King’s Road scored their first victory of the season in a hard-fought contest at Tooting Common.
The Orange Caps encountered stiff resistance from the opposition, but led by fiery all-rounder Leon Watson success was guaranteed.
In a dramatic clash, the King’s Roaders saw off a gang of rogue cricketers who had attempted to hijack the Tooting Common strip.
Watson led the Road’s efforts, spearheading the Orange Caps’ attack but Skipper Raju Mazumder used all his experience and guile to mastermind the eventual win.
The Bangladeshi Brearley spotted that Watson’s over exuberance could have backfired and instead used a range of diplomatic tactics to see off the stubborn opposition, who insisted that they had the right to play on the Common.
Eventually the deadlock over posession of the strip was broken as the full force of the law came down in favour of the Orange Caps’ right to play, with the opposition scattering at the site of a Parks Police patrol.
A Parks Police source told KRCSC: “The rogue cricketers had no right to play on the strip which was lawfully reserved for the Orange Caps.
“Maybe they could have continued their game on one of the other 220 acres of Tooting Common and all this unpleasantness could have been avoided.”
Once the drama had been resolved in the Orange Caps’ favour a game of cricket broke out.
After sparks flew earlier, the fireworks began as GTA Zeebras opener Mike McFarlane went berserk, thrashing 206 as the Orange Caps’ bowlers were flayed to all parts of the Common.
Rumours of an IPL contract being offered to McFarlane could not be confirmed as KRCSC News went to press.
McFarlane was ably supported by Christoper Mpamugo, who biffed his way to 103 as the Zeebras romped to 419-3 off their 40 overs.
Tony Swann was the only one of the Orange Caps’ bowlers emerged with respectable figures in the face of the Zeebras’ onslaught, with a return of 2-34 off his eight overs.
Faced with the daunting target, the Orange Caps batsmen threw caution to the wind in an attempt to get somewhere close to parity.
But the Zeebras took wickets at frequent intervals after a 20-run opening stand between David Hughes and Jamie Smith. Swann and debutant Andrew Saker offered some resistance, with scores of 20 and 24 and James Pritchard looked comfortable before a shocking umpiring decision sent him back to the pavilion, stumped for five.
The excitement before the game and the mammoth total posted by the Zeebras had obviously affected King’s Road and they were skittled out for 93 in 20.3 overs.