BIG Matt Glover demolished the London Itinerants’ top order as King’s Road won comfortably in a friendly against their LPL rivals.
Wearing their brand new ItsJustCricket.co.uk sponsored shirts, the Orange Caps were on top from the first over as Glover tore into the Itinerants with a fierce opening spell to claim 4 for 26.
Three of his victims were bowled as the Itinerants were reduced to 4 for 42 on a muggy day at Battersea Park.
India’s number one Shailesh Joshi then waded in with three vital wickets – following his four last weekend – to help The Road skittle the Itinerants for 122.
Two run outs and a wicket for Adam Majeed completed the rout as the Itinerants collapsed in the face of some impressive pace bowling.
Only Paul Dixon, with 27, and Ravi Ogale, with 24, put up resistance as The Road ran riot.
But when Dixon was out to a spectacular diving catch of the season contender from Sham de Silva at slip off Shailesh the game was up.
Ogale took the score to 122 before he holed out to Jeremy Smith to become Shailesh’s third victim, and then the final two wickets fell for just one run.
From then on The Road were on easy street despite tight, accurate and pacy bowling from the Itinerants.
Sham continued his stunning form with the bat to hit 24 off 30 balls, Raju Mazumder again proved dogged at the crease to hit 16 – just two short of his best for The Road – and after that there was no stopping the boys from Battersea.
Leon Watson fell for a second successive duck, but with plenty of batting to come there was only one winner.
Giles Fagan hit 18, including a huge six, Dan Sherman also blasted a straight six in his 7.
With Chris MacNichol, who finished on 9 not out, at the other end, Shailesh returned to blast 27 not out off 20 to see The Road home.
Paceman Neil Davis was the pick of the Itinerant bowlers returning figures of 3 for 24 off 8, while Ogale got 1 for 5 off 4 and David Smith only conceded 7 in his 4 overs.
Good bowling wasn’t enough for the Itinerants though – they needed a spectacular collapse after a disappointing batting display.
It was a comfortable win for The Road against a team who played well in the field but crumbled in the face of a fierce pace attack.
And, after this display, King’s Road skip James Couldrey will be in confident mood ahead of the LPL league match between the sides in August.
