Strollers won by 99 runs
Strollers 261-7
(35 overs; Millar 106, Oliver 77, Anand 32, Salvesen 12no)
Peppard 162
(25.3 overs; Salvesen 3-29, Rogers 3-43, Macaulay 2-6, Pandor 1-5, Wood 1-25)
Another hot and dry Sunday saw the Strollers at Peppard
Cricket Club, with a slightly delayed start due to numerous transport issues,
not least the Henley Regatta.
Stephen Rogers won the toss and took the natural decision to bat first, the captains agreeing on a 35-over match due to the ambient conditions and just possibly due to extended ‘hydration’ breaks at the regatta the evening before.
Hector Millar and Pete Wood opened for the 10-man Strollers, Wood playing his first Sunday game of the season. Jack Hindley opened the bowling for Peppard with lively pace, Millar making an equally lively start with two boundaries off the first over.
An altogether slower pace from the other Peppard opener, James Rowson, surprised Wood, who was bowled third ball attempting to dispatch a full toss over square leg, with the score still on eight.
This brought Glen Oliver to the crease, with runs coming freely from Rowson in contrast to several maidens from the accurate Hindley. After ten overs the score had reached 53-1, with 15 from Hindley’s five overs and 34 from Rowson’s, and Millar becalmed on 12 but crucially still at the wicket.
First change relieved the pressure from Hindley’s end and scoring continued freely from the bowling of Sam Kimber and Emmanuel Syddall. At drinks after 17 overs the Strollers had reached 115-1.
Syddall continued after drinks but for the 19th over Ed Bloomer replaced Kimber. Runs were still flowing at a healthy rate but in the 21st over Oliver attempted a second six in the over and holed out at long on for 77, with the score on 136 and ending a partnership of 128, bringing Adhvyth Anand to the crease.
Anand was quickly into his stride and the run rate remained healthy despite generally good fielding from Peppard, except for one drop when Anand gave a fairly easy chance off Dan Bacon, who had come on in the 22nd over in place of Syddall. But Bacon duly got his wicket, in the 30th over, trapping Anand lbw for 32 leaving the score on 210-3, with Millar on 83.
Millar was joined by Hugh Martindale for a brisk, if one-sided, partnership of 24 runs in two overs, ended by a top-edged swipe and another duck for Martindale, caught by keeper James Watts off Rowson, brought back on for two overs at the end of the innings, leaving Millar on 99.
Rogers joined Millar for a quick three runs, departing lbw, again off Rowson, in the penultimate over, by which time Millar had achieved his century. Tom Salvesen came in to continue the run scoring, taking three well-hit fours off the rest of Rowson’s final over.
Hindley, who was also back on for a two-over spell at the end, finally had Millar out, caught behind for 106 off the second ball of the last over – an excellent innings which had provided the basis for a strong Strollers total.
James De la Rue skied his first ball for the third duck of the innings, leaving Isa Pandor to see out the remainder of the over, scoring three more runs off the final ball. The final score was 261-7, comfortably exceeding the expectation earlier in the day of around 220.
Peppard’s openers Bacon and George Lee, both left-handed, negotiated tight first overs from Dela Rue and Wood, but then showed early intent, with 12 runs coming from the third over, and by the end of the seventh over the score was 58-0, comfortably at the required rate.
The breakthrough came in the eighth over with Wood trapping Bacon lbw for 25 (six fours and a single). Rogers took over from Dela Rue (4-0-35-0) for the ninth over, again starting with just a single from the over.
However, after just two runs from the tenth over the boundaries started to flow again, with James Watts’s first five scoring strokes all boundaries.
Salvesen took over from Wood (5-0-25-1, with a chance put down in the slips) for the twelfth over, with another tight opening over, marred slightly by a very difficult return chance put down and an emphatic four overthrows off the last ball, and by the end of the 13th over Peppard’s score was 99-1, still on target. The 100 was up in the 14th but straight afterwards Watts was out caught by Wood off Salvesen.
Next over brought a stumping for Rogers – Lee had been standing well out of the crease to Salvesen and Rogers, with Martindale standing back a little, but after a polite suggestion from Alastair Macaulay to get a bit closer, and with Lee advancing to try to hit a delivery wide of off stump, a relatively easy stumping ensued, Lee departing for 39 with the score on 103-3.
Two overs later drinks were taken at 125-4, Bloomer having come in for a quick 10 runs, departing to a skied catch by Wood off Rogers. After drinks Jack Hindley could only really watch as the rest of the innings disappeared around him, with Salvesen getting Kimber and Rowson out, caught Wood (again) and lbw respectively, in successive overs and Syddall out to a catch by Anand off Rogers in the over between.
After 20 overs the score had subsided to 139-7, Rogers finishing with figures of 6-0-43-3 and Salvesen 5-0-29-3.
The 21st over saw the introduction of finisher Macaulay, joined by Pandor in the 22nd. Rich Ashton managed to retrieve the scoring rate with some boundaries, but Hindley departed caught by Millar in Macaulay’s second over for 11.
Peter Ellis was out in Macaulay’s next over for a duck, to an easy second catch for Anand, bringing in last-man Graham Jackson. Ashton scored a boundary and a single in the next over from Pandor, leaving Jackson on strike. Seemingly out of generosity, Pandor reduced his run-up to a single step, but the ball clipped the top of off stump, ending the innings on 162 and giving the Strollers a win by 99 runs. Macaulay finished with figures of 3-1-6-2 and Pandor 2.4-0-15-1.
A good day’s cricket was capped in the usual fashion with some refreshing bottles, sponsored by Hector in celebration of a fine 100, and almost carrying his bat!