Strollers succumb to Fallopeans
 
The penultimate match of the domestic season saw the Strollers take on the fabulously named Old Fallopians on a windy but sunny late Summer afternoon at North London CC.

Both sides unfortunately suffered from a number of no-shows with the Fallopians only able to muster 9 men including one Mike Leighton, a North London 3rd XI player found loitering in the bar and promptly seconded onto their playing staff. On the Strollers side, numbers were also reduced with Dickie suffering from a bad case of gastric flu calling in sick, Huw delayed in making his arrival until teatime and Jake in the midst of a Herculean effort to drive back overnight from Bordeaux in order to make the game.

Nevertheless, things started well. Skipper Gav won the toss and, in light of the dwindling team numbers and excellent conditions, elected to bat first for only the second time in the season. Taking advantage of some wayward bowling, openers Graeme and Deavs made a racing start, that man Extras also cashing in. With the run rate exceeding 8 an over and Deavs lofting a well executed straight drive for six, all looked well as the Strollers reached 41 without loss after five overs.

Sadly, it was not to last. Deavs, drawn into another drive, mistimed and was bowled. Ed Paleit, the Fallopians skipper and best player by some yardage, sensed an opportunity to get their side back in the game and brought himself into the attack. An accurate and deceptively nippy bowler, Paleit unsettled the Strollers batting and began claiming wickets with regularity. Graeme, having made 28 useful runs, was bowled. Matt, having made a start, edged a catch to gully and Gav was yorked by a deadly inswinger.

Sean Garvey also succumbed to the accuracy of Paleit, but the collapse was stemmed as John Lucarotti, playing his first match for the Strollers in over a year, despatched several lusty blows to the boundary. Joined at the wicket by Mikey Ward, the two dug in enough to see Paleit off before hitting out again and seeing the Strollers past the 150 mark. The momentum swung the other way again however as Lucarotti holed out to midwicket and John Singh was unlucky to see his bails clipped off by a ball that dipped late.

At this point, the innings could have been over with Jake and Huw still missing in action but after some fast talking from Gav, Ed was kind enough to allow the Strollers to recycle their lowest scoring batsman, so Sean returned to the wicket for an encore. Mikey continued his impressive display with the bat with an array of shots all round the park. Sean put up more resistance in his second innings, holding up an end whilst Mikey played the shots, but was eventually bowled just as Jake arrived to stride out to bat. The revised last wicket stand did not last long however as the aforementioned Leighton was brought on to bowl, and only needed a single delivery to trap Mikey LBW for an impressive 45, thus bringing the Strollers innings to a close for a modest yet respectable total of 184.

After tea and an oddly protracted wait for the openers to emerge from the pavillion, the Fallopians began their innings in the face of some fast and fierce bowling from Jake at one end and a probing examination from Graeme's spin at the other. Indeed it was only the third over when Jake struck first, clipping Stanton's off stump in typical manner to yelps of delight from his team mates. 13 for 1 - the game was afoot. In his next over, Jake struck again as Fallopians' other opener Clarke skied a cross bat shot to midwicket which was tidily pouched by Sean's waiting grasp.

Unfortunately all this achieved was the arrival of Ed to the wicket to partner the newfound Fallopian, Leighton. With the opposition's two best bats at the wicket, so began a frustratingly clinical recovery-cum-onslaught exposing the Strollers' somewhat limited bowling options after Jake and Graeme were taken off for a breather. With Huw finally able to take the field and keep wicket, Mikey, in a rare departure from his berth behind the stumps, took a couple of overs to begin asking questions of the batsmen whilst Deavs, bowling for the first time this year, struggled to find his line at the other end.

The Fallopians sailed past 100 and the match seemed to be slipping until the slow but accurate John Singh was brought on, initially curtailing the flow of runs and then finally removing Leighton who, on 68, attempted a lofted drive only to be skillfully caught low down by Graeme at long off. Things suddenly looked brighter after an over later Sultanti was run out by some sharp fielding from Matt at midwicket, allowing Huw to tidily whip off the bails. 140 for 4 and the team sensed half a chance.

Nevertheless Paleit was unshaken and continued his fluid strokeplay despite the return of Graeme and Jake to the attack. Assisted by some stolid resistance from Shaw at the other end, the Fallopians' skipper was able to see his side finally home with some 8 overs to spare.

Sadly the day had ended in defeat for the Strollers who despite their depleted ranks had stuck to their task well and fielded as tidily as they could, spilling no chances. However, in the final analysis, it could be speculated that frustratingly the side were just one more batsman and one more strike bowler short of mounting the kind of challenge the opposition would have had trouble responding to.

But such are the headaches of late season team selections. Never mind...

Gavin Richardson
04.09.06

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