A glorious sunny evening at Regent's Park saw Dodgers face Ad Hoc for the return match of the 2019 season, Dodgers having won the earlier encounter in convincing fashion. We were slightly light on players this time around, but welcomed Rob Cooper and Guy for their first games of the season, and waved goodbye to Damian as he played his last for us before returning to the USA.
The Ad Hoc pace attack started efficiently, using the artificial track to get good bounce from balls just short of a length. More used to our usual low-playing wickets, the Dodgers opening partnership of Komal and Jatinder found it difficult to hit boundaries early on but were soon in the swing of things, Komal retiring with 27* off 29. Tawhid and Guy took over the batting duties, running well between the wickets but still struggling to get the ball away. Damian, arriving late due to an extended walk around Regent's Park trying to find us, scored most fluently of everyone and retired with a swift 26* off 17 balls. Rob and John H battled on and managed to take the score to 131, which didn't seem too bad a total, given the bouncy track and the longish boundaries.
Our prospects changed abruptly when NJ opened the Ad Hoc innings against his Dodgers comrades by smacking Captain Ralph's first three balls for six apiece. This was a rude awakening, with NJ retiring on 25* after facing just 7 balls and the other opener Clancy joining him with 25* of his own soon after. All the Ad Hoc batsmen managed to find the boundaries with far greater ease than we managed, and they romped to a comfortable victory in the 17th over with only one wicket down. We were guilty of not using the pitch as cleverly as they had, and paid the price accordingly.
Man of the Match votes: Damian 5, Komal 4
Scorecard
The Ad Hoc pace attack started efficiently, using the artificial track to get good bounce from balls just short of a length. More used to our usual low-playing wickets, the Dodgers opening partnership of Komal and Jatinder found it difficult to hit boundaries early on but were soon in the swing of things, Komal retiring with 27* off 29. Tawhid and Guy took over the batting duties, running well between the wickets but still struggling to get the ball away. Damian, arriving late due to an extended walk around Regent's Park trying to find us, scored most fluently of everyone and retired with a swift 26* off 17 balls. Rob and John H battled on and managed to take the score to 131, which didn't seem too bad a total, given the bouncy track and the longish boundaries.
Our prospects changed abruptly when NJ opened the Ad Hoc innings against his Dodgers comrades by smacking Captain Ralph's first three balls for six apiece. This was a rude awakening, with NJ retiring on 25* after facing just 7 balls and the other opener Clancy joining him with 25* of his own soon after. All the Ad Hoc batsmen managed to find the boundaries with far greater ease than we managed, and they romped to a comfortable victory in the 17th over with only one wicket down. We were guilty of not using the pitch as cleverly as they had, and paid the price accordingly.
Man of the Match votes: Damian 5, Komal 4
Scorecard
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