Taverners trump Strollers in Twenty Twenty showdown

The Strollers took to the field for their second Twenty Twenty match of the week on Friday evening at Calthorpe CC for their annual fixture against the Railway Tavern in (finally) balmy midsummer sun. With a number of players running late, including the skipper, George marshalled those on the scene, took charge and won the toss. Rightly electing to bat first to get the game started, Spencer and Shak, making his Strollers début, strode out to open the batting against a the nippy youthful Taverners attack.

Maintaining cool heads and batting in a manner Ol' Feiry himself would be proud of, the two young openers mounted stoic resistance in the face of some sharp, accurate bowling and saw off openers Shoaib and Sam without difficulty. However, struggling to reach a run rate of 5 an over, concern was mounting on the boundary as the 50 was notched up after the eleventh over. Spencer, sensing the agitation back in the pavilion, made a good attempt to up the ante with a series of good shots to the long wide Calthorpe boundary, but was eventually bowled by Howard for 33.

Chris Lucas was then sent straight out as a pinch hitter with captain's orders to do what he does best and 'unleash the beast' as 'twere. Shak meanwhile also understood the new gameplan but, risking his wicket, was stumped for 19 as he attempted to push forward. 67-2 at 13 overs and, needing to post at least another 60 from the remaining 7 overs, things were getting frantic. Chris, after a couple of attractive looking pull shots, was trapped LBW and Gav, attempting to slog, was bowled without troubling the scorers. George lobbed a straightforward catch to mid on but wickets were not the concern. Runs were needed.

With just four overs remaining Deavs and Graeme, both adrenalin charged, decided to make a scrap of it with a relentless hit and run strategy that seemed to terrify the opposition. The ploy worked wonders as the 100 was reached without trouble and the Taverners, whose dedication and self assuredness had been beyond question earlier in the evening, were noticeably rattled, not least when Deavs, hoiking one of his less attractive shots over his head, was dropped at fine leg who then hurled the ball over to the other side of the pitch for four (run) overthrows providing the Strollers' second comedy moment of the week. Closing with a streaky single off the last ball, the Strollers had posted 114-5 - a modest total but one still requiring work to be reached, no small thanks to the blazing 6th wicket stand.

Taking the pitch with several players donning the stylish new 2007 season Strollers Cap (yours for just £20 - Ed), Gav set an in-out field with a few players in close to add pressure, but the majority manning the outposts to defend the low target. Gee'd up not only by his team mates' efforts but also a sense of injustice at having failed to claim wickets earlier in the week, Simon tore in to open the bowling with genuine aggression which was promptly rewarded as opener Shoaib was trapped LBW first ball! Three balls later Deavs, standing in behind the stumps in Matt's absence, took a shap snicked catch to his right to dislodge Bailey to whoops of delight, not least from the vice skipper, and leaving the Taverners two down after the first over. Game on.

Trevor then started at the other end, providing a neat contrast to Simon's pace and began well. However, knowing that a sub 6 an over run rate was required, the Taverners' 3 and 4 dug in and batted well, waiting and looking for the occasional loose ball. Bruce, in his first game of the year, was brought on for Simon in the fifth over and immediately found a good line. Having begun to exploit Trevor's slower pace, Gav turned to Graeme to take over but he struggled with his run up and suffered some somewhat over-zealous umpiring calls.

The batsmen made progress without breaking a sweat and whilst the bowling and fielding was overall tidy, after ten overs the Taverners were 57-2 and thus, precisely on the required rate. Graeme switched to pace for his last over but still the batsmen pushed ahead. The Count also completed a good spell, unlucky not to have picked up a wicket, and a change of tac seemed appropriate.

George was brought on to replace Graeme and with the field brought in he, like Simon, achieved first ball success when Evans on 26 got a thick edge to a well looped delivery with Trevor waiting at point to pouch a straightforward catch. Spencer came on for Bruce but with his eye now well in the number 3, Andy, was beginning to strike out reaching a well earned 50 and the Taverners' hundred came up. George continued to ask questions from the other end, forcing the batsmen to generate any pace on the ball, which caused first hesitation and then the run out of Sam who, having mistimed a pull to Shak at square leg was stranded out of his ground.

Simon returned for the seventeenth over but his first ball was dispatched for four, levelling the scores. This left prospective Stroller-in-waiting Arif on strike who, having survived an LBW shout, claimed the winning run amidst some frustrated 'afters'.

Again it had been a good effort in the field but ultimately the Strollers had posted a total some 20 or 30 runs shy of being truly competitive. However, the circumspect and textbook batting on show earlier in the evening from the young Strollers openers bodes well for the longer form of the game - and the older contingent showed that we have a capacity to improvise when needed, so every cloud... The Twenty Twenty format is still new and we are still learning!

Gavin Richardson
14.07.07

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