Dodgers v Belair Corinthians

Belair Park, West Dulwich
6pm
20 overs
Retire at 25
2 for a wide/no ball, no extra ball (except in last over)
Weather: dry but very windy

Dodgers 127-6 (Lowe 26*, Hilary (J) 26*) beat Belair Corinthians 111 for 6 (Keeka 4-0-25-3, Hilary 4-1-3-1) by 16 runs

Man of the match: Hilary (J) - 5, Lowe - 2, Keeka - 2

Match report by Peter Lee

A breezy Thursday evening match against previous conquerors Belair CC saw 10-man Dodgers venture down to the wilds of Dulwich for a frolicking 20-over affair against their nine man opponents. The usual high level of punctuality and strong knowledge of transport timetables saw the away side ready to start with a slimline 6 players and a frankly terrifying batting line up of Lee*, Lowe, Hilary, Matthews+, new boy Keeka and Cooper. Belair captain and part time Judas Dollin agreed to forego the toss and Dodgers went out to bat.

Lee and Lowe opened on a wicket that could be described as "sporting" (in the field of anti-personnel mines sense of the word) and an eventful first dozen balls saw a large number of extras and a run out as Lee decided he had an urgent appointment elsewhere by calling for a suicidal single. This not only condemned him to 15 overs of fielding for the opposition, but also watching Lowe and Hilary rack up an unbeaten 26 apiece against some mixed bowling, allowing them both to retire. The latecomers began to arrive, Qureshi turning up in time to be the second wicket, falling lbw to Storey, as plumb as the annual general meeting of the Jack Horner appreciation society.

Marr and Sitou both make quick runs before being bowled by Marker, Marr in particular receiving a good ball that he continued to bang on about all evening. Keeka made his first run for Dodgers before losing his stumps to one that kept low, Cat scrambled some quick runs and the very late Radcliffe treated us to a four ball, 9 run cameo that went 1/4/4/out, leading to a round chorus of "Are you watching McBarron?". A total of 127 on a tricky wicket was above par but not unachievable if Belair contiued their batting form of the previous game.

Keeka and Cooper led off the bowling attack as a howling gale began to sweep across Belair's picturesque, although alas dressing room free, ground. Cooper's initial couple of overs proved expensive as the Belair opening batsmen feasted on the short boundaries and quick outfield. At the other end, Keeka made a steady start but 33 were added in quick time, generating a frisson of unease amongst the stout yeomen of Dodgers.

Keeka got the first breakthrough and his third Dodgers wicket, Bentham providing the greatest good to the greatest number of people with a low catch to the diving Marr at point. An early bowling change by the increasingly inspirational captain saw Hilary (J) begin another miserly spell which heaped pressure on the home team's batters. The pressure told as wickets began to tumble to the excellent Keeka, on what Aussies call his dayboooooooo (shurely "his second match", Ed.), he picked up Storey who hoisted a spiralling catch to Lee and the prized wicket of Mike "30 pieces of silver" Dollin, clean bowled for 8.

The captain made the interesting tactical decision to bring himself on and, after a fairly disasterous opening over, settled into an easy rhythmn of short balls that begged to be spanked to the short boundary. Fortunately, some cunning captaincy succeeded in keeping Belair's less dangerous middle-order batsman on strike and in an act of daylight robbery that would make Dick Turpin blush, Lee escaped with vaguely respectable figures. At the other end, Hilary (J) finished a fabulous spell of 4-1-3-1 which proved to be the matchwinner.

Sitou and Cooper picked up a wicket apiece as Belair's attempts to up the scoring rate proved futile. The champagne moment of the match came when Matthews picked up his first stumping since the French Revolution, throwing down the wicket of Hays off Cooper and providing the third umpire with the unusual spectacle of both keeper and batsman being out of shot when the bails came off. Interestingly, the different time-zones involved in where the ball was thrown from and where the stumps were broken meant that the batsman was out stumped before the keeper had actually released the ball. Take that Einstein!

So in summary, Dodgers eased home by a comfortable 16 runs, with Hilary picking up a deserved man of the match for his all-round excellence but with mentions for Keeka (in only his second match) and Lowe who must have got his mum to vote.

Scorecard

Innings of Dodgers

Lee* run out 0
Lowe not out 26
Hilary (J) not out 26
Qureshi lbw b Storey 12
Marr b Marker 12
Sitou b Marker 10
Keeka b Hays 1
Matthews+ not out 3
Radcliffe b Hays 9
Cooper not out 1
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Sub-total 100
Extras 27
Total 127

FoW: 1-8 (Lee 0, 10 mins, 2 ovs)
2-99 (Qureshi 12, 16 ovs), 3-109 (Marr 12, 17 ovs)
4-112 (Keeka 1, 18), 5-116 (Sitou 12, 19)
6-124 (Radcliffe 9, 20)

Bowling of Belair

Bentham 4-1-17-0
Millstein 4-0-36-0
Hays 4-0-15-2
Storey 4-0-24-1
Aarons 1-0-14-0
Barker 3-0-16-2

Innings of Belair

Aarons retired 27
Bentham c Marr b Keeka 14
Storey c Lee b Keeka 2
Dollin b Keeka 8
Barker lbw b Hilary (J) 11
Tom B not out 13
Harden b Sitou 16
Hays st Matthews b Cooper 3
Millstein not out 4
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Sub-total 98
Extras 13
Total 111

FoW: 1-33, 2-50, 3-66, 4-88, 5-?, 6-107

Bowling of Dodgers

Cooper 4-0-38-1
Keeka 4-0-25-3
Hilary (J) 4-1-3-1
Lee 4-0-19-0
Sitou 4-0-23-1

Comments

Anonymous said…
Cat's stumping was fairly spectacular, although the guy was halfway to the train station by the time the bails came off.