July 4th - this was our Independence Day
...the day that the Pimlico Strollers broke free from the shackles of “We only ever win the first game of the season”; the day that we turned up with 12 (yes, twelve) men good and true; the day that we bowled an off-stump line to tight fields; the day that we bowled the opposition out for the first time in two years; the day that we batted sensibly to win the game; the day K***** S**** collected his 80-1 gamble on Greece in Euro 2004 (beers on K***** next game, I think).

The game didn’t start too promisingly. The shirty guy who runs North Middlesex was getting shirty, wondering where everybody was and when the game was going to start (he should try being Strollers captain…). The team lacked direction, not for the first time this season (“I’m running late”; “I’m driving up and down, can’t find it”; “I’ve left my spikes at home”; “Sorry I’m late” (this last one copyright Bruce Marcus, 1989-).

Things looked brighter when it became clear the opposition were more to our liking; a collection of the veteran and the junior, the Strollers sensed a potential win in the offing.

Which is more than Horwood sensed as he walked to the middle with the opposition captain. Of course the Gardeners’ skipper called tails; of course it landed tails. Horwood’s record as the most appalling tosser in Strollers’ history grows and grows, the tally for this season now standing at 0 for 6.

Gardeners chose to bat first. The outfield was thankfully long (oh, how we didn’t miss Ferme Park), the track looked a good, dry one to bat on. The wind blew across the outfield as it always does at North Middlesex, in the direction of the slope. It would be challenging to keep the ball on a line and a length for the bowlers.

But K***** S**** and Jeremy Gillies did just that. Although wind and slope were forcing S**** towards the leg side, he kept a disciplined off stump line. With his natural away drift, Gillies struggled at first to persuade himself to bowl a leg side line; when he started the ball on the off stump, drift, slope and wind conspired to put the ball three feet or more outside the line.

But the tight bowling allowed the skipper to set tight fields. For most of the first 15 or so overs of the innings, Strollers kept a 7-2 offside field. And it worked. Runs were relatively hard to come by. And then the breakthrough, the frustration causing the oppo opener to try to drive a drifting ball from Gillies, but hitting hard and straight to debutant Simon Boughey, who took a sharp catch at cover.

Gillies was now bowling the right line – which, when it left his hand, was about a foot outside leg stump. He used the wind to great effect for the next wicket, a high full toss which the other opener tried to swing to leg, missed the swing, and heard the death rattle. Two down soon became three when, after a few hefty blows, their number four skied one to the gully cordon, where Richardson skillfully parried it to an alert Roughan to pouch the catch (that’s the Strollers beach volleyball team sorted…). Gillies had his three for, which was rather more enjoyable than his 0 for 33 off one over a few weeks earlier.

S**** had little luck and was replaced in the attack by Holmes, who kept the batsman in check with his steady line and length. At the other end, none other than Count Indigo himself, Bruce Marcus, joined the attack, and soon they were four down, Indigo producing the ball of the day which turned the batsman round and bowled him middle stump for a top scoring 29.

At this stage Gardeners were 73 for 4 and Strollers were looking to keep the total to less than 130.

Holmes was trying every variation to take a wicket: off spin, quicker ball, leg spin, long hop, rank full toss – but, after a word from the skipper, the decision to concentrate on line, length and the odd quicker ball brought its rewards, Holmes eventually taking a deserved 3 for 22 off his 7 overs.

Boughey came into the attack and kept the length and line, while Horwood came on to bowl as one Dickie Betts – yes, THAT Dickie Betts, a late arrival from Wales and therefore seconded onto a short-handed opposition – came out to bat. A few blows from Betts and his new best friend at the other end took the total to 100 and beyond, but wickets from Horwood and Poole (the latter bowling to a 10-year-old, oh how George Brown would have loved it) finished the innings after just 28.3 overs.

The target was 126 off 35 overs. Glyn Williams, returning to the Strollers’ fold after five years’ absence, had admirably donned the gloves rather than bowl his breakneck (ie: beamer, rather than speed) deliveries, but opened the batting with Al Whyte, playing his first game since Chippenham 2003.

Williams showed an array of attacking shots which had had rarely been seen in his halcyon Stroller days; Whyte showed one attacking shot, a swing and miss of the bat in the general direction of the ball, plus an amazing ability to hang the bat out to dry outside off stump and not actually get a nick.

Whyte departed for three, then Williams dominated a partnership with an out-of-sorts Poole before aiming an awful hoick over cow corner and being bowled off his legs for a top-scoring 43. Richardson added a few lusty blows as Poole found a semblance of form, and the boundaries kept the scoreboard ticking over – which is more than can be said for the running between the wickets, which was frankly appalling as single after single went begging.

Scoring at over four an over, the Strollers needed just 10 to win off the last ten overs. An early finish, a couple of beers and then back in time for the footie seemed certain.

But this is the Strollers. And Richardson and Poole completely lost the ability to score runs. From 115 for 2 off 25, we became 119 for 2 off 29. Then 119 for 3 (Poole for 33). And the clouds loomed large and black overhead, the shirty bloke having said shirtily that at the first drop of rain, we had to come straight in. Then Richardson was dismissed for 29.

Fortunately Roughan was at the crease, and for the second time this season he hit the winning runs (2 out of 2) to give Strollers a six wicket victory and a return to winning ways.

So the record for the season reads: played six, won two, drawn two (both rain affected no results) and lost two.

The season is in the balance. Support your Strollers in the weeks to come, and we could yet have a winning season.

Oh, the optimism that a single victory against weak opposition can bring!

Clive Horwood
05.07.04

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