Superstars won the toss and elected to bat in the second match of the annual 4-game series. The whole match was played in glorious sunshine on the 'A' pitch at Chiswick. Gigg and Rai went off at a lively rate facing opening bowlers Hilary (4-0-31-0) and Luke. They pushed the score on to 73 off 9 overs before Rai was run out by the alert Taylor's direct hit. Tight spells from Qureshi (4-1-22-1) and Cooper (4-1-10-0) helped slow things down. Lomas went cheaply to an easy catch by Priest off Qureshi. Gigg retired after making a good fifty. Gundry was kept quiet by continued good bowling and then fell to a sharp caught and bowled by Luke who returned in good form (4-0-29-1) at the Fullers End while Pope's good spell (4-0-28-0) from the Pavilion End made sure that the total was only 122. At the beginning it was looking more like 200!
Matt Taylor and the guesting Matt Conway opened the Dodgers innings in fine form. Mike Taylor and Patten bowled well but the wickets did not come and the runs ticked over nicely. Highlights included the impressive Taylor hitting a splendid straight six. An injury to Conway's knee meant a runner was necessary with Hilary doing the honours. Change bowler Rhys took the first wicket when Conway was caught at mid on by Davey for 20. This brought Priest out to the centre to renew an old partnership. No, not the one with Taylor but the one with umpire Cooper. Fortunately and much to the relief of both parties this passed off without event. The other Superstars change bowler Coram went for three very expensive overs and Dodgers kept racking up the runs.
When Superstars brought on Gundry and Harrop it was too little too late. Despite a dreadful mix-up which led to Priest being run out for 32 and Jacobs being bowled by Harrop for 3, the final run chase came down to only 3 off the last two overs. John Hilary obliged with the winning runs which ensured a well deserved Dodgers victory.
Man of the Match votes: Matthew Taylor (8), John Cooper (2), David Pope (1)
Scorecard to follow.
Matt Taylor and the guesting Matt Conway opened the Dodgers innings in fine form. Mike Taylor and Patten bowled well but the wickets did not come and the runs ticked over nicely. Highlights included the impressive Taylor hitting a splendid straight six. An injury to Conway's knee meant a runner was necessary with Hilary doing the honours. Change bowler Rhys took the first wicket when Conway was caught at mid on by Davey for 20. This brought Priest out to the centre to renew an old partnership. No, not the one with Taylor but the one with umpire Cooper. Fortunately and much to the relief of both parties this passed off without event. The other Superstars change bowler Coram went for three very expensive overs and Dodgers kept racking up the runs.
When Superstars brought on Gundry and Harrop it was too little too late. Despite a dreadful mix-up which led to Priest being run out for 32 and Jacobs being bowled by Harrop for 3, the final run chase came down to only 3 off the last two overs. John Hilary obliged with the winning runs which ensured a well deserved Dodgers victory.
Man of the Match votes: Matthew Taylor (8), John Cooper (2), David Pope (1)
Scorecard to follow.
Comments
"We lost the toss and Superstars batted first on a good pitch and lightning quick outfield. The writing was quickly on the wall with Superstars openers Gigg and Rai rattling up 73 for no loss off the first 8 overs. Our catching was good although Sean dropped one (his only contribution to the game unfortunately) having got hands head and body all in the right place. How it popped out we still don't know. Fortunes then changed when Taylor, lying prone at mid-wicket, ran out Rai with a direct hit. Our bowlers then turned the screw and we restricted Supertsars to 122 on what looked like at least a 150 pitch.
Some excellent fielding backed up good spells from Qureshi and Pope and a tight second spell from Luke (we won't mention what happened to his first spell...), but the pick of the bowlers was Cooper who only went for 10 off his 4 overs.
Openers Taylor and Conway (defecting to us after being dropped by Superstars) gave us an excellent start and we were never behind the run rate. After Conway was dismissed for 20 by Rhys (Reece?, are you Westhead in disguise?), Taylor was joined by Priest who immediately set about ruining slow bowler Coram for other batsmen. A rapid cameo of 32 was ended when Priest was run out by 22 yards after a mix up with Taylor.
Taylor, taking on the role of the absent Yorkshire Slogger (who is cruising in Stockholm...) by carrying his bat for 49 not out, saw off a hostile spell from Gundry at the end to see us home, helped along by some well placed edges from Jacobs, and it was left to John Hilary to hit the winning runs in the penultimate over.
A great team performance to go one up this year against the Old Enemy."