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MATCH REPORTS

Agricola

Thursday July 11 at Barn Elms 

Strollers lost by 32 runs

Agricola 131-4  
(20 o
vers; Oliver 1-6, Squires 1-19, Broster-Turley 1-21, Findlay 1-22)
Strollers 99
(15.4 overs; Oliver 23, Love 14, Squires 10. Extras 22)

Pity your poor correspondent who has slaved for over two weeks to try to create a narrative for this game that might emulate the wondrous flights of literary fancy that have elevated so many recent Strollers match reports into an art form. However, in the event prosaic reality sadly prevailed and a recital of events will have to suffice.

After a two-week break – the general election having stymied the previous week’s game – Strollers gathered at Barn Elms somewhat keen to get back into their stride, though with not enough keenness to be able to muster the full 11.  As the customary internecine WhatsApp banter had revealed during the day, we could only muster nine men and despite late scratching around this number failed to improve. After the late arrival of the kit for the last game, some overcompensation resulted in two kits being on site as Glen Oliver had brought the weekend kit along ’Just in case’. Two extra men might have been more useful.

With a so-far sunny evening but with storm clouds ominously looming in the distance, Agricola unsurprisingly elected to bat and the Strollers took the field with two borrowed fielders. Opening bowlers Freddie Foster-Turley and Mike Pittams settled into their stride and the two combined for the first wicket at 22 with Mike at mid-off taking a brilliant diving catch off Freddie to dismiss the No 2 Craig. Thereafter wickets were hard to come by and runs began to accumulate, with catch-inducing short balls from Pittams off a bare hard pitch falling frustratingly into unmanned areas of the ground, despite the constant ministrations of fielding czar Oliver.  

Opener Aman continued to accumulate, retiring at 25. The second wicket did not fall until 47 to a Freddie catch off accurately flighted bowling from first-timer James Squires (a late recruit via Richie Stubbs) who belied his claim not to have played a single game for 15 years.

However, this was to be the last wicket for most of the innings as No 4 Sam ploughed on, helped by some frustrating not-quite catches, finally retiring at 30 with a six off his last ball. Pete Robertson and Scott Findlay took over bowling duties and helped keep things under control but further wickets did not fall until Blair Travis and Oliver took one apiece towards the end with Agricola’s No 5 Michael ending on 23 not out contributing to a final total of 131.

This would normally be a very gettable target but with only nine batters and storm cloud induced gloom descending it proved difficult from the start. This was especially so as Agricola cannily confined themselves to slow loopy bowling which, with a tight off-side fielding cordon, made the necessary boundaries hard to come by.

George Love and Travis opened solidly until Love was caught for 14 and Travis enticed out of his crease for a stumping for eight. Squires and Low accumulated with ones and twos but subsequently fell being bowled with Low playing all round a straight one.

All then depended on titan batters Pittams and Oliver with a desperate need for at least one to get to the magic 25 not out to enable some quick recycled batting at the end of the innings.

However, Pittams quickly fell, going for a big hit, from a brilliant catch on the long-on boundary. Oliver steadily accumulated but his promising late spurt of boundaries was cruelly cut short going for the long-on big hit which would have brought the magic 25 up – again another good catch in the gloom. Meanwhile Foster-Turley and Robertson kept up their ends up but with their wickets the short tail abruptly fell well short of the target at 99.

Bloodied, but unbowed after possibly our worst evening result in years, the team repaired to the Red Lion, along with Glen’s mother Jan, who had graced the match as part of her regular tour of duty in the UK to make sure the proper standards of cricket expected back home were being properly maintained in the Old Country.

Let’s hope we lived up to them…

                               Capt and wkt: George Love.
             Match fees: Richard Keightley. Match report: John Low.



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Tuesday 7th
January 2025