Old Ruthlishians V Catford Cyphers
Cavaliers Secure Spectacular Victory
Cavaliers 164-5 declared
The omens were not good for the match against Old Rutlishians 4th XI on Saturday August 16. Traffic in Catford delayed departure. Traffic along the A24 caused further delays and roadworks led to half the team getting lost. So despite winning the toss Catford had to take the honourable course of action and bat on a very green pitch while the rest of the team were guided in on the telephone. Stand-in opener Chris Wright was out caught hooking a full toss in the second over; Rajakumar was dropped in the slips and Chris Atkinson was bowled (twice) off no-balls. These let-offs led to a study in application and slowly a partnership of some substance was put together. As the rest of the team finally arrived the partnership finally was ended when Rajakumar was finally caught for 30 with the score on 66. Milind (10) and then Bal kept Atkinson company until he was finally bowled round the legs off a legal ball for a hard-won 35. Bal was then joined by Amit Patel who put together a fast scoring partnership, with Bal finishing on 39 not out and Amit on 18 not out when the innings was declared at 164 for 5. After the early scares it was a well-paced innings and demonstrated the increasing maturity of this Cavaliers side.
Old Ruts clearly felt the score was achievable—they had scored 187-1 in reply to the Bank of England in the previous week—and for the most part looked to play shots. But Rajakumar struck on the fifth ball to remove their star batsman Waterman caught by Patel behind the stumps for 0 and the Cavaliers didn’t let their foot off the pedal. After the first 10 overs Rajakumar (2-11) and Bal (1-11—Bal’s wicket courtesy of a good catch by Bobbi at cover point) had seen that Old Ruts had slumped to 24-3 and Coles (6-18) and Gibbins (1-21) only doubled the pressure with accurate slow bowling. Milind took three catches—the first off a full-blooded drive—at silly mid-off to contribute to Coles’ six-wicket haul while Gibbins was tremendously unlucky to take only one wicket, his leg spin totally bamboozling the batsmen.