Tight scrap sees Gaieties through at Regents Park
Regents Park, 6/6/2010
Gaieties won by 2 wickets
Strongroom: 131
Gaieties: 133-8 [S.Carter 43, R.Woolhouse 4-19]
View the Scorecard
This was the first time Strongroom had ever played Gaieties, a game arranged courtesy of Rich Woolhouse’s long-standing association with the club of Harold Pinter fame. We knew they would be a strong opposition, but fortunately we pulled together a reasonably strong XI, with plenty of batting and bowling options. Winning the toss, I opted to bat first.
Batting first proved difficult, however, as Cowley caused no end of problems from the Zoo end. Indeed, after 18 overs we were 24-5, with all our top brass knocked aside by a combination of fine pace bowling and poor shot selection. Cowley’s leg-cutters, delivered at a brisk pace and skiddy trajectory, tore the heart out of our innings, and fully deserved his fine figures of 8-3-6-3. Rufus Thurston also maintained a good line at the other end. Only debutant Will Davies [31], Jimmy Hall [15] and Dave Proctor [21*] succeeded in spending time at the crease and managed to drag Strongroom over the 100 milestone, with some relief. Will and Jimmy crucially put on 49 for the 6th wicket, with Will biffing three 6s in a Melloresque display of simple but effective power-hitting. Proctor nursed the tail through to a final total of 131, securing another prized not out in the process.
There was no formal tea, as we had already splashed out enough cash on the Regents Park facilities, of which the outfield was below par and resembled a rugby pitch in mid-winter.
Obviously we were disappointed with our below par 131, but still felt optimistic that a difficult batting surface, where the ball just held up a fraction, and our decent bowling line-up might provide us with an outside opportunity. Carter and Burke started resolutely however, impressively keeping the hostile Newkirk and wily Ujjal at bay, though tight fielding also helped to keep the run-rate around 2 per over. After 20 overs Gaieties were around 50-0 when a run out by Woolhouse manifested the first breakthrough, ending the innings of Carter for 43. Newkirk then roughed up Schneider with a bouncer and just managed to topple his bails with the follow-up Yorker, and suddenly Strongroom sensed a wobble. Woolhouse was immediately introduced into the attack, and once again the canny veteran delivered with 4-19, as his sheer will and force of personality made successive breakthroughs which had batsmen hastily padding up on the boundary edge. Tom Higginson helped out Rich with a pair of impressive slip catches, and I followed suite with two controversial dismissals, leaving the texture of the game dramatically altered, with Gaities requiring around 10 runs off the final 3 overs. However, Rufus Thurston [39*] had other ideas, and calmly steered Gaieties through the choppy waters and into the harbour for victory with 7 balls remaining.
What had appeared to be a one-sided encounter resulted in a very competitive game and gripping finale, which had everyone on both teams on their edge. We really look forward to playing them again in 2011.
Written By: J.Gower
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