Abhik stars again as Strollers trounce Archway Ladder at the Palace
posted: July 24, 2025

Looking to maintain our recent winning streak, the strollers arrived at an overcast Alexandra Palace on Wednesday evening for our final T20 of the season. Upon seeing the size of some rather small boundaries, one of the smallest we have ever played on, Harry won the toss and elected to bat first and put a commanding total on the board.

Abhik and Kash walked out to the middle fresh from their club-record double-century opening stand last time out. Unfortunately, they couldn’t replicate their previous success with Kash falling inside the first over after an extra bit of bounce caught his edge off the opening bowler, Josh. Viral joined in the middle and began in trademark fashion, landing some hefty blows before he too was caught behind off a ball that jumped. Ron came and went quickly after being bamboozled by the spin of Mahroof, with debutant Shehzad joining Abhik at the crease.

From here on, Abhik took total control (apart from two regulation drop catches). Smashing the ball all over the ground, he was ably assisted by first Shehzad and then Gaurav, taking our total to an imposing 136 – 4 off the first ten. With the prospect of back-to-back tons now on the horizon, Abhik finally fell in the 70s after missing one from Hamed. Abu kept the momentum going before he was also bowled.

After showing glimpses of his newfound power and fitness in his previous cameos, Ali’s sober winter of training and dedication finally bore some fruit with our wicket-keeper batsman dispatching the ball to the boundary at will, and in all directions, some more deliberate than others. 

Ali’s innings came to an end in the final over, where Harry hit his first ball for a massive six over extra cover to ensure we posted 233-7 off our 20.

Given the size of the boundary and where we were at the halfway stage, there were murmurs that we had left some out there. Our fears were quickly erased after Harry, with support from Gaurav, Ron, and Rohit, ran through the top order with the new ball, leaving the ladder 63-6 at the halfway stage of their reply.

From here on, the result was more or less a foregone conclusion. That still didn’t stop Spencer from getting hit for 20-odd off his first over, and tempers threatened to boil over after Viral took a catch seemingly inside the rope, only for cries of foul play from the Ladder to see Spencer denied. After being ever so slightly fired up, Viral came on to finish the game in style and secure victory by 94 runs.

A lovely evening at the palace, and a thoroughly enjoyable game with Archway Ladder. A great way to bring the curtain down on our mid week fixtures for 2025.

Harry Brown
24.07.2025