The Whalers bandwagon rolled back into an overcast
Chiswick looking to build on our winning run against the Strollers. To be on
the safe side, absent captain Ads had picked 8 all-rounders
(9 if you count Big Al - he does) and had arranged for us to meet an hour
before the oppo arrived. To be on the even safer
side, Ed decided to arrive 30 minutes before then, just in case there was
excessive Sunday traffic in the
Anyway, stand-in skipper Paul M
won the toss and we were batting, against a slightly unfamiliar-looking
Strollers line-up. However, in tricky conditions we failed to cope with their
accurate opening bowlers and were soon struggling at 21 for 3, with all our
"specialist batsmen" back for some quality time with their team-mates
- Oz still grumbling about his caught-behind decision, Phil still nursing
his hangover, and Al still dreaming fondly of Sarah (or possibly Sally, or
possibly both of them) from the previous night. Dario, Piers and Geoff led a
mini-recovery, but the Strollers change bowlers were also pretty handy - and
once Dario had gone for 20 and Geoff for 19 (mainly through cow corner) we were
in real trouble at 81 for 7 from 23 overs.
However, as we've shown in
previous years, the Whalers bat all the way down, and some determined hitting
from Khalil and tedious fence-building from Dan meant
that slowly but steadily we began to build a total. After a stand of 56 and
with only a few overs to go, Khalil
got caught on the charge for an excellent 42. A mixture of swishing and late
cuts from the skipper (as well as a glorious 1-bounce cover drive for 4) added
another 17, and Gouldy's tip and run from the last
ball meant that we'd seen out the overs and
doubled our score to a grand total of 162 - the teatime consensus was
that this was definitely defendable.
Once all the chocolate mini-rolls
had been eaten, the skipper's inspirational team-talk consisted mainly of
pointing out that we had loads of bowlers and that anyone who bowled pies would
get taken off. This supportive man-management style clearly worked, as steady
stuff from James (12 runs from 7 overs) and Dan (21
runs from 7 overs), backed by excellent ground
fielding, got us off to a good start. However, the skipper had unfortunately
failed to issue a similar threat about our catching, as several (generally
quite difficult) chances went down throughout the day. But with the run-rate
creeping up, Khalil and Paul M continued to keep the
pressure on and both picked up a deserved wicket each (Khalil
1 for 21 from 7, Paul 1 for slightly more than that).
With the Strollers needing about
50-odd from the last 7 overs (but still with 8
wickets in hand), the skipper brought on Ed to bowl yorkers
and Geoff to bowl bouncers. Both tactics worked immediately, with Ed bowling 2
batsmen in his first over (including with an alleged off-break which apparently
spun about a foot) and Khalil taking a good catch on
the boundary off Geoff. As the Strollers were forced to hit out, more wickets
inevitably fell, with Piers picking up 3 catches, Ed getting 4 wickets (and
only denied a 5-for by dropping a catch off his own bowling) and Geoff 2.
Ultimately the Whalers ran out winners by 44 runs (or possibly 34, depending on
how you add the scorebook up): a deserved result from an excellent team
performance, with our strength in depth and accurate bowling (backed by
excellent field-placings, and without the usual 30
free runs in wides/no-balls) probably the key
factors.
Whalers: 162 for 9 from 35 overs - Khalil 42, Dario 20
Strollers: 118
for 8 from 35 overs - Ed 4 for 16, Geoff 2 for 11
Man of the match: Khalil for vital runs and good bowling (honourable mention
for Ed)
Champagne moment: Ed's
fiercely-spinning off-break
Muppet moment: Gouldy's 5 wides down the
leg-side