Marlow Park
Sunday September 15 in Marlow Strollers won by 29 runs Strollers 237-6
(40 overs; Oliver 104no, Travis 46, Dela Rue 20, Pittams 17, Skinner 12no)
Marlow 208-9
(40 overs; Le Serve 3-22, Skinner 3-28, Salvesen 2-26, Wood 1-24) The Strollers’ annual excursion to Marlow was highly
anticipated by all, particularly Jim and Jo, who were itching to make the short
stroll down from their home. To earn that stroll, Jim was placed in charge of
travel arrangements, these logistics dominating the WhatsApp in the preceding
days and leaving no space for sausage roll chat. In spite of this oversight,
all players — and a few important spectators — arrived at the ground on time.
After a mutually-agreed toss, captain Rob Wall elected to
unleash the Strollers’ strong batting force. Glen Oliver and Blair Travis both
stood at the precipice of greatness — racing each other to 1,000 season runs —so
they were sent out to settle the score.
Tensions were high, and Oliver — still hung over from
Friday’s golf outing and having not slept a wink the night before in
anticipation of the match — attempted to stall proceedings by instructing the
fielders to move the sight screen a foot to the right, resulting in a fielder
pulling a hamstring. Mike Pittams was equally unlucky a few overs later, as he
returned from his trip to the Mr. Whippy with two soft serves lacking
sprinkles.
On the pitch, Oliver and Travis combined well, both in fine
touch through the off side, picking off the loose deliveries from the opening
bowlers Shaz Aslam and Sandeep Reddy. After these two bowlers were seen off and
15 overs had passed for only 61 runs, Captain Wall sent out word to pick up the
run rate, in the form of some characteristic sublinguistic grunts and groans.
Travis — clearly speaking Wall’s language — obliged, blasting a few cracking
boundaries, before mistiming a drive and being caught at mid-wicket on 46.
James Dela Rue was in next with one mission: to swing for
the fences. With a wide stance and intent, he and Oliver delighted the
spectators with some powerful strikes, including a few elegant boundaries.
Feeling the pressure, Marlow brought forth Donovan Pullin, their spinner, to
take the pace off the ball and restrict the damage.
With the score at 139-1, Dela Rue’s stumps were rattled
while he attempted to send the ball into the Thames. Captain Wall strolled in
next, carrying the weight of his aforementioned grunts and groans about run
rate. After two quick boundaries, he mistimed a low full toss and was caught
out for eight, much to the disappointment of his spouse and child who were
looking on.
That sent Pittams in, injecting pace and urgency between the wickets. Oliver’s
heartrate picking up markedly as a result, leading to the pair conferring at
Oliver’s end at the close of each over, with Oliver hunched and waving his
drink bottle in.
Approaching his century rapidly, Oliver was dropped by the
keeper on 91 before Pittams was bowled while swinging with good intent. The
wickets of Tom Salvesen (caught) and Peter Wood (also caught) quickly followed,
but not before Oliver raised his bat to acknowledge another spectacular
century, with the Strollers at 213-4 with a few overs to spare.
Oliver's retirement left Richard Skinner and Hugh Martindale
to have a bit of fun, adding 16 to the total — including a six that was guided
by the fielder at deep mid-wicket and dropped over the boundary — closing the
innings with a respectable 237 on the scoreboard.
With a few sandwiches on board, the Strollers took to the
field with trepidation; the Marlow openers have been known in past years to
enjoy their time at the crease, and given the relatively friendly batting
conditions, it would be crucial to take some wickets early.
Wood grasped the new ball from the Thames end, with Jake
Helsby bowling from the Lower Pound Lane end. Opening batter Vaughan Van Der
Linde showed his intent early, slashing away from the outset, while the bowlers
took a few overs to shake off the cobwebs.
It took a cracker of a delivery from Wood in the seventh
over to trap Van Der Linde in front, giving the umpire no option but to raise
the finger. This was the only breakthrough from the opening bowlers, and an
inspired bowling change brought the forces of Jack Le Serve and Salvesen, who
combined brilliantly to take three wickets in quick succession.
Two of these came from Salvesen; the well-established
opener Aslam was visibly frustrated to hole out to Dela Rue, who had been
expertly manoeuvred to point that very ball, and Waqar Shabir, who — based on
the extravagant shots he was attempting — clearly had some important business
to attend at home and was caught by Le Serve for only four runs.
Le Serve picked up a second crucial wicket a few overs
later, caught tentatively at long-off, leaving the hosts reeling on 58-5 before
drinks.
Having snatched their fair share of wickets, Le Serve and
Salvesen were told to have a rest, with captain Wall employing himself, Skinner,
and Pittams to take the Strollers’ foot off the throat and keep Marlow in the
game.
Pittams took this instruction literally, as his solitary
over took a pounding from the Lower Pound Lane end; starting with
extreme-effort pace and ending with looping leg spin, with a few wides,
no-balls, and dead-balls along the way. After contributing 15 to Marlow's
total, the captain realised Pittams’ skills were far more valuable in the
outfield and brought himself on in an off-spin capacity.
From the Thames end, Skinner’s off-spin struggled to find
line or length, and the batsmen capitalised, inching the hosts past the 150
mark. Skinner did find the right spot on a few rare occasions to trouble the
batsmen in Stairesque fashion. With fielders posted on the boundaries, three
mishits were scooped up well, exemplifying the exceptional fielding from the
Strollers throughout the day.
With no batsmen left in the sheds and 60 runs to score off
the final eight overs, Dela Rue was given a chance to close proceedings
alongside Helsby. The final partnership of Gareth Crowther and Donovan Caalse
fought valiantly to push their side past 200, but they ran out of overs with 30
still to score.
An excellent day of cricket for the Strollers at the splendid
Marlow Park ground. Thanks to the marvellous hosts and spectators, we’re
already looking forward to the same again next year. Capt: Rob Wall. Wkt: Hugh Martindale.
Match fees: James Dela Rue. Match report: Richard Skinner.
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