A glorious early summer evening saw Dodgers take on the Defra All Stars at Chiswick. In the absence of Captain Ralph and Vice-Captain Mike, Chairman John took over responsibility for losing the toss. The All Stars elected to bat but we were going to field anyway, so everyone was happy.
The Pethick brothers opened our attack, Jack being joined by Tom on debut for Dodgers, and between them they kept the opposition batsmen under close control for an initial spell of two overs each. Noman came on as first change and picked up two important wickets, while Christian, another welcome debutant for Dodgers, bowled very tightly from the other end. Yet the All Stars had come to the game with an attacking mindset and soon began to find the boundary with increasing regularity. John took over bowling duties and was helped out by a stunning catch by Tom at gully, but the unaccustomed captaincy was weighing heavy on his shoulders and he bowled a number of rank full tosses that were ruthlessly dispatched to the boundary. Tom and Jack came back to finish off their overs strongly, and special mention must go to Ross on his return to Dodgers as he stepped forward to keep wicket most admirably. The Chairman would also like to record for posterity his own positive contribution in the form of a single-movement pick-up-and-throw run out with just one stump to aim at. Yet we had given away far too many runs and the All Stars total of 133 would require a major effort when our turn came to bat.
The Dodgers innings never managed to get going, however, as the All Stars attack pinned down our opening pair of Ross and Ben despite some good running between the wickets (which eventually saw Ross run out). Only Jatinder managed to score with any freedom in the early part of the innings, notching up an excellent 25* before we found ourselves bogged down once again. Jack hit out strongly and Noman picked up 10 quick runs, but it was too little too late. With a total of 58 dot balls out of the 120 deliveries we faced, we ended up a full 45 runs short of our target. It was a very pleasant game but we were found wanting in too many departments, and the All Stars fully deserved their victory.
Man of the Match votes: Jatinder 7, Noman 2, Jack 2
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The Pethick brothers, Tom (L) and Jack (R) |
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Man of the Match Jatinder |
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