The Thespian Thunderers stormed the stage to blow King’s Road away with a comprehensive Twenty20 win.
A game that began as farce with a set of comically small stumps ended in tragedy for the Orange Caps, who were thrashed by 115 runs at Wandsworth Common.
The Thunderers’ innings was set up by a monumental 152-run opening stand between Nicholas Hogg and Peter Sandys-Clarke.
Author Hogg could not have written a better story for himself, hammering 109 runs from just 47 balls as the Road’s fielders were reduced to spectators.
Sandys-Clarke was pedestrian in comparison, taking all of 31 balls for his 54.
Both batsmen were dismissed by Laura Bailey, who finished with 2-56 from her 4 overs, with centurion Hogg stumped by Sam Lavender off her bowling and Sandys-Clarke bowled.
That Bailey managed to hit the wickets showed how accurate she was – as the only stumps available for the game were three-quarter sized kids ones that were so small they needed wedges to keep them upright in the holes.
After the opening act had finished, King’s Road managed to stem the flow of runs with Skipper Small bowling beautifully to take 2-12 off his 4 overs and mystery spinner Amir Alipour-Merhraban taking 1-14 off 2.
Paceman Matt Glover conceded 28 off his 4 overs, economical considering the carnage unleashed by the opening batsmen.
Dan Howard’s single over cost 13, Mark Isham was smashed for 36 off 2, Jamie Keating’s three overs went for 31.
Run outs by Glover and David Hughes accounted for the other wickets to fall as the Thunderers finished on 209 for 7 off their 20.
With the run rate above 10 an over the Road were always facing a difficult task and when Shaminda de Silva fell for 1 with the score on 2 the challenge got even tougher.
TTCC's 1st win of 2015: 209-8 from 20 overs then bowled out @KRCSC for 92 in the Wandsworth gloom. @nicholas_hogg worthy MoM: 109 & 2 wkts.
— Thespian Thunderers (@ThunderersCC) June 10, 2015
Opener Jon Malsingh and number 3 Lavender added 14 before the Aussie was caught for 11, bringing Glover to the crease.
The Yorkshireman smashed 21, including 5 boundaries, off just 10 balls before being trapped LBW to leave the Road 39-3.
A flurry of quick wickets saw Malsingh run out for 6 before Game of Thrones star Iain Glen ensured that the innings of Howard (0) and Keating (2) were as brief and uncomfortable as the lives of characters in the fantasy show.
With the Road on 45-6, Hughes and Bailey – batting with the aid of pale ale – put on 18 before the Welshman missed a straight one and was bowled for 16.
Bailey then hit out before being caught for 13 to leave the Road on 82-8. Skipper Small was next out for 2, Isham hit 10 off 9 balls before being caught and bowled leaving Amir not out for 0 and the Road shuffling off the stage while the Thesps took a bow.