Match Report
On a very hot muggy Sunday afternoon, Skipper Leon took the Ploughmans to the historic Streatham & Marlborough’s home ground. With over 360 years of combined history, Streatham & Marlborough was formed in 2003 after the merger of two long established local clubs – Streatham CC (1805) and Marlborough (1870) CC.
Streatham CC’s home ground used to be what we Plough now very fondly know as the Hollies at DSG.
Streatham & Marlborough’s current venue is a beautiful venue very close to DSG just off A205 at Dulwich Common.
Both teams were on time and eager for this rematch after the previous one was so well fought. The skippers decided a 40 over game will be played and our skipper won the toss and chose to bat first.
Our openers Fred ’The Mouse’ Gumpert & Steve Britto started the innings and started well they did. The S&M opening bowlers as some might recall continues with their very tight lines. They strangled our openers who showed great resolve, strength and patience and withered the initial onslaught and played some glorious shots to loose safe deliveries. Just at the end of the first spell Fred‘s tight defences were breached.
In came the stylish, wristy – and could give our Daisy Duke a run for his money if he ever donned them sexy shorts – Chris Butlin. Britto and Chris started building a good partnership after the opening bowlers had completed their spell, but just as Britto was getting in the mood to take on the bowling he was caught at cover point to an absolute blinder of a catch. Jo next in was unlucky as he had a very smart direct hit run out as he tried to up the run rate.
At 54-3 on 18 over, in came the skipper. A new partnership started building and some glorious pure cricketing shots were played all around the park. Both Chris & Leon enjoyed batting with each other and kept the team in the game. They took on the bowlers whenever a loose bowl was played and we in the pavilion were treated to some brilliant stroke play and a great example to how build an innings. They put together a partnership of 129 runs, but while trying to score some quick runs lost their wickets with just 2 overs to go. We managed to get to a total of 193 in 40 overs.
The second innings started with our opening bowlers Leo Connolly & Liam Gray sharing the red cherry. Our bowlers started really well however the S&M batsmen had come out with a clear plan and they executed it very well. Any loose balls they capitalised on for a boundary or a maximum. Liam got one of the openers and very quickly got the next bat in in the process breaking the bails in 2 pieces giving us all good hope, however their wicket-keeper batsman Ravi and their opener Haider put together a very strong explosive partnership.
Hopper and Niraj tried to contain them. So did Jo and Raees and with a bit luck on our side we would have got ourselves back in the game as at times the ball was flying all around however Lady Luck was also on their side. Soon the required run rate was very low and the game just drifted away from us. They chased the total down in 35 overs with Haider scoring a well crafted 63 and Ravi making a blistering 52.
I cannot fault our bowlers for effort and the team’s energy on the field. As one of my favourite captains in cricket MSD once said – “At times you play well but the opposition plays even better, a near perfect innings. Those days you feel down but you shouldn’t be, hold your head high and clap for the winning team. Learn from the mistakes and come back to it with more determination and apply yourself better and get that win. Till then keep practising and keep playing.”
Yours truly,
Rahul
