On an overcast and pleasantly cool evening, the Dodgers assembled at Battersea Park for our annual fixture against St Peter's Dads. Transport issues meant that some of our squad arrived later than scheduled, leading to a rather topsy-turvy batting order. Recognised bats Simon and Dave B opened our account, however, scoring nicely until Dave was bowled by one that chose not to bounce. Egged on by some smart running between the wickets by Brendan, who registered his highest ever Dodgers score, Simon reached retirement with a succession of cracking off drives. Chairman John appeared at the unusually high batting rank of 4 and proceeded to roll back the years, scoring 24 off 14 before lobbing one to mid-off. Damian showed even finer form, reaching his 27* off 13 with a sweetly struck six over midwicket. Mike D, Matt S and Jack rounded off an admirable team performance, leaving us with a total of 139 off our 20 overs; yet the short Battersea Park boundaries and quick outfield gave no grounds for complacency.
Charlie opened our attack strongly, dismissing the St Peter's opener first ball via a smart catch by Simon at short extra cover, while Dave followed suit with a wicket in his first over to boot. Jack and Aamir made further inroads, with Aamir achieving a remarkable run out at the bowler's end, so that before long the required run rate was in double figures. Captain Ralph and Matt came on to deliver the coup de grâce, with Matt registering the remarkable figures of 3-0-7-3. St Peter's were bowled out in the 18th over, still 39 runs short of our total, and we repaired to the Prince Albert in good heart.
Man of the Match votes: Damian 4, Matt 3, Simon 2, Brendan 1, Charlie 1
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