The Strollers hosted their second home match of the season,
welcoming Bledlow to Pinkneys Green. The team WhatsApp was opened with a flurry
of messages early in the week in response to the news that tea would be
supplied.
To the toss and there was a statistic of significance that
may need triple checking by Maggie (and supports more games being hosted by the
Strollers). Captain Glen Oliver boldly claimed he was 100% in tosses where he
does the flipping of the coin as the home captain! The record remains intact as
Glen correctly induced an incorrect call by the opposition and elected to bat
in a 40-over match.
Bledlow were only able to field nine players and it was
somewhat of a comical scene with Oliver working the sums in his head trying to
organise a batting top-order, a scorer, two umpires and lending two fielders to
Bledlow.
There were early murmurings of sabotage as a sub-fielding
Stroller put down opener Pete Robertson in the first over. Bledlow opener Oscar
Frost took it upon himself to make amends, trapping Robertson in front for four
in the sixth over with the score 25-1.
Oliver joined opener Blair Travis at the crease for a long
and chanceless partnership of 151 in 21 overs with Travis the next to fall for
87 trying to put the ball in the Pinkneys car park but instead producing a fine
catch from James Stubbs as stand-in fielder. Sabotage murmurs were strongly put
to bed as Strollers fielding for Bledlow took three catches in all on the day.
Hugh Martindale, Stephen Rogers, James Stubbs and Richie
Stubbs all came and went in quick succession for a combined total of 13 while
Oliver remained as solid as ever at the other end - eventually dismissed for 90,
clean bowled by a fine yorker from young Bledlow pace bowler James Hawkins with
the score 260-7.
Not content with 20 overs of fielding for the opposition,
Freddie Broster-Turley peeled off a blistering 30 off what felt like half as
many balls and would have been not out if not for a spectacular one-handed
catch from opposition skipper Harry Bond on the last ball of the innings at
deep mid-off. A more than competitive total of 266-8 was posted for Bledlow to
chase.
Many thanks to Simon Brodbeck for organising a great tea
which was gratefully received by both teams. James Dela Rue, a vocal supporter
of pro-tea sentiments, took it upon himself to enlighten us all to the outcomes
of running the stats on number of teas supplied this season - apparently we are
sitting at 40% of matches having tea (not including tours). Dela Rue has been
offered full access to the club database to continue his thesis.
With an unusually short boundary on one side and an
enormous boundary on the other (due to playing on the furthest wicket on the
block) it took some creative captaincy from Oliver who chose to open with
Rogers and rotate spin from one end and asking Broster-Turley and the quicks to
defend the tiny boundary from the other.
Nearly recovered from a shoulder injury in June, your match
reporter was pleased to get through six tight but wicketless overs. Broster-Turley
opening from the other end produced an early chance that was put down. Having
fielded so strongly for the opposition there were more than a few quizzical
eyebrows with the fielding performance in the early stages of the second
innings best described as tardy.
Broster-Turley was rewarded not long after with Bledlow
opener Kashif Qureshi top-edging to James Stubbs for his second catch in the
match - one in both innings! The score 31-1. The fielding performance improved
a lot with four of the Strollers that fielded for Bledlow taking a catch in the
innings. Presumably a record.
Bledlow were able to build again before James Zobel was
bowled by a beauty from Dela Rue which kissed the bails. Rogers fielding at
short fine leg looked on in despair as the whole team celebrated while he
trudged down to fish the ball out from under the covers beyond the boundary
with the score 71-2.
At drinks, Bledlow needed a run rate of about 10 per over
to win the game after spin king Alastair Macaulay ran through the middle order,
returning figures of 3-33 from his six overs. A flurry of late-order hitting
pulled things back remarkably for Bledlow before a stunning one-handed return
catch from Robertson removed skipper Bond and with it reduced significantly Bledlow’s
chances of a successful chase. A late wicket for Brodbeck capped off a great
day's action and a 31-run win for the Strollers.
Capt: Glen Oliver. Wkt: Hugh Martindale.
Match fees: Simon Brodbeck. Match report: Steve Rogers.
