Roehampton Bats remain undefeated in the LPL after the King’s Road’s 198-run chase ended 36 short at the Wood Bowl.
The Bats, playing in their first LPL season, have notched up an impressive winning streak, which seemingly extends to the toss as well. After Captain Brown’s ‘lucky’ Hong Kong Dollar failed him (again), the Orange Caps set about bowling in sticky conditions on a ‘two-paced’ wicket – as foretold by Mystic Mazumder days before the game.
A combination of Captain Chris and Mark ‘metronomic’ Isham kept the Roehampton openers very quiet, with the first runs only coming off the bat in the fourth over. Both Mark and Chris had the batsmen just where they wanted them… and a slow start soon became a frustrating one for RBCC. Attempting to hit out, Bats’ skipper Sam Nelson swooshed, missed and was dismissed for 6 after a gentle delivery jagged back in to clip the top of middle. Beaten by the pace of his own bat speed, Roehampton were 10/1.
One soon became two after an uncharacteristic KRCSC display of excellent ground fielding from newcomer Fergus Jones. Attempting to steal a second, Nick Williamson took on Dr Jones who rifled the ball for a direct hit from third man. Williamson departed for 12 to the exuberant melodic exaltation “Ah yippie yi yu ah!” from Jones.
With the score 26/2, Oscar Newlove and Michael Rossi came on to bowl, and the Bats counter attacked through a partnership of Ryan Pepperel and Adam Thew. At drinks RBCC were 77/2 and building a platform.
At times like these Captain Brown would usually call upon a golden arm to get him a wicket; this time he only needed de Silva.
Brought on immediately after drinks, Sham struck with a caught and bowled to remove Pepperel – who expressed his displeasure by falling to his knees and repeatedly punching the wicket.
Next to fall was Alistair Maitland for 9. Mesmerised by the de Silva masterclass, Maitland momentarily forgot where he was and instead chose to watch one beautifully flighted ball pitch outside off and loop back to kiss the top of his undefended stumps. 97/4.
Encouraged by a wicket in each of Sham’s first two overs, CB threw the ball to Matt Small 2.0, to bowl spin from the opposite end.
Only one run was added before dangerman Thew (40) was stumped by Sherman in Sham’s third over. Despite missing out on an easy runout by misfielding three times the same ball he bowled, before giving up and lying face down at the crease seemingly crying into footmarks, Smally deservedly picked up the wicket of Shoadan Nair (2), caught by Isham. At 98/6 Roehampton were rocking; three wickets had been lost for one run.
Smally snaffled a second scalp, bowling Jack Brown through the gate for 2; 108/7. Sham’s fourth wicket was caught excellently by Peter Jackson Eastwood at extra cover, leaving RBCC 120/8.
KRCSC’s spirits were high, confident we could quickly mop up the tail, pace replaced Small and Sham, but not before Sham had bowled his quota in search for his fifth wicket.
Maintaining his (un)fair reputation for jug avoidance, the Sri Lankan spinner put his faith in the Orange Caps catching ability for his first ever 5-fer. Unsurprisingly for a team renowned for its baking prowess, buttery fingers resulted in two dropped catches in his final, brutal over which went for 16. Sham’s day with the ball ended 7-0-4-57, and another jug avoided.
Unfortunately, there was also a sting in that there tail…
First Oscar struck removing James Hunt for 33, caught Brown, before Brown bowled Will Hunt for 34. The final two partnerships had added an extra 77 runs to the score. The Bats were all out for 197.
After tea which consisted of opening crisp packets and Mr Kipling’s finest, Jamie Keating and Fergus set about opening the batting.
In the second over, Fergus Jones, Jones, Fergus, Fergus Jones was caught first ball at midwicket. The Road were 0/1.
Coming in at number 3 was Paris Papaspiridon, making his second appearance after an impressive 61* on debut against the Corridors. After four balls Paris returned to the sidelines without troubling the scorers, but earning him a very healthy KRCSC career average.
The Road was stuttering as 12/2 shortly became 18/3, when Keats was caught for 14 off 32. Sham was bowled for 8 off 16, and KRCSC’s first four wickets were struggling with the two-paced wicket just as Mystic Mazumder’s premonition foretold.
At drinks, Peter Jackson Eastwood was going well, supported by Daniel Sherman, but the score was 53/4. After a much needed drinks (and comfort!) break, PEJ and Sherman set about the counter attack.
Off the back of his maiden fifty last week, Peter was confidently striding down the wicket to blast boundary after boundary, including opening his career account for maximums with a majestic 6 over the bowler’s head.
Unluckily, the in-form batsman, feathered one to the keeper, departing on a hard fought 22 from 46. After receiving an unnecessary send-off from the potty-mouthed, ponytailed Colt, chaperoned by his long suffering owner, Pete responded with some direct feedback of his own.
What happened next provided a hugely entertaining, predictable and characteristic Looney Toons display of uncontrollable rage and social ineptitude. The long-haired Colt, made incessant snorting and neighing sounds from across the field, chuntering for the remainder of the game. The Bats’ Captain subsequently offered yet another tired apology on behalf of Equus Ferus; Pete was just annoyed to get himself out. KRCSC were 71/5
Current leading run-scorer, Oscar Newlove, found himself in the middle and set about thwacking the ball to the boundary… and beyond. In a disappointingly short innings for such a talented striker of the ball, Oscar was to depart next ball after launching Pepperel over an enormous tree for 6. Newlove’s turbo charged 23 off just 12 balls propelled KRCSC to 116/6, 81 runs off target and with 11 overs to go.
With Captain Brown joining Sherman, who was going nicely on 34, the run chase was on. And then it wasn’t. After one cracking shot down the ground, Chris tried to go one better over Cow Corner only to be inconveniently caught. CB made 4 off 4, his team were 121/7.
Metronome Isham sashayed up to the wicket, ready to do what is needed to be done, which was soon to block out to restrict RBCC bowling points. Next to fall was Sherman. Misjudging the pace, the wicket keeper/batsman popped up an easy chance for Pepperel, the wily off spinner, to take a C&B for his second wicket. As Sherman sauntered off having scored 47 off 44, KRCSC were 133/8. With 7 overs left, new batsman Small and Isham set about transforming themselves into virtual Pac-Men; gobbling up as many dots as they could to see out the game.
Despite deploying ‘Operation Pac-Man’, sadly Isham was the final wicket to fall, scoring 12 off 18 (incongruously near doubling his strike-rate from the previous week).
The Bats had the chance to take the final bowling point and strengthen their already vice-like grip on LPL by taking the tenth wicket. However a combination of skillful strike rotation and questionable bowling tactics, ensured Smally faced all the remaining balls with Michael Rossi offering moral support. The hope of intimidating Mr Small with bouncers was, well… misguided, it only enabled the canny batsman to rollout his favourite cricket shot; the leave.
The game ended with KRCSC 36 runs short and Roehampton Bats picking up 8 points as they open out a 15 point lead at the top of the LPL table.
The Road go again on Saturday against the Antelopians in Battersea Park, but the big question on everyone lips is: What insights will Mystic Mazumder have for the Orange Caps this week?
Full scorecard here: http://kingsroadcsc.play-cricket.com/website/results/4064657
Awards:
Champagne Moment: Fergus Jones, Jones, Fergus, Fergus Jones what a runout wow!
Embarrassing Moment: Smally can’t run a batsman out despite three attempts and then tries to bury his head in the wicket because he was sad.
Tantrum: PEJ for getting out… yup nothing else. Nope.
Honourable mention to Ryan Pepperel for sparing with wicket
Man of the Match: Sham de Silva for career best figures 7-0-4-57