King’s Road ordered their whale battered as they cruised to a seven-wicket victory on a humid day at South London’s most power-stationy Park.
Cap’n Brown won the toss and elected to bowl first, deciding thar’ be wickets on this green surface. Conditions were sticky and grey overhead, suggesting stormy seas could be ahead. Happily, the weather held and Tyzack and Browny took the new ball.
An early chance went down when opener Viswanath nicked Tyzack behind, but Cmac just couldn’t hold on diving away to his left. Pinkos, who this correspondent gave a hard time all day but who I have secretly missed, was introduced to try to break the opening partnership. He had little assistance from his fielders, as another catch went down behind the stumps and Tyzack was struck on the wrist by one that came quickly but at a very nice height at point. Eventually, Pinkos bowled a heavy delivery that broke the leg stump bail to secure champagne moment and ensure he didn’t end up with Moby Dick in the wickets column.
First mate Keats and his bear trap were introduced next, and induced the wicket of the other opener, run out by a combination of Pinkos and Cmac, despite a wayward throw. Unfortunately, the giant new batsman took a liking to the Bear, hammering him for consecutive sixes, damaging the seam (in just the 11th over) and avoiding any danger of drowning in honey. Paris, who played for the Road the day before, was the next man to fall to the impressive Pinkney, a collector’s item as he was caught in the covers by the sea snake, Ali.
In fact, Pinkney was bowling so well that a slip was introduced. The batsman duly nicked the ball straight to Captain Brown standing at first, who reacted like he was catching a hot coal and slam-dunked the ball into the turf. The Road’s catching was threatening to derail their excellent bowling, but the introduction of Ed Borton put them right back on top. He bowled the dangerous Kuhlwim for 22, before removing Brawley and Osgood, both for ducks, to finish with 3-7 from his three overs. Pinkney also removed Dattani for a duck and finished with 2-15 from six overs.
What followed was an excellent eighth-wicket partnership for the Whalers, who saw off the economical Oscar (who had been feeling a side strain), and the returning Tyzack and Pinkos. Browny sniffed tail-end wickets and returned to the attack, but Tyzack had other ideas. The ball was smeared towards him at long-off, and he contrived not only to drop the catch, but spill it over the boundary for six to claim embarrassing moment. Whalers mustered 144-7 from their 35 overs, which was a good fightback but still felt like too few on a decent pitch.
Pinkney continued his impressive day by unveiling homemade pizzas which wrapped up the savoury teas award, but he was pipped to the overall award by Keats’ scones.
Browny likes his Ps, and so it was that Patz and Pinkney opened the batting. Patz has been in sparkling form this season, and set about like a man in a hurry, crunching two gorgeous fours down the ground in the first over. Unfortunately, umpire Pinkos was up to something fishy and triggered Patz to a ball that appeared leg-side-ish, and to an appeal that was quieter than a field mouse gurgling his morning Listerine. When Cmac lost his off peg two balls later, the good ship Road was looking a little Mary Rose at 25-2.
Borton and Pinkney, the two stars with the ball, were now together at the crease. If Patz was a man in a hurry, then Ed was a man who was two hours late for his own wedding. Pinkney was all characteristic guile and timing at one end, picking gaps and running well, while Ed advanced down the wicket to hit boundaries over mid-off and mid-on, before rocking onto the back foot to crack a delicious cut shot for four. Whether it was hubris or boredom, Ed tried one shot too many and was pouched at long on for 23 as he sought to clear the boundary.
73-3 brought the woefully out of form PJE, averaging 1.67 this season season, to the crease. He began in emphatic fashion, picking out fielders with regularity and taking 15 balls to get off the mark, to ironic cheers from his own team’s bench. He distinctly heard Rossi and Keats joining in with the sledging, but the joke is on them as one didn’t play and the other didn’t bat.
The bowling was becoming increasingly ragged, and as Pinkney and Pete grew in confidence, they started to take advantage of it. With a bang like a cannon on an East India Trading Company ship, Pinkney absolutely marmalised a full toss to the mid-wicket boundary. His driving was crisp, but there was one hairy moment as he tried to run himself/PJE/anyone really out with a suicidal single to mid-off. Happily the fielders made a mess of things.
At the other end PEJ was getting into his groove, clipping off his pads for four for maybe the first time ever, and then walking down the pitch to dispatch the bowler over the little Battersea bridge for another four. A couple of dicey drives into the offside saw the Road win with more than twelve overs to spare. PJE finished on a highest score for the Road of 35* (seven 4s), while Pinkney wrapped up man of the match after adding a really excellent 40* (six 4s) to his two wickets from earlier.
Full scorecard here: http://kingsroadcsc.play-cricket.com/website/results/4061513
Awards:
Embarrassing: Ali spilling a catch for six
Tantrum: Patz drop kicking his helmet after being triggered
Teas savoury: Pinkney Pizza
Teas sweet and overall: Keats scones
Man of the Match: James Pinkney