After a heavy defeat earlier in the season against Strollers CC, getting a good result at our home ground was always going to be difficult task, it was not made any easier when stand in captain Al lost the toss.
The whalers were put into bat and a shaky start to the innings did nothing to help confidence, with none of the first four batsmen managing to make it into double figures. Phil's dismissal to a knee high, leg stump full toss for a duck was symptomatic of a day of below par batting. Fortunately Piers stepped in to steady the ship and reached 38 with some lovely shots before being bowled by Krunic. Piers was ably assisted by Steve Hayward who managed to halt the whalers collapse with some solid (if unconventional) defensive shots on his Whalers debut, and Dan who weighed in with a valuable 27.
Unfortunately, despite the strong middle order performance, the tail failed to wag, with only 13 runs coming for the final 4 wickets. James Gould, on his Whaler's debut managed to get himself given out bowled by one umpire, stumped by the other, before being informed by the opposition 'keeper that he had been caught behind to add insult to injury.
All out for 120 from 35.5 overs, the Whalers were once again forced to pin all hopes of an unlikely victory on a fine bowling and fielding performance. This was helped by the fact that the Strollers captain was unable to bat after using his shin to field a Paul Osbourn drive. Hopes were high when the first of there openers was dismissed cheaply off the bowling of debutant James Gould, and their number three was out for 1 after a fine caught and bowled by Khalil.
A fine partnership then ensued between the Strollers remaining opener and their number four, they had managed a partnership of over thirty before a fantastic piece of cat like agility from Kamal at mid off, taking a fabulous catch that had ricocheted off the hand of James Gould, put an end to the innings of the Strollers most dangerous batsman.
When Richard Giles succeeded in convincing the umpire that a ball swinging down the leg side would have gone on to hit the stumps had it not hit the leg of the Strollers' number four, Dan Osgood upped his pace to pick up three late wickets and put the game beyond the Strollers.
Kamal picked up the final wicket to leave the Strollers 36 runs behind the Whalers at Stumps. Another fine victory for the Whalers on the home ground.
| Man of the match: | Piers for batting |
| Champagne moment: | Kamal's reflex catch |
| Muppet: | James' bowled, caught and stumped dismissal |
Phil