Whalers CC v Energy Exiles, 19 May 2019; King’s House Sports Ground

After last week’s batting woes, the Whalers gathered at Kings House keen to make amends against old foes the Energy Exiles. Dean lost the toss and we were, errrm, batting. And when Seth was bowled shortly followed by Rahul, and then Dillen, things were not looking great at 14-3 – especially as Dean had already been dropped once at the other end. However, Russell and Dean then put on a great partnership to turn things around, displaying a range of shots including a variety of lofted drives and flicks from Russell and a couple of sixes for Dean. As drinks approached, the batsmen decided to start offering some catching practice, but at halfway we were nearly 100 still with only 3 wickets down.

The catching practice continued after drinks, before Russell departed for a career best 33. Viren was then bowled for 11, and Dean accelerated to his first ton of the season before deciding to retire himself for an average-enhancing 103*. Dheeraj then kept things moving at one end for 32* including some good back-foot drives, but Amit, Dan and Aseem all departed fairly quickly. However, last man Kamal joined Dheeraj to see the score past 200, and the consensus was that the final score of 207-8 was pretty defendable.

In reply, Dan opened with several leg-side wides one of which the batsman was unlucky enough to tickle through to Dean behind the stumps. A decent partnership followed before Russell got a couple of quick wickets and then Viren bowled the number 5. However, the Exiles stayed in the game with another good partnership, and although there were wickets for Amit and Aseem, we never quite put the game away. There were a couple of drops but in general the bowling and fielding were fairly tight throughout, they just batted a little bit better than we bowled and put the bad balls away. Dheeraj was the pick of the 8 bowlers tried and was unlucky not to pick up a wicket, but in the end we weren’t able to break the final partnership between the Exiles two opening bowlers who got them over the line with three balls to spare.

All in all a good game played in an excellent spirit, which was competitive throughout and finished as the shadows lengthened, everyone got to bat and pretty much everyone got to bowl. So it had pretty much everything except for the win – hopefully we can get the elusive first victory when cricket returns in June! 

Whalers CC 207-8: Dean 103*, Russell 33, Dheeraj 32*

Exiles CC 208-6: Russell 2-33

Man of the Match was shared between Dean and Russell. Champagne moment went to Russell for his slow ball yorker bowled, and muppet to Rahul for a dropped skier.

Whalers CC vs Cricketers CC; Sunday 12th May; King’s House Sports Ground

With the season well and truly up and running, a full Whalers eleven arrived at a sunny King’s House to turn things around after the first match. A strong side were slightly confused by the “agreement” that had apparently been made for The Cricketers to bat first, but the arrangement was confirmed by the toss and the Whale prepared to field. Jack and Russell got things going and, thanks to some fairly generous umpiring, the first three overs kept things tight. Unfortunately for Russell, the Cricketers’ openers decided they would start to free their arms and helped themselves to 13 runs off the fourth over. Amit was brought in to try and stem the flow of runs and bring a wicket, and he did just that when he bowled one of the openers for 17. Dan took over at the other end and maintained the pressure with a tight line and length. Nick, replacing Amit, capitalised on this pressure and bowled the Cricketers’ number 3, which sparked a run of quick wickets. Dan clean bowled the Cricketers’ number 4 before drawing number 5 into a loose shot which was smartly caught by Pip in the gully (with the obligatory dive for emphasis). A third quickly followed for Dan as he trapped number 6 LBW (and immediately hung his head in shame for potentially putting a debutant off ever playing the game again). At drinks the Whalers were feeling confident of keeping the Cricketers to a low score.

That confidence had clearly forgotten about the Whalers’ ability to demonstrate some particularly poor fielding. Several catches were dropped, some of which were much easier than others, the energy to attack the ball in the field apparently disappeared, and Nick decided that he would pick the ball up while straddling the boundary to throw it back in. Kamal and Matt did their best to restrict things, but the poor fielding and strong batting partnership of batsmen 2 and 9 pushed the fielders back and brought the Cricketers back into it. Matt ended the partnership with some excellent bowling to remove batsman 2 for 55, and the last few overs swing back towards the Whale. Two more wickets in the final over (one bowled, and a run out on the final ball) meant the Cricketers finished on 141 off their 35 overs.

Having gorged themselves on the new and improved teas at King’s House, Al and Dean strode out confident of being able to take their time to reach the target. Wary of some uneven bounce in the pitch and restricted by some tight bowling from the Cricketers’ opening pair, it was a slow start as they sought the occasional ones and twos. Al fell in the fourth over to a sharp delivery, but Pip and Dean looked to be starting to pick things up as they each found the boundary. Unfortunately for the Whalers, these were the only two times the umpires needed to signal a four in the whole Whalers innings, and both soon signalled the end of the batsmen. Pip looked to have got enough on a sharp drive but it was snaffled by a good catch in the field, before Dean top edged an attempted hoick over midwicket and was out caught and bowled. Will maintained a presence at the crease with some good looking shots, but was rapidly running out of batting partners. Matt went forwards, and then backwards, to a straight one and was out LBW, Russell could only watch as his first delivery went under his bat, and Amit picked out a fielder early into his innings to leave the Whalers struggling on 27-6.

A rejigged batting order meant Dan joined Will at the crease and it looked like hope may have been making its way back into the Whalers innings, before Will’s good run came to an end as he was bowled for 20. Special ‘The Wall’ K kept things out for a while as Dan looked for his usual twos, but there was one too many straight one for Kamal to deal with. Dan found the same fielder that Amit had, and it was left to Nick and Jack to try and salvage something, or get out quickly to head to the pub. Some interesting running choices from the two of them resulted in Nick being run out for one, and the Whalers were all out for 53 off 26 overs. Cue much discussion about how the season can only get better from here as it’s not really possible to bat or field much worse than had been shown on this outing.

Cricketers CC 141 ao (35)

Whalers CC 53 ao (26)

Muppet moment(s) went to Nick generally, highlighted by his questionable running when batting and the active decision to throw the ball in from over the boundary. Pip’s catch off Dan’s bowling took the Champagne moment (partly because it was the only catch the Whalers held), and Dan’s excellent bowling figures (4-19 off his seven overs) earned him Man of the Match.

Whalers CC vs Village CC: 05/05/2019; King’s House Sports Ground

The Whalers 2019 season starts this month!

Please let the captains know your availability for the first half of season. 

If you are keen to play for a friendly cricket club playing competitive non-league matches in and around south London this year please be in touch with us at whalerscaptain@gmail.com.

Special date for your diaries: Saturday 10th August – for the big inter-club Captains vs Presidents match. New format for this year – T20 in Regents Park BYO food and drink, and spectators of all ages actively encouraged to join in the fun.

Palm Tree CC vs Whalers CC: Sunday 9th September 2018; Highgate