London may officially be in drought, but walking out onto the over-watered strips of pitch C felt a bit like hiking through a peat bog. To say that the ball was keeping low on the surface is perhaps an understatement... Dodgers were far from deterred, however, and resolved to deliver a fitting birthday gift to the skipper in the form of a win against well-matched opponents Kensington Wanderers.
Opening the batting, Mike navigated five dots to eventually find a slick two on the sixth ball to deny Diago a first-over maiden. Will then faced his own over of difficult deliveries, nudging the final ball of Shiv's first over for a single to deny that maiden as well. Sadly his troubles continued in the subsequent over, when Diago returned to clean bowl him for an uncharacteristic 1 (7). With our in-form batter out early and runs already scarce, things looked troubling. Satya didn't quite turn things around, falling for a mere 3 off 9 balls, and Alex fared similarly at 1 (5) when Shiv took another wicket to leave us 11-3 after the first six overs. Damian came to the middle to join Mike, and the two began the slow graft of building a partnership in challenging circumstances to bring us up to 33-3 at the midway point. Damian was sadly then well caught for a vital 11, while Brendan managed only 2 before also popping up to mid-off. Mike, who it must be noted was putting together a truly remarkable innings while wickets tumbled all around him, finally found a long-term partner when the Chairman stepped up to complement him. These two club stalwarts finally found something of a groove, with Mike earning an excellent 27* for his troubles. Stockers held down one end alongside late cameos from Fin (just the 1), Ralph (7, including a powerful shot well over mid-on's hand), and Aamir (4 from a fine cover drive to the applause of the picnic table crowd), and had to watch several wides pass by his eager bat to conclude on 21*. Very honourable mention to second-top scorer extras for 26 essential runs.
110 may not sound like much of a total for a Twenty20 side in 2026, but if you were defending on a surface like the swamp that Pitch C resembled by this point you'd fancy yourself with half a chance too. Such was Dodgers cautious optimism taking the field, and with a strong bowling lineup to boot. Will and Satya opened the bowling and quickly demonstrated why their spells could make the difference in a tight match- two wickets apiece and no easy runs conceded. Will had the better economy, conceding a mere 6 runs in his 4 overs (to go with those two bowled wickets), while Sat claimed the extremely valuable wicket of Diago, out LBW for a duck. Fin and Stockers came in at first change and as we entered the second half of the chase things were finely poised; runs certainly hard to come by but the required rate never truly getting out of reach. Both took a wicket bowled for their troubles too. Aamir's spell followed a similar pattern, complete with wicket, and with three overs remaining the oppo still needed 33. Alex was unlucky to bowl his over just as batter Henry was hitting his stride- the boundaries suddenly came quickly and the game began to get away from us. Henry retired at 25* after pulling his side towards a winning position, and with his strike partner Shiv settled in nicely as well. Dodgers stared down a difficult final set of deliveries, knowing so few were still required, and felt quite hard done by when the umpire called two consecutive very harsh wides in Fin's conclusion to his spell. Some would say they weren't wide at all- I was fielding at square leg so probably the least qualified to comment, though Diago next to me at square leg ump was surprised...
Anyway Wanderers got their win, and Ralph was forced to settle for some pitchers at the bar instead of the victory he was hoping for to ring in his 48th year. Though perhaps he is a winner after all, in the eyes of this reporter, as he doesn't look a day over 44.
Man of the match
Mike 4
Stockers 4
Fin 2
Claps for Mike as he retires after a sturdy innings
Skip inspects the pitch(er) on his birthday
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