pick up a consolation wicket. However, Dragons sailed past the required total with overs to spare to condemn Dodgers to another defeat.
Fox bagged 8 votes for an MoM landslide, with 3 mentions for Peirce for his well-judged 30 not out. The evening was rounded off with cold showers for all as the ever-helpful CSSC staff had already turned off the hot water, along with the changing room lights and their ability to smile.
Scorecard
Innings of Dodgers
Priest b Raj 9
Peirce not out 30
McBarron b Raj 0
Westhead b Raj 6
Carr c ? b Johal 7
Cousins c ? b Johal 0
Hilary (J) c ? b Green 3
Lee b Green 8
Fox not out 16
Matthews c ? b Green 0
Cooper not out 1
___________________________________
Sub-total 80
Extras 19
Total (for 8 wickets) 99
Fow:
1-13 (Priest 9, 10 mins, 9 balls)
2-13 (McBarron 0, 1 min, 1 ball)
3-23 (Westhead 6, 7 mins, 7 balls)
4-66 (Carr 7, 31 mins, 23 balls)
5-67 (Cousins 0, 7 mins, 5 balls)
6-72 (Hilary (J) 3, 7 mins, 4 balls)
7-86 (Lee 8, 12 mins, 9 balls)
8-94 (Matthews 0)
Bowling of KAI Dragons
Sampat 4-0-20-0
Raj 4-0-16-3
Bailey 3-0-12-0
Johal 4-0-18-2
Green 4-0-24-2
? 1-0-7-0
Innings of KAI Dragons
Cant not out 25
Radford b Cousins 0
Sampat not out 29
Parker b Fox 17
Whitehead b Fox 0
Nolan c Fox b Lee 15
Pearson b Fox 2
Raj not out 5
Bailey not out 7
___________________________________
Sub-total 96
Extras 4
Total (for 5 wickets) 100
Fow: ?
Bowling of Dodgers
Cousins 4-0-23-1
Cooper 4-0-21-0
Hilary (J) 2-0-19-0
Fox 4-0-20-3
Lee 3.2-0-17-1
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