A perfect sunny evening down at Turney Road, Dulwich, saw Dodgers face up to Tilberg Regents, always a strong and spirited opposition. Dodgers batted first, with Simon and Mike D soon in the swing of it despite some penetrating Tilberg bowling, so that before long Mike retired to make way for Dan, guesting for Dodgers as in previous years from South Bank, who also scored freely before holing out in the pursuit of more quick runs. Jatinder and Matt perished in the same cause, leaving another South Bank Dodger Tommy to raise the tempo yet again with some glorious hitting. Once Simon had retired with his well earned 25*, he was replaced by Captain Ralph, who put his recent bout of covid fully behind him with some majestic boundaries, including the sole six of our innings, before he too was caught. Tushar hit out with equal unselfishness before being bowled, leaving Chairman John and Peretz (with a combined age of over 130 between them) to finish off the innings with a single each. We had reached a total of 145 thanks to a strong final few overs and a healthy complement of extras, but the outfield was quick and the ball doing nothing to help the bowlers. Would it be enough?
Tommy and Tushar launched our attack with gusto, but the Tilberg openers were equal to the challenge and began to score freely, with first change Peretz coming in for some nasty treatment. Once each of the opening bats had retired unscathed, the pendulum swung in our favour, and some disciplined bowling in the middle overs from John (4-0-19-4) and Dan (4-0-20-3) saw Tilberg wickets tumble and the required run rate steadily rise. We were treated to an impromptu appearance from Gary, who stepped in as our XIth man from the Superstars game taking place on the neighbouring pitch and promptly took the final wickets in a decisive two-over spell (2-0-8-3). Special mention must be made of our fielding, in that we held every catch that was offered us, Matt and Simon each pouching two (Simon's last one a blinder), Mike and Peretz one apiece (plus a nice stumping for Mike) and Gary a caught-and-bowled. An excellent all-round team performance, and a valuable victory with which to continue our winning streak.
.jpg)
Comments