Dodgers visited Buckhurst Hill on a warm, sunny afternoon to finish our summer; previous forecasts of heavy rain for this lone September fixture were all but forgotten as blue skies beckoned on a lovely stretch of Essex countryside.
The Buckhurst batters may have thought they'd scared off opener Gary when he fled the pitch following an expensive first over- in fact he was on the hunt for spare spikes and emerged from the clubhouse a new man, smashing top of middle stump on his first ball back and proceeding to pin back the early run rate. From the other end Karan charged in for a six-over spell of increasingly unplayable deliveries and was unlucky to emerge wicketless for his troubles. At first change Ralph introduced Charlie and Satya to great effect. Charlie took two crucial wickets: first forcing a false shot from Prateek, who was only able to hole out to Ralph taking a sharp catch at mid-off; latterly he removed Yasin, Buckhurst's dangerous opener, thanks to a highlight reel lunge from Satya, covering large strides at mid-on to reel in the catch. Satya delivered the latest of his trademark tidy spells for Dodgers from the other end, and at the halfway stage BH were just about surviving at 75-3 but with two unset batsmen at the crease.
Ralph was kept busy thanks to his second change, where both Aamir and Kunal took wickets thanks to two more chances at mid-off (one high, one low) to round out a wonderful hattrick of catches for the skipper. Aamir provided another jaffa that completely beat Vansham- the batter could do nothing more than flick the ball straight above his head, where Komal's catlike reflexes resulted in a one-handed take to leave the home side six down and struggling. Kunal saw out his full spell alongside a three-over experiment from Brendan, who brought out the slowest of slow balls (Sam Curran eat your heart out) to deceive Karthik. Despite waiting about an hour he still swung too big too early and was trapped on the pads LBW- in his shock the bowler failed to appeal but was saved by calls from Komy and others who made sure the umpire had no choice but to put up his finger. Some textbook death bowling from Charlie concluded the innings with Buckhurst Hill managing a final total of 172-7.
Dodgers rocketed off to a strong start in reply, with Komal and Mike putting together a 50 partnership within 7 overs. Just when it looked like the BH bowlers were well and truly deflated, our pair having smashed boundaries to all parts of the ground (see wagon wheel for kaleidoscopic evidence), Mike missed one as was dismissed LBW for a solid 27. Kunal joined Komy at the crease and the two continued Dodgers' dominance, punishing every bad ball alongside plenty a good one, exchanging the strike fluidly while taking turns to pick out sixes into the car park or the wedding marquis tent or any number of thorny bushes along the boundary. The two both retired in the 17th over at 50* and 53*, respectively. Such it was that Dodgers found themselves requiring only 40-odd runs with half of the overs still to bowl. Satya was promised sensible batting from Karan, who promised to rotate around the former's big hitting- just when it seemed they might cruise home to an early victory with such a strategy, Karan was bowled by BH captain Ramesh (for 5 runs) to bring our own skipper to the middle. Ralph also fell victim to his inswingers, alas, getting bowled himself only two overs later (for 2 runs). Brendan therefore scrambled into his gloves for an unexpected late cameo (2*), surviving four more deliveries from Ramesh to hand the strike back to Satya. Tired of watching wickets fall at the other end, Satya put the match to bed with three consecutive boundaries in the penultimate over and a glorious maximum for the win, finishing 26* from only 16 balls.
Sun still shining, thanks to our quick run chase, we walked off the green for the final time in 2025 with heads held high and smiles aplenty, though not without a note of a bittersweet knowing it will be seven long months before we take to the field together again. The author wishes everyone a healthy and restful winter- thank you for allowing me another year of match reporting! Dodgers finish the 2025 season with 11 wins, 6 losses, and 1 draw; this makes 2025 our ninth consecutive winning season, well done all!
Man of the Match votes
Komal 4, Kunal 2, Ralph 1, Aamir 1
Scorecard: https://dodgers.play-cricket.com/website/results/7062230
Comments