Strongroom stand tall in Crouch End
Crouch End, 4/17/2010
Strongroom won by 63 runs
Stronroom: 171 [Shobuj 4-24]
Crouch End CC: 108
View the Scorecard
The first game of 2010 was much anticipated, and was ushered in under blue skies and bright sunshine (though no sign of the Icelandic volcanic ash that kept Proctor holed up in Portugal). Our opposition was Crouch End CC, the inaugural fixture between these two teams. Crouch End CC are a league club, and as is often the case with such friendly fixtures, they fielded a mix of players from their three Saturday XIs. The pitch appeared dry enough on the surface, but a firm push of your thumb revealed a softness under the surface – but hey, this was mid-April, the groundsman had done a good job, and we were gagging for some bat n’ ball action.
I won the toss and decided to bat first. Martin [26] and Oliver continued from where they left off in ’09, and posted a good opening stand of 61 off 11 overs. Crouch End had started poorly, with a glut of no-balls and wides, which often put batsmen off more than aids their fluency and concentration. The softness of the track also made batting difficult, with the ball ‘stopping’ and not coming onto the bat with any pace. However, just as we seemed to be rattling along at a good pace a clutch of wickets swung the ascendancy towards the home team. This was largely due to a fine spell of finger-spin from Shobuj [9-2-24-4] who tempted four of our batters into airy drives which slipped between bat and pad. Interestingly, 8 of our batsmen were clean bowled in total. It was around this stage of the innings that myself and Ujjal posted a useful stand, with U-Roy [and his brand new bat ‘Sophia’] delivering most of the runs, including a sweetly timed straight 6 over the sightscreen. Tom [11] and Paddy [14] also chipped in with invaluable runs, and we finally posted a combative total of 171 in 41 overs. I remained unbeaten on 29*, having battled somewhat awkwardly for 28 overs, partly in the intention of stabilising the innings, and partly as I struggled to get the ball off the square. Our total was also greatly helped by a total of 46 extras, courtesy of Crouch End.
A decent tea was consumed in their pleasant pavilion, and Guy turned up to provide some welcome local support.
We had no previous knowledge of how defendable our target of 172 would actually be, but it felt fair enough given the conditions. Strongroom’s familiar opening duo, Paddy and Ujjal, set about the task of making inroads into the opposition, but neither claimed a wicket in their opening spells as Crouch End’s openers applied themselves well. The first breakthrough finally came courtesy of Tom Higginson’s nagging accuracy, inducing an airborne drive to mid-off. More wickets were to follow as Marty Newkirk [5-0-16-3] toiled up the slope, and was duly rewarded with three more scalps. A couple of stubborn partnerships in Crouch End’s middle and lower order kept them in the hunt though, but runs remained hard to come by, and the bounce from the bottom end appeared increasingly inconsistent. However, Strongroom’s fielding was generally good, and key wickets seemed to materialise just as their batsmen were starting to look well set. More bowlers were rotated (including Chris West in only his second game), and Paddy returned for a much improved second spell [9-2-25-2], assisted by a smart catch in the slips by Martin and a stunning diving catch from Tom at point. It was left to Simon Ray to seal the victory in style by skittling the stumps of Crouch End’s no.10, and Strongroom had got the season off to the best possible start.
Strongroom had stuck to their task well and with good vocal support and banter throughout, and Hem probably saved his usual 15-20 runs sliding around in the covers. Debutant Jimmy Hall’s tidy keeping was also worth a mention, especially as he had to contend with a staggering 24 wides (and 37 extras in total). Overall, the 63-run margin of victory was a bit flattering, considering we had to bowl and field well to earn the breakthroughs. Next week London Fields.
Written By: J.Gower
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