Whalers CC v Roehampton Wanderers CC 3^rd August 2008

Whalers CC won by 55 runs

On a pretty wet day in deepest darkest West London the Whalers tried to get back to winning ways after a narrow defeat to Salix the previous week. In conditions that were described rather optimistically by the scorer as damp the players attempted to get changed under a row of trees without getting soaked before Al and Khalil strode out to bat. Khalil rather bizarrely opted for headgear of a sunhat !?! while Al went for his regulation headband and helmet combo. In conditions that appeared to favour the bowling side the Whalers got off to a flier with Al taking 16 off the first over and Khalil getting in on the act with some lusty blows. After an opening partnership of 57 Al was the first to be dismissed and the traditional Whalers collapse could get underway. Khalil followed quickly after and the middle order struggled against Wanderers best bowler Penny Farthing who returned impressive figures of 4-26. Dan joined Gilo at the crease with the Whalers teetering on 94-6 and the game in the balance. However an unbroken stand of 89 took the Whalers to a very respectable total of 183-6 off their 35 overs. Gilo top scoring with 55 and Dan ably assisting with 32. So with a good score posted the rain having abated for the time being both teams got stuck into the impressive tea provided by Ben.

Lucas and Clipsham took the new ball to start the Roehampton Wanderers reply and the home team got off to a pretty solid start with both openers getting into the 20’s and the short ball being particularly punished. The first and second change bowlers got the Whalers on the board though as first Ed and then Dan dimissed their openers and revealed the fact that below number 3 it didn’t look like the Wanderers had a great deal of batting depth. Wickets started to fall fairly regularly from there on in although there Number 3 batsman Evans clearly knew what to do with a bat in his hand and punished anything loose from the bowlers. But when he fell for 41 to a smart catch behind the stumps from Roland off the bowling of Lucas the Whalers could sense victory. As the rain started to fall again and the fielders starting to think about sitting in a warm dry pub Channa was bought on for only his second bowl of the year. On a pitch that had now been livened up by the rain Channa proceeded to send down deliveries a la Michael Holding circa 1980 with some even shorter than Wills towel (if that’s possible). The lower order batsmen didn’t seem to know how to cope with this change of attack and twice gave Al catches in the gully (one off the glove and the second a really sharp catch that won the champagne moment). In mind of the West Indian style bowling Dan set an appropriate field so with Channa charging in looking for the final wicket 3 slips and a gully were waiting for a chance. The chance actually went to a short fine leg after an attempted pull and Ed took the catch to end the game and left Channa with figures of 3 for 6 from 1.4 overs.

In testing conditions this was a very good allround performance from the Whalers with good scores from 4 of the batsmen and the pressure kept on by all of the bowlers. Also excellent keeping by Roland with some acrobatic takes and only 1 bye conceded.

Match stats:

Whalers CC 183-6 – Rich 55*, Dan 32*, Al 30, Khalil 30

Roehampton Wanderers CC 128 – Channa 3-6, Khalil 2-6, Ed 2-18

Man of the match: Gilo, Great allround performance, 55 not out and 1 for 15

Champagne moment: Al’s catch off Channa

Muppet moment: Nick’s unconventional fielding of the ball with his arse