Whalers CC v Science Museum CC – 27^th May 2010

Whalers win by 24 runs

The Whalers gathered on leafy Barnes Common on Thursday night, for what was Si Whistler's last match for the club before leaving for the States. All the elements for a 20:20 classic were there: a capacity crowd, scantily-clad cheerleaders (ok, sensibly-clad Wives and Girlfriends), and the novelty of a white ball - always tricky to see under floodlights, but definitely easier to spot in the dense jungle surrounding the pitch. With the batting order largely determined by whether or not people were there on time, Ads and Rob strode out to face the opening bowlers, shortly followed by Kev striding out at number three, Duncs at four, Toby at five...

Of the top order, only Kev really got to grips with the bowling, racing to his maiden Whalers 50 before being "retired" by the skipper. This brought the contrasting styles of Ed and Channa together, with Ed peppering the cover boundaries and Channa (the Whalers' answer to Eoin Morgan?) displaying a wide variety of shots, some of which may even have been intentional, as well as some interesting running between the wickets. Ed eventually fell for 37 while Channa scored a career-best 31 before not noticing he'd been given out LBW. A couple more quick wickets brought the last pair of Pip and Dan together to scamper a few overthrows and push the Whalers final score up to 170-8.

In reply, the Science Museum got off to a steady start against Si and Rich, with the skipper particularly unlucky to have three catches dropped off his bowling. The change bowlers then ripped through their top order, with Ed's slow bouncer and Dan's surprise straighter ball picking up 3-13 and 2-10 respectively. With the game in the bag, the Whalers took their foot off the pedal - notable "highlights" included Rob bowling a beamer so high that it nearly went for 6 over Toby's head, and Channa pitching one on what would have been a good length (from the other end). There was still time for Pip to pick up a couple of wickets, both smartly stumped by Toby, and for the champagne moment - Dan's throw from the boundary hit the stumps at one end, and with the batsmen thinking about a sneaky second run, Si swooped on the ball and threw down the stumps at the other end for a very impressive run-out. Final result was a Whalers win by 24 runs: many thanks to the Science Museum guys for a good game and a fine spread of food in the pub afterwards.

Whalers 170-8 (20 overs) Kev 52*, Ed 37, Channa 31
Science Museum 146 all out (20 overs) Ed 3-13, Dan 2-10, Pip 2-12

Man of the match: Ed (honourable mention for Kev)
Champagne moment: Si's direct hit run-out (after a direct hit at the other end)
Muppet moment: Rob's 20-foot high beamer