The midweek Juggernaut descended on King’s House for 1800
(ish) for the annual fixture against longtime opponents The Dodgers, pleased to
find it was now “only” 30 degrees.
Having scraped together nine players as of the morning of
the match, the Strollers promptly lost two of them during the day to
illness and emergency trips. Match manager Aidan Selby, having noted the heroic
efforts of the team winning with only seven players just weeks earlier, told
skipper and emergency match reporter Glen Oliver to “suck it up and get on with
it”.
The benefit of having so few players is that the team was
spared a demonstration of Oliver’s famous incompetence with the coin – the
opposition skipper agreeing to let the shorthanded Strollers bat.
Club supremo Simon Brodbeck was a welcome sight on the
midweek boundary, although rumours quickly circulated that he was there
primarily to check on the progress of John Low’s match report from the previous
week.
Time honoured midweek selection strategy (somewhere between
“cunning plan” and “whoever was here first”) saw Gregor Findlay and Low (the
latter still recovering from cycling 54 miles for charity over the weekend) don
the pads and lead the team into battle.
The Strollers made a circumspect start, with The Dodgers’
opening bowlers swinging the pink ball prodigiously on an excellent pitch,
claiming Low and James Stubbs in quick succession.
Findlay greeted the first change bowler by taking the
handbrake off in spectacular style, hitting three consecutive sixes in his way
to the mandatory retirement mark of 25. Oliver followed soon after, hitting
three of his own.
Freddie Broster-Turley continued on his voyage of batting
self-discovery, batting sensibly and also making his way to 25.
Lower order stalwart Richie Stubbs was next, holding his
own against the returning swing bowling. He was joined near the end by veteran
Alastair Macaulay, who lasted several balls before being either a) a hero who
bravely sacrificed his wicket to allow the retired top order to return or b)
the victim of an overly ambitious call from his batting partner. Whichever was
true this report does not record.
Findlay, Oliver and Broster-Turley all returned with
several overs to go, the latter finding the fence for some much needed late
runs. The Strollers finished on a par score of 149.
Stubbs Jnr was appointed wicketkeeper during the break,
seemingly on the basis that he appeared not to protest quickly enough when the
skipper cast around for anyone who had a clue what to do with the gloves.
With only seven players and Low on the bowling injured
list, the bowling picked itself. Withe aid of two sub fielders from the
generous opposition, Broster-Turley and Findlay began the defence. The latter,
despite protestations of rust, tore a hole in The Dodgers’ top order with two
clean bowled and two launched into the hands of Oliver at long-on.
From there it was simply a question of whether the
Juggernaut could restrict the scoring as the run rate required climbed and the
opposition middle order started swinging at everything.
Stubbs Snr, Macaulay and Oliver rotated in turn, the nine
fielders chased everything, and 40 required off four overs became 25 off two
and finally 15 off one. Broster-Turley was entrusted with handling that
pressure, which only increased after two across-the-line heaves reduced the
equation to seven off four. However, he recovered brilliantly to restrict
the scoring and saw the short-staffed Strollers sneak home by just five runs.
Nerves shredded, the team promptly decamped to the bar at
the ground to hear Broster-Turley proclaim himself a batting all-rounder
this week – partly due to being in possession of only one fully
functional knee. Tune in to the Adlestrop match report to find out how that
went…
Capt and Match Report: Glen Oliver.
Wkt: James Stubbs. Match fees: Aidan Selby.
