A warm August afternoon welcomed Dodgers to Putney Heath (which at 55m is the second-highest elevation ground in our rotation) for our annual 40-over fixture against Roehampton.
NJ opened the batting with Mike - both were grateful to have Brendan in as a runner due to Mike's injury. They started well to put on 40 together before Mike was caught at backward point, bringing Jack to the crease. An even stronger partnership saw our second pair add another 86 runs, with NJ falling right on the stroke of drinks to a stunning catch at the absolute apex height of the 12-year-old fielding in gully; NJ's 70 (62) was the best score of the day, and a worthy entry in his ever-growing list of powerful knocks on this ground. With refreshments came Dodgers debutant Kunal, smashing 41 quickfire runs off of only 34 deliveries to complement Jack's well-made 31. Satya and Brendan did well to (just about) survive the spell of Roehampton danger man Neel Biswas while taking runs where they could find them off of Baloch the Younger. Looking to accelerate in the final overs, Sat was bowled for 24 while Brendan and Dilpreet were run out pushing quick singles. Raj added 10 runs of his own and helped steer us home alongside Abhi, who contributed a crucial 20 (15), and took advantage of some eyebrow-raising field placement, to position us nicely with a respectable total of 236.
The sun continued to beat down as Dodgers began our defence, but you wouldn't know it looking at our opening bowlers. Abhi kept the batters pinned down as usual, while Jack began his spell with 16 consecutive dot balls before finding the edge of Hunter (caught well by Mike at first slip)- that's how to get them behind the rate early! John and Dilpreet continued to apply the pressure at first change, with Dilly deservedly trapping Shiv LBW as the home team continued to find runs scarce. Kunal and Satya came on to tighten the screws even further and took a wicket apiece to put us in a very strong position at the halfway drinks, with Roehampton slumping to 74-4. If their first four batters looked rattled, however, then Neel and Zain looked anything but... their all-important partnership brought the game back into the balance as they found their rhythm against Kunal and Satya. Even the seasoned bowling of NJ struggled to slow their boundary-rich assault on our total, while the significantly less seasoned bowling of Brendan was properly punished; Ralph stepped in to take an over for himself to help slow the tide. With a partnership nearing 100, and our total feeling less secure by the minute, the skipper reintroduced his trusty opening pair into the attack. The breakthrough finally came from Abhi, as he removed both batters in consecutive overs to put Dodgers back in the driver's seat. Jack bowled Newton to properly open up the tail and was followed by Kunal and NJ taking a further wicket each as the required run rate crept back up from 'worrying' to 'safe'. Roehampton's young talent was run out pushing for two in the penultimate over, and Dodgers could finally complete the exhale which saw us secure a victory by 19 runs.
The author has used his editorial liberty to omit several drops made in the course of our victory, though would like to note they were equal in measure to the drops Roehampton accumulated while fielding. Ultimately this was a well-fought victory and a great team effort, so who needs to remember the blushes that happened along the way. That being said, our deserved Man of the Match was...
Abhi 5, followed by Kunal 4 (a stellar debut!), Jack 1, NJ 1
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