The Lee
Sunday September 8 at The Lee Strollers won by 81 runs Strollers 210-9
(40 overs; Rogers 55, Oliver 48, Love 36, Wall 15, Travis 11)
The Lee 129
(30 overs; Broster-Turley 3-18, Macaulay 3-26, Oliver 2-0, Travis 1-6, Rogers 1-27) The weather looked ominous. Rain was falling. “Surely this
will be a wasted journey,” came the voices of doom from all over London. “We
can’t possibly play.”
But The Lee reported that the deluge had largely escaped
them; the ground was playable; the forecast was not altogether hopeless. Fortunately
The Lee boasted similar characteristics as Upper Hutt, Wellington, NZ, which
often has a micro-climate escaping the rain from all other nearby locations.
Skipper for the day George Love decided to bat first and
showed the way with a dashing 36, before being undone with a delicious slower
ball that clipped the top of off. Glen Oliver (48) came in and established
solid partnerships with the fast-scoring Rob Wall, who tried one too many a
swing, and then Hugh Martindale.
The Oliver-Martindale partnership ended in the most
unfortunate of circumstances. Oliver hit the ball to the boundary and called
through a single (loud and clear). Hugh must have thought there was a boundary
as instead of running between the wickets he cantered through not watching the
ball which was flying in from the boundary - finding himself left about six
yards short at the other end. Weeks later at Marlow Hugh was still cursing his
inattention!
This was not the only odd situation to mar the Strollers batting
performance. A strong partnership between Oliver and Steve Rogers should have
been finished early when Oliver was struck plumb in front. However, Skipper
Love stood firm and did not raise his finger. Even Oliver remarked to Wall,
umpiring at the other end, that he felt quite adjacent and was quite confused
at events.
A couple of overs later Rogers was struck on the pad not
far away from the wide line. The bowler jokingly appealed and Love obliged by
raising the finger. The bowler asked George what was going on and he responded
that he had to give that after the howler he had accidentally let through a
couple of overs before. The good news is that the lads at The Lee are an
understanding bunch; Rogers less so!
Opening bowler and opposing skipper Ed Boakes kept things
very tight with 9-1-28-1 and the evergreen Jon Swain (7-0-18-2) allowed nobody
to get away. Even the free-flowing Alastair Macaulay (1 not out) and the
dashing Simon Brodbeck (0 not out) could not up the tempo. Runs were hard to
come by.
But it proved the same for The Lee. After a splendid and
refreshing tea, they could not get going.
Young Daniel Boakes showed his precocious ability with a
fine 33 early and the game was getting away from the Strollers. Enter Oliver,
who got one through his
gate. Glen celebrated in full Oliver style, launching down the pitch with his
characteristic Warneresque fist pump. A great delivery, though perhaps the
Lee lads were not used to seeing such celebrations on a Sunday.
Enter Skipper Love’s diplomacy who, when Boakes Senior came
out to bat, smoothed over any worries about there being a send-off – explaining
(as we all know) that this was a normal reaction from Glen with no malice intended,
indeed it was a reflection on how good Daniel’s batting had been!
Freddie Broster-Turley blazed the way with a 6-3-18-3
opening burst. Alastair Macaulay (3-26) and Oliver (2-0) completed the job.
The rain began to fall minutes after the game was over.
But, again, we managed to beat the elements and savour the evening on the most
beautiful of grounds. The absolute most beautiful of grounds!!!
Skipper Love claimed the tactical credit for the day. But
the main news was that Mike and Fanny had welcomed baby Isobel into the world.
A toast was called to celebrate her arrival…and to thank The Lee for making the
day possible when all the weather gods seemed against us.
Capt: George Love. Wkt: Hugh Martindale.
Match fees: Alastair Macaulay. Match report: Rob Wall.
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