Match Report
Sunday 13 July –v- Earlswood Strollers at Eltham Road
After winning the toss and putting Earlswood in, Jim treated the watching throng to a fine spell of swing bowling that yielded only 8 runs from his eight over spell. He was well supported by Danglers, but Earlswood rode their luck helped by some difficult chances going to ground or evading catchers; the opener who went on to score big was put down twice. Crusaders lost their way in mid innings allowing our hosts to pile on the runs and with wickets in hand they were able to throw caution to the wind. When the opener was finally run out seven short of a century the horse had already bolted. The only bright spot was that Darren’s figures took a bashing from the late onslaught which saw Earlswood finish at 180-7 from 40 overs.
Our response was compromised by the early departure of Jim, tragically run out by Steve Lewis for a duck. Jim then stropped around for several minutes, throwing toys, bats and anything else he could from within his pram, before ordering Anna to the car and home; not even time to finish the wine she was enjoying with the other assembled ‘girlies’. Unfortunately this set the trend, with further wickets falling regularly and nobody really dominating the bowling. There were useful contributions from Tubby (30), Sumo (24) and Chuckles (13), before Spud and Darkie dragged us back into the contest with a measured stand. When Mark was out, chipping up an easy catch chasing a wide delivery, it was left to Spud to protect the tail – Chris – and try and guide us home. Unfortunately ‘Jimmy Hill’ Clark was the adjudicator for an LBW appeal lodged against Wilsdon and brought the curtain down on our run chase with still eight runs required.
