Dodgers gathered on what was a fine evening in Battersea Park to face up for the first time against Kings Road Cricket & Social Club. With the ground being hard; the usual small pitch in front of the Battersea Cricket Pavilion and some Dodgers being slightly fearful of the youthfulness of the opposition; we knew that nothing but a strong performance in all departments would be required to walk across to the Prince Albert victorious. Supported once again numbers wise by our friends from Marauders (Paddy & Usman), Captain Mike won the toss and elected to bat.
NJ & Mike Mac opened the batting and got us off to a good start, with NJ quickly making 25 (from 24). Some excellent fielding and good bowling changes from Kings Road meant the run rate began to slow, with Dodgers only crossing the 100 run mark at around the 15th over. However, a cameo from Mike in the middle order (26 from 17) and a six from Jack off the penultimate ball helped Dodgers to change this, finishing on a total of 131. A decent score, but coming off the field there was a feeling that we may have been at least 15-20 runs light given the conditions.
Charlie and Paddy opened the bowling for the Dodgers defence, with Charlie dismissing the Kings opener with an absolute snorter second ball of the innings. From this point the wickets continued to flow, with Jack bowling the other Kings opener and benefitting off a good catch from Charlie on the fine leg boundary. It was only a slight partnership from the Kings Road middle order batters that threatened a Dodgers victory, but Usman and NJ, who both bowled with good control, kept up the pressure and dismissed the dangerous duo between them.
As it’s such a rare occasion, it would be wrong to not mention the high-standard of the Dodgers fielding performance, with a shout out to Brendan and Mike Mac who saved countless boundaries between them. However, the champagne fielding moment has to go to Captain Mike, who took a fabulous one-handed catch off of a snick Jack found, giving everyone that rare feeling as though we are playing something close to the cricket happening at Lords this week!
In the end, Kings Road were all out for 109, meaning Dodgers headed to the bar with a well-deserved 22 run victory.
Man of the Match Votes: NJ 6, Jack 2, Mike D 2, Charlie 1.
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