Despite playing against St Peter’s Dads in the only fixture at an eerily quiet Kings House on Thursday evening, Dodgers still found themselves stuck on the furthest possible astro strip at the far end of pitch C. Sadly the adjacent grass wickets had been recently watered, preventing us from swapping over of our own volition.
Nevertheless we opened the bowling with vigour, and starting spells from Will and Fin kept our opposition very hemmed in. Through four overs they’d conceded a solitary boundary and the field was feeling confident as the pressure rose, with Mike unfortunate to drop an early chance. Jack came on at first change to deliver a very tidy spell, in which he was unlucky not to claim an LBW- was it bat, was it missing, or was the umpire just bamboozled? Charlie didn’t let the umpire get involved as he took a caught & bowled wicket with his first (somewhat unconventional) ball. Not to be outdone, Satya then delivered two wickets of his own in his first over, including bowling the dangerous Richardson first ball. That initial delivery remains so dangerous when batters don’t know what they’re up against! He also claimed another wicket with the last ball of his spell thanks to a well-taken catch by Damian at full stretch. Brendan’s two overs were more expensive, as Johnson-Hill found the boundary five times in ten balls, but the dads were still below par as third change brought on Tamal and Dave. Dave took one wicket bowled and nearly had another caught if not for Damian spilling it to get a run out for himself instead. Heads up play. Fin, Charlie, Brendan, and Will were all reintroduced by Ralph for an over each and a wicket each to leave the oppo Nelson-ed at 111 all out as Jack ran in off the boundary to take the final catch.
Dodgers had reason to believe this total was comfortably under par and early runs from opening pair Mike and Satya seemed to confirm our perspective. Sat retired promptly at 27* but Mike was gutted as he defended a ball which skidded onto the stumps, ala Bashir-to-Siraj, and had to depart for 13. Tamal then fell to a good catch at mid on, leaving for only 2, while Jack produced one boundary before nudging to point for 7. Damian fared similarly, flicking off the pads for four and then getting bowled by a particularly awkward lob with only those 4 runs to his name. In typical style Will reassured us all as he smashed his 25* in only ten balls, retiring before breaking a sweat. Charlie (19*) found similar success to see us home, with a late cameo from Dave (2*), as we won by six wickets and more than six overs to spare.
Despite the scorecard the fathers were still in fairly high spirits, as befits a side who tries to bowl everyone for two overs each. And fair play to Ralph who largely followed the same principle in our approach as well. One final note from me to record the unusual event of an American bowling (Brendan) to an American batsman (David, SP keeper); most may not find this as interesting as I do but these are the liberties I’m afforded as your match reporter.
Man of the Match
Satya 7
Will 4
https://dodgers.play-cricket.com/website/results/7733595
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