BELIEF is back at King’s Road – but the club still hasn’t ended its miserable run of defeats.

The Orange Caps went into Sunday’s game against the London Itinerants at Wandsworth Common without a win since July 26 last year when they beat Beershire.

After the previous week’s dismal display against Fame CC the prospects of overturning that run of defeat after defeat looked grim.

And by the halfway point The Road – still without key players Dan Howard and Giles Fagan – looked dead and buried again after being set a daunting 199 to win.

But playing with renewed vigour, the spirited Battersea-based side roared back with a brilliant batting display even though they had a morale-sapping mountain to climb.

In the end – after taking the game to the last over to set up a thrilling finish – the Orange Caps came so close they must be kicking themselves.

Yet again our boys came up against a side that just edged it in all departments of the game – though this time they were almost equal to the task.

Right from the word go the Itinerants looked in cruise control as their openers piled up a big first wicket partnership.

And again The Road’s bowling attack gave the opposition more than just a helping hand by leaking a series of wide balls.

To see the match scorecard click HERE.

To see Amir’s snaps from the match click HERE.

In between the extras The Road’s bowlers were hitting the right notes – they just couldn’t get the breakthough.

Opening bowlers James Couldrey and rookie Chris Simmons worked tirelessly but chances were few and far between.

Clinton and Russell had no trouble blunting the attack on a docile pitch with some sensible strokeplay.

The stand was finally broken when Russell was caught behind at the second attempt off James.
Wickie Seddon then strode out to the crease and took control looking classy as he hit 29.

At the drinks break the signs were ominous for The Road with the Itinerants looking like they could smash 250.

But a mini-revival in the second half kept the run rate under control with Matt Cocken and Leon Watson slowing things down.

Magic Adam Majeed then returned for a second spell of pace for The Road to take two quick wickets and Jamie Keating bagged a brace in five overs of tricky spin.

But it was too little too late – the damage was already done and the Itinerants were well on their way to racking up a staggering 198.

Man of the Match Clinton led the way from the first ball with a classy 60 before he got beat by Keats. And the total was bolstered even more by a shocking 40 extras given away by The Road.

Tanner, nine, and Ogale, who hit 19, also found easy pickings off the bowlers as the Itinerants raced to a big score.

Pace bowler James C returned figures of one for 23 off eight and opening partner Chris S bagged one for 37 off seven, but was unlucky to see two dolly catches go down off his bowling.

At lunch The Road laid on a memorable spread tea with smoked salmon from Matt Cocken, Wag Katie Archer’s homebaked biscuits, lamb pasties from David Hughes, Mamma Mazumder’s spicy fare and tender reggae reggae chicken from Leon Watson.

But the terrific tea couldn’t disguise the fact that The Road had a massive job on their hands to get anywhere near the Itinerants’ total.

That didn’t stop them though – this time The Road didn’t crumble in the face of a big ask and set about building a score from the off.

The foundations of a fightback were laid early with a solid club record opening partnership of 46 between David and Leon.

The pair saw out a hostile spell playing straight in comfort before Leon was controversially given out lbw for 12.

Jamie Keating then got bowled straight after for a golden duck to leave The Road’s run chase looking shaky – but not out for the count.

Welsh biffer David was on hand to dig in and nurdle 26 valuable runs in what was probably his best innings for the club.

He was joined by Matt – having driven in from Hampshire for the match – who hit ten in a brief salvo before he was bowled again by a ball that kept low.

It followed a terrible ball that got him last week against Fame CC which hardly bounced.

Then last season’s joint Player of the Year Dean Aldridge – picking up the bat for the first time in 2009 – stepped out to the middle.

The game was still on – just – but the Itinerants looked racing certainties way out in front and just yards from the winning post.

King’s Road needed someone to steady the ship and Dean, with Amir Alipour-Mehraban playing a supporting role, kept them in it.

Then when steadfast Amir was run out for a career-best two after blocking 34 balls out came Adam to throw the bat in a late flourish.

The brave batsman battled exhaustion which almost got the better of him. But he scored a quickfire 33 not out off 23 balls to take the Orange Caps to the brink of victory with Dean.

The Golden Ald-ie hit a stylish 54 not out – which included some quick runs between the wicket – before the pair went into the last over needing 24 to win.

Even though it was a big ask, things were getting tense because big-hitting Dean and the exhausted Adam had shown the power to make it happen.

In the end they fell just short and the Itinerants ran out winners by 11 runs after a cracking finish.

King’s Road had given a debut to Chris S and had James Pritchard and Amir playing their first game after signing up as members.

All three collected their club caps in a presentation before the match.

Despite falling at the final hurdle The Road will take heart from taking the game to them when it looked dead and buried.

And there were plenty of positives to take ahead of Saturday’s clash with the GTA Zeebras.

* Who do YOU think will be the star in The Road’s next match? Post your view in the comment box below.