After last week’s defeat at the hands of Southbank, The Road were back at Battersea Park. But this time there was something in the air… According to Dan Sherman (and a questionable article in the Guardian) that something was the scent of love….

With love in the air and under cloudy skies captain PEJ won the toss and chose to bat, striding out to open alongside Sherman. A very accurate spell from both opening bowlers kept The Road batsmen quiet, with just 15 runs scored off the first 10 overs.

Before the season the new Skipper had made a point about wanting the opening partnership to score more quickly, and so after looking over at the scoreboard in disgust, decided he would try and hit every ball to the boundary for the next few overs. This brought about some glorious boundaries to up the run rate, along with some equally glorious swings and misses.

Sherman continued to battle away at the other end and managed to get away a couple of lovely boundaries. Though by this point no one was able to corroborate his story as they had all fallen asleep.

The partnership was finally broken when Sherman was caught behind for a gritty 15, but a strong foundation had been set with an opening partnership of 47.

James Pinkney set the tone for multiple Road batsmen to come, hitting a wonderful shot for 4 and then unfortunately getting out. PEJ was the next to go, first ball after drinks for a captain’s knock of 29. Andy Craigie quickly followed along with James Murray-Wood, who was the second Road batsmen to hit an excellent boundary and then get out.

Oscar Newlove came in and, as is often the way, made batting look much simpler than everyone else, dispatching the Butterlords bowlers to the boundary multiple times. However his innings was cut short when he was run out after a questionable call for a run by Richard Bibby. Oscar, very unhappy at being run out, exclaimed as he walked off, “You can’t run as if it were the Road fielding”. Wise words.

Luke Shermer came to the crease and Bibby, clearly needing to sacrifice his teammates to try and appease the devil, immediately tried to run him out. Fortunately Shermer turned down the run, teaching us all a valuable lesson. Just say no kids. Shermer then joined Pinkney and Woody in the Road school of innings building, leaving the Road at 99-7.

Needing a lower order fightback, Pete Sainthouse and Bibby played some lovely strokes to put on a partnership of 27 before Sainthouse was bowled by a straighter one that kept low. Bibby followed in the next over for a well made 29(32). This brought the Universe Ross, Michael Rossi, to the crease, wielding his new bat for the first time. Inspired by his batting partner, James Mahony hit a couple of lovely 4s before being the last man to fall as The Road were all out for 139.

Teas were again of the excellently high standards The Road deliver, with the Butterlords captain mentioning it was one of the highlights of their season. Sainthouse won sweet with a wonderful pistachio cheesecake, but for the second week in a row Craigie wrapped up the overall prize, this time with some homemade sausage rolls.

The Road have never beaten The Butterlords and it would need a fine bowling and fielding display to get the victory, defending 139. The Devil and The Saint opened up the bowling to see whether good or evil would prevail against The Lord(s). Sainthouse bowled excellently without any luck, plenty of edges just evading fielders. But Bibby was the man to get the breakthrough, with a glorious swinging delivery trapping the opening batsman in front. A second for Bibby followed shortly after, with a delivery clipping off-stump to bowl the number 3 batsman.

Moans was brought into the attack and took us straight to the moan zone in his first over. With the set batsman starting to look very dangerous, he got one to hold in the pitch.The batsmen duly hit it up into the air, and after what felt like an eternity, the chance was taken by Rossi at mid-on. Bibby then removed the other opener with a swinging delivery that was adjudged LBW by the umpire to the clear dissatisfaction of the batsman. Ball tracking from behind the stumps suggests he may have had a point…

At 61-4, The Road had fought their way into the game. There had been some excellent fielding throughout, including diving stops on the boundary by both Moany and Woody, Craigie erecting the wicket keeping version of The Great Wall behind the stumps, and it had been a true team performance in the field.

Pinkney was brought into the attack despite an earlier outburst at the skipper that easily wrapped up Tantrum of the day. Channelling the angry man inside him, Pinks bowled well but just couldn’t find the breakthrough, taking his anger out on the off-side fielders after a quickly run single.

At the other end, Luke Shermer was finding his rhythm and in his third over he lured the batsman into a false shot, chipping the ball to a gleeful PEJ at mid-off for a much needed breakthrough. In his next over he produced another beautiful delivery that turned, beat the bat and hit the stumps for his second wicket leaving the Butterlords worried on 89-6.

This however was just the beginning from Shermer who in his next over produced a moment of cricketing brilliance that mere words can do no justice to…

The ball it looped, it dipped, it spun,

But here the drama had just begun,

The batsman drove, he hit it well,

But he had fallen for Shermer’s spell,

The ball flew back at an almighty pace,

But was greeted with a loving embrace,

Shermer grasped the flying ball,

Letting out a victory call,

The fielders celebrated, full of praise,

The batsman walked off feeling dazed,

“I don’t drop those”, the bowler stated,

His own skills he clearly rated,

The Road now needed just three more,

Keep reading on for the final score…

Two balls later the new batsman was left bamboozled as Shermer rattled the stumps again to claim his 4th wicket and bring the Road within 2 wickets of victory.

Rossi came on to bowl the next over, captain PEJ hoping to give the veteran spinner a few overs to get into the season. Shermer however had other ideas and like every good bowler, was greedy for more. 4 balls into his 6th over and he had the batsman trapped in front, the umpire once again raising the finger for a third lbw of the innings and giving Luke his first Road five wicket haul! Shermer however, clearly has an affinity with the number 6, after taking 6 catches on his Road debut last season. And so it was meant to be, two balls later, when the number 11 drilled the ball straight into the waiting hands of Rossi (taking his second catch of the game) at mid-wicket.

A fine victory for the Road, their first win of the season, first win for new skipper PEJ and first win over the Butterlords. An excellent team effort in the field, wrapped up by a wonderful bowling spell (6-26) to take Mandy of the Match by Baby Sherms!

AWARDS

Embarrassing: Bibby running out Oscar
Tantrum: Pinkney shouting at PEJ and Oscar
Champagne: Rossi’s first catch to remove settled batsman
Mandy of the Match: Baby Sherms
Teas: Savoury and overall, Craigie – Sweet, Sainthouse

FULL SCORECARD: https://kingsroadcsc.play-cricket.com/website/results/5418985