The Dodgers assembled at Battersea Park on a warm July evening for the return match in this season's rubber against the Fathers of St Peter's School. The previous week's encounter at Chiswick had seen over 300 runs scored, but a newly watered Battersea wicket suggested that this would be a much lower-scoring affair. Captain Mike (deputising for the day) lost the toss and we were put in to bat, which was helpful given the low number of players we had present at the start time of 6pm.
This shortage of able-bodied individuals led to the unusual sight of Chairman John striding out to the middle first up alongside Mike, a pairing that promised experience if not the quickest running between the wickets. St Peter's Dads had positioned almost all their fielders on the ropes from the start, which made boundaries hard to come by, so the scoring rate was dangerously slow. Mike retired unbeaten and John was eventually bowled out for a laborious 20, at which point Dilpreet, Abhi and Rajesh took up the cudgels for us. NJ moved the score along sharply with some excellent shots, including a towering six off a no-ball, and Satya added a spectacular straight six of his own to take us towards the close. Charlie also hit out nicely, with the result that we finished our twenty overs on a total of 133.
Conscious of the need to respond strongly, Will and Jack got us off to a devastating start by removing three of the St Peter's openers within the first four overs - including a dramatic caught-and-bowled that involved Jack flinging himself fearlessly onto the rock-hard turf. Dilpreet and Aamir took over as first change and kept the pressure on, with St Peter's finding it as tough as we did to score boundaries. Abhi, Satya and Charlie all bowled tidily from the Power Station end and wickets continued to tumble, so that when NJ bagged the final batsman in the last over the oppo were still 20 runs adrift. Special commendation to Rajesh for his excellent wicket-keeping, and to Mike for his flawless captaincy. A great team effort, and a most pleasing victory.
Man of the Match votes: NJ 7, John 1, Mike 1, Rajesh 1, Will 1
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