Captain Mike, again deputising for Ralph, won the toss and elected to bat first on a sunny evening in Putney. He and Komal got us off to a flying start, but the home side's persistently accurate bowling pinned us back. Jatinder was unlucky to be given out LBW to one which he clearly nicked, while Tawhid and John H had less to complain about as they were dismissed cheaply trying to hit out. By virtue of some excellent striking of the ball by new recruit Tom B and Charlie (playing for Dodgers against his sometime comrades) we were able to raise the run rate again until Tom W, ringer Callum and Bilal saw out the innings. On a relatively fast outfield with shortish boundaries, a total of 112 seemed a little too low for comfort.
And so it proved. Tight bowling from Bilal and Charlie backed up by Tom W and Callum kept us in the game right to the end, but Putney had a great deal of batting to call on. We had the rare treat of seeing Jatinder in bowling action as he sent down three good overs in the fading light, but our hosts benefited from the switch to an orange ball and scored the winning runs with a couple of deliveries to spare. We repaired to the Putney club house to witness their ritual distribution of Thunder Bitch shots (look it up
here), one of which Mike took manfully for our team. A good game against a pleasant team in nice surroundings, even if it put an end to Dodgers hopes of an unbeaten season.
Man of the Match votes: Komal 6, Tom Blanchard 3, Tom Wragg 1
Scorecard
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Dodgers prepare for battle
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How could a team this handsome lose??
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New recruit Tom Blanchard
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