Sunday June 29 in Pinkneys Green
Strollers won by seven wickets
Wendover 214
(33 overs; Hodgson 3-17, Dela Rue 3-36, Helsby 2-33, Macaulay 1-29, Pandor 1-29)
Strollers 217-3
(33.3 overs; Pittams 88, Wall 75, Oliver 29no, Chafe 12no).
According to legend, there are two distinct
weather conditions regarded as the most challenging in English sport: an away
game on a rainy night in Stoke, or a home game during a heatwave at Pinkneys
Green.
With the forecast peaking at 32 degrees, and a wicket
producing more variability than a five-minute conversation with Brad Trebilcock,
today’s match was destined to be a memorable fixture for all one of the Strollers
WAGS who had turned up to spectate (cheers Jo).
After borrowing a 1p coin from Alastair Macaulay, debut
captain Freddie Broster-Turley proceeded to lose his first toss which resulted
in Wendover CC choosing to bat, likely in the hope that at least half of
the Strollers would have heatstroke-related illnesses prior to the innings
change.
For his final pre-match duty as captain, Broster-Turley
presented Trebilcock with his FSSCC cap, marking his 10th match for the Strollers,
and raising the question whether a one-wicket or 10-run minimum contribution
should be enforced for future cap recipients.
The game began with the lethal bowling combination of James
Dela Rue and Broster-Turley making Wendover work hard to keep their wickets
intact. DLR’s first over saw Wendover’s opener edge a full-length delivery to
first slip, while in the remainder of his six-over spell he picked up a further
two wickets. One caught and bowled, and one caught in spectacular style by Glen
Oliver at long-on, diving down to his right only moments after loudly stating
the infamous Strollers motto “shit gets wickets.”
By the time the opening bowling partnership was complete, a
new fashion trend had quickly spread amongst the Strollers fieldsmen with the
boys making a good case for FSSCC singlets to be considered as the new 2026
uniform. Simon Brodbeck was predictably horrified.
A change of bowling attack saw Jake Helsby take two wickets
from one end – one lbw off the only straight ball in 24 deliveries, with the
second being caught deep at square leg by Mike Pittams. At the other end
debutant Alex Chafe bowled well and was unlucky not to pick up a wicket.
The next bowling change saw Macaulay pick up his first
wicket quickly with Pittams netting his second catch of the innings. Stair was
close to picking up a second wicket in his fifth over, with Helsby dropping a
diving catch just short of the boundary.
To make matters worse, the return throw from the boundary
was lost from sight in the tree line and landed perfectly on the crest of
Stair’s Strollers cap, forcing him off the field injured and within much closer
proximity of the clubhouse bar – which I’m sure was entirely coincidental and
not a premeditated plan to escape the soaring heat.
Whilst Wendover’s No 66 George Jackson batted brilliantly
and scored seemingly freely, he was losing partners quickly at the other end. Isa
Pandor picked up one wicket, whilst the remainder of the tail was taken
care of by Jim Hodgson who worked through them faster than a vindaloo on a Friday
night. His figures of 3-17 reflected his superb consistency of line and length.
There was some much needed shade and hydration at the tea break where a lavish feast was provided by the Brodbeck catering company. But despite Brodbeck's best efforts the gourmet repast was only rated as a six out of ten by Egon Ronay inspector DLR.
Openers Rob
Wall and Pittams headed back out to face the heat and start chipping away at
the 214-run target.
Meanwhile Macauley began working through an extended
version of the concussion test, which consists of keeping score for 35 overs
despite everything beyond a two-metre radius remaining blurry.
Wendover’s bowlers came out firing, taking full advantage
of the variable bounce on the wicket and challenged both the toes and armpits
of Wall and Pittams. But the openers responded brilliantly – defending everything that challenged the
stumps, whilst taking full advantage and punishing the rare loose delivery.
Half-centuries came for Wall and Pittams in quick
succession, with the openers reaching a 100-run partnership at the end of the
18th over. From there onwards a true masterclass of 360 batting unfolded on the
pitch.
Pittams cleared the boundary easily with a six over the
bowler’s head that ended up on the clubhouse roof, whilst Wall twice pulled out
the reverse sweep to tuck the ball away to the boundary for four runs.
The opening partnership was eventually broken in the 22nd
over with the score on 148 when Pittams was dismissed for 88, which saw the FSSCC
cap awardee Trebilcock come to the crease. After a few testing deliveries,
Trebilcock connected with a pull shot to get off the mark for two runs down the
leg side. The technique was so flawless that the odds for Trebley-Webley to
finish the season as top run-scorer rose sharply from 2731/1 to 2730/1.
With a bit of confidence up his sleeve, and the motivation
to move the game on quickly to be home for his girlfriend (yet to be verified)
before 8pm, Trebilcock set a goal to complete the remaining 60-run deficit in
10 balls. Unfortunately his following shot – a textbook baseball swing to a
good length delivery on middle stump – was caught at long-on.
This brought Glen Oliver to the crease. He scored quickly
with a boundary off his third ball to get off the mark, before then maintaining
a strike rate of over 100. Wall was eventually dismissed for 75 in the 31st
over, which brought debutant Chafe into the attack to help Oliver guide the
boys to victory scoring exclusively in boundaries. The Strollers won by seven wickets
with nine balls to spare.
Capt: Freddie Broster-Turley. Wkt: Rob Wall.
Match fees: Jim Hodgson. Match report: Jake Helsby.
