Whalers CC won by 7
wickets
Fresh from
their indoor triumph the first outdoor game of the 2009 Whalers season started,
as was perhaps inevitable, with some high quality faffing.
The usual dramas of locating where all the various kit bags had got to over the
winter, the scorebook, and maybe even trying to find 11 players seemed to have
been resolved early in the preceding week. However the withdrawl
of London Rams from the fixture midweek led to a change of opposition and venue
and the Whalers were playing the previously unknown Gubbays
in Eastcote.
Fortunately
the weather gods were kind and delivered a beautiful April day as the Whalers
assembled in
And so the
action started with a prompt 1pm start with Dan bowling down the hill with the
wind generally quite wide, and Ed from the other end generally quite well. Gubbays commenced slowly but the Whalers were guilty of
some early season rustiness as several catches went down of varying degrees of
difficulty. Just as it was beginning to look like these missed chances would be
costly the introduction of Si led to the first
breakthrough as Adam Strang, whose fielding was
outstanding at square leg held onto to a sharp chance, and shortly after James
took a good catch above his head to claim the Whalers second. Si soon claimed a third, his six overs
yielding 3-27 and the Whalers were in business.
Dan opted
for spin at both ends mid-innings as Adam made a tidy start with his off breaks
and Kamal bewitched all the batsmen with his
variations but somehow failed to pick up the wickets that his spell deserved. Adam
managed to pick up a couple of wickets in his eight overs
finishing with 8-2-28-2. Paul replaced Kamal but his
bowling proved a mixed bag, picking up a wicket clean bowled, but also being
hit for a huge lost ball six into neighbouring gardens.
Throughout
the Gubbays innings Whalers stuck to their task well,
and wickets falling at regular intervals kept the scoring rate down. Dan
brought Ed and himself back to bowl the death overs
and the wickets continued to fall as Gubbays looked
to hit out. Ed missed out in the wickets column but Dan grabbed three late
wickets including two off his last two deliveries to set up a hatrick opportunity next game. Gubbays
finished on 170 all out from 39.4 overs, a respectable
but certainly not unassailable score.
After a tea
that was notable for the cheese and cucumber sandwiches and pizza Al and Duncs set out to open the reply for the Whalers. With Hassan opening from one end bowling a probing line outside
off, Duncs’ eyes lit up at the prospect of an 11 year
old at the other end but only narrowly avoided a first ball dismissal with a
Chinese cut off the mark. Thereafter the youngster was singled out for some
punishment from Duncs in particular as five
boundaries came from his first three overs and the
Whalers looked set at 29-0 off the first six overs.
However Al
fell to a slower ball from Hassan, and Duncs was bowled just two
balls later as a shooter just feathered his off stump removing just one of the
bails. The dismissal of both openers brought Ads and James to the crease. The
run rate dried up as both players struggled to score and when James was out
plumb in front for a duck, the Whalers were in some trouble at 32-3.
Stu
joined Ads at the crease, with mobile in pocket so that in case Mrs Terrell
went into labour she could at least be kept informed of his innings’ progress. Stu started slowly having difficulty finding the middle of
his bat, and both batsmen offered some early sharp chances, but thereafter
progress became remarkably serene. Adam, using his unique style to full effect,
recorded his first ever Whaler’s fifty and celebrated
with due bat waving and badge kissing. Stu followed
with his 50 soon after and unleashed some big hits late on taking one bowler
for 18 in one over to finish on 67*. It was left to Ads to hit with winning
runs with a 3 down the ground to finish unbeaten on 63, and the Whalers had won
at a canter by seven wickets and with 7 overs to
spare. And no-one ever needed to know Paul had deserted his post at number 6 to
get back home to make sure his kids hadn’t eaten all the Jammie
Dodgers.
A mighty
effort from Stu and Ads then, as an unbeaten stand of
139 ( a record for the fourth wicket, and I think the second highest ever) got
the Whalers’ season off to a fantastic start, and was celebrated with a pint at
what can only be described as a curry pub just down the road.
Whalers: 171-3 (32.2 overs Terrell 67*, Hanmer 63*)
Man of the match: Adam Hanmer – debut Whalers 50
Champagne moment: Stu’s direct hit for a run out
Muppet moment:
Stu’s fumble of a second run out chance after some great
work by Duncs