Strollers cement easy win over Bricklayers
posted: June 2, 2014

The Strollers continued the season with a match at home against the Bricklayers Arms. The team borrowing heavily from friends and rivals the Beamers fielded a strong looking 11 on a gloriously warm early summer's day at North London.

The Strollers won the toss with Matt deciding to bat first on what looked like a decent pitch for stroke making. With the free scoring Kyle playing well at one end, the Strollers soon came unstuck at the other. First Toby (on loan from the Beamers) was bowled by the impressive Ottley for 1, shortly to be followed by Matt falling for 7 leaving the Strollers 39 for 2 and in danger of not making the most of the decent conditions.

Ron steadied the ship with an assured 23 and with Kyle put together a 90 run partnership for the 3rd wicket. Serene progress was soon interrupted however with 3 quick wickets. Ron fell to a tight run out, followed by new comer Jim who missed one that nipped back of the seam from Laing and was bowled for 0. When Kyle perished for 70 caught off a top edge going for an expansive drive the Strollers were looking in trouble at 134-5.

However, Viral and David were soon on the counterattack set about the bowling with some good clean hitting and put on a brutal 86 in just 8 overs. Both looked to be in excellent form and were able to find and clear the boundary at will. When Couldrey eventually fell for 30 to bring Pittman senior to the crease the Strollers were on course for a decent if not spectacular total. Pittman didn’t look to waste time but was caught for 5 going for a big hit.

In at number 9 was Harvey who continued with Viral to dominate the opposition bowling bringing up a 50 partnership within the last 5 overs to take the total up towards 300. Both remained unbeaten with Viral the star of the show with 69 and Harvey 37 not out.

The Bricklayers came to the crease requiring in excess 8 an over and struggled from the off to get the accurate Boughey and Pittman Snr away. The pattern of the game continued with more tight bowling from the Viral and Wood pushing the required rate up above 10 an over. With the half way drinks approaching Tasmin attempted to break the Strollers shackles but was clean bowled for 23 by a late swinging ball from Viral. This bought the dangerous Fred to the crease who immediately showed his intent and skill with a number of lusty blows down the ground. At the other end the increasingly fast scoring Bunn was getting into the action, having by now passed his fifty. These 2 saw the Bricklayers arms starting to mount a serious challenge to the Strollers target.

However the Bricklayers challenge soon faded when both players were gone in consecutive overs. Fred perished first attempting to hit a Harvey full toss out of the ground only to be caught in the deep by Viral. The next over saw the fall of Bunn who was pinned in front by the left arm spin of Banerjee. This ended the match as a contest with the remaining batsmen unable to meet the ever increasing run rate.

A late wicket for Pittman and a run out left the Bricklayers Arms 195-6 at the close giving the Strollers a comfortable win of 98 runs. A very impressive victory for the Strollers against a decent opposition and provides a good confidence boost ahead of the upcoming 3 games in a week.

Tom Harvey
02.06.14

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