Tilburg Regents
Wednesday May 28 in Dulwich Strollers lost by five wickets Strollers 142-8
(20 overs; Oliver 27no, Travis 26, Broster-Turley 25no, Mike Shattock 20, Wood 10)
Tilburg Regents 146-5
(19.2 overs; Oliver 3-15, Broster-Turley 1-32, Keightley 1-10). The first T20 match
started off in true Strollers fashion — only four players arriving on time,
no team kit bag for the first half-hour, and George Love arriving with a head
full of steam after a day of drinking at the local Dulwich watering hole.
Blair Travis and Josh
Shattock got off to a flyer of a start, however. But Josh was forced to depart
for two after top-edging the ball to a Stroller who was acting as a fill-in
fielder for the opposition.
Travis continued to
smack the ball around the park, retiring on 26 — just another day at the office for the opening
batsman.
Love came to the
crease, determined to finish his final innings for the Strollers on a high,
Sadly, the pints from earlier in the day had decided to work against him a
little too much; out for three.
Pete Wood and Richard
Keightley went out to the middle to do business, and they made short work of
it, scoring 25 between them before departing. The middle order was scoring
runs, but were struggling to stay in, until the great Freddie Broster-Turley
decided that today he was a batter and not a bowler. Broster-Turley smacked a
quick 25 runs before retiring.
Glen Oliver, well, he
just batted like he always does, retiring on 27, just too easy for the leading
run-scorer for the club this season.
Brad Trebilcock and
Mike Shattock made their way to the middle. Trebilcock could only manage
singles, whereas Mike just wanted boundaries; and he got them. Chris Stevenson,
making his midweek debut, showed promise and ensured that his wicket did not
fall. Alastair Macaulay scored a tidy four runs before losing his wicket and
forcing Travis to come back to the middle, where he would lose his wicket on
the last ball of the innings. The Strollers finished their innings on 142 after
20 overs.
The opposition batting
got off to a flyer, smacking the two opening bowlers — Josh Shattock and Broster-Turley — around the park. This was not helped by some sloppy
glovework behind the stumps; the hangover must have arrived early. It was not
until Wood turned his arm over that a wicket would fall.
However, Oliver had had
enough of watching the glovework behind the stumps and took matters into his
own hands, clean bowling two batsmen in quick succession.
The ‘nearly’ catch of
the day went to Josh Shattock who, while standing on the boundary, jumped up
and got one hand on the ball as it was flying over his head, stopping it going
for six but unable to find a team-mate to parry it to.
The game came down to
the final over, where the opposition claimed the winning runs and sentenced the
Strollers to a five-wicket defeat.
Both teams ventured
down to the Half Moon Pub in Dulwich for drinks afterwards. We found out that
the opposition had heard a rumour that Broster-Turley bowled for Zimbabwe in a
former life; Freddie would not confirm or deny the accusation.
The night finished with
Mr Love finding love with a Scottish woman from Fife. Mr Love was never seen
again that night; some say he now resides on a small farm, north of Edinburgh,
haunted by that wicketkeeping display in his final Strollers game…
Capt: and wkt: George Love. Match report: Brad Trebilcock.
Match fees: Richard Keightley.
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