The grand old men of Strongroom
Tipton St.John, Devon, 6/4/2011
Strongroom won by 108 runs
Strongroom: 193-7 [R.Woolhouse 65]
Tipton St.John: 63 [M.Mellor 4-4]
View the Scorecard
Strongroom has recruited a few (relatively) younger players in the last few years, but this match saw key performances from the old brigade. First up, Rich Woolhouse. He arrived direct from London on Saturday morning, tucked into three pre-match pints and duly slotted into a typically effective (rather than pretty) innings. Though he did forget his box. And his thigh pad. Rich drove the opposition mad with a mixture of smears, backing-aways, heavy breathing on the singles etc, but mixed this with some well-balanced lofted drives and searing square-of-the-wicket shots. A first Strongroom tour ton was probably on the cards but not realized largely due to a love of the aerial route and a touch of unfitness. Tipton’s bowling was a mixed affair on a slightly tricky track, but they bowled us out. Bugler (3-16) was the pick of their attack, his natural height and consistent length succeeded in taming a number of our batsmen. There were plenty of bowleds and caught-behinds, testament to the ball sticking and/or keeping low and some injudicious shot selection. Dave G (33) and Rich (65) eeked out a substantial partnership (76) and steadied the ship after Jimmy and Tom departed in quick succession. Tom in particular was unlucky in falling to a marginal bat-pad lbw decision, first ball, fresh off the train from London! Jon never quite got going. Mark launched some mighty hits but fell to a scuttler. Ujjal played the best of the lower order knocks, with some deft late cuts, nimble footwork and sensible pushing of singles. Strongroom felt that 171 was short of where they wanted to be, though some of the batters who stayed in long enough knew that the track wasn’t easy and thought we stood a good chance if we bowled well.
Tipton claim the best cricket teas in Devon and this was a very good spread (though perhaps not as good as Sidmouth the next day). A touring team loves to see the clotted cream.
Jon pulled a master stroke in opening the bowling with Mellor/Orme and they bowled fantastically and were backed up by very good fielding (my dropped catch off Jon perhaps the only blemish). Tipton simply never got going and lost wickets early as well as being unable to elevate their run rate. Mellor’s 4-4 off 8 overs was a classic and he was backed up well by Andy with Jimmy putting in a very tidy display standing up to him. It was simple from Strongroom, with no bowling (and barely a field) change for the first 16 overs, while everyone maintained an impressive intensity. Feisty vocal support from the boundary in the form of Patel-Proctor also kept us going. Skipper Jon looked in good rhythm for his first bowl of the season. Ujjal was again mixed as he struggled to control the movement and went in search of wickets, but he did bowl several testing deliveries with Sgt. Orme bellowing “line, line, line” in his ears. Tom Henderson had his first bowl for Strongroom (and first for about 7 years) and confirmed our suspicions that he could probably bowl handily as he delivered some delightfully flighted and accurate off spin. Chris West rolled out a couple of steady overs. Rich snaffled a couple of slip catches. And it was all over. Tipton were very disappointed with their batting, but it was a bit difficult for us to judge the extent to which we over-achieved with the ball (and under-achieved with the bat). A couple of Strongroomers seemed disappointed at the lack of a close game, but others reminded that we were bowled out, could have been bowled out more cheaply, and instead rightly pointed out that we should revel in the superb bowling/fielding display.
Written By: D.Gower
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