Strollers stun beaten Butlers
posted: September 1, 2014

The first sight of the renascent Butlers XI to the Strollers who gathered at Ferme Park on the final day of August was somewhat disconcerting: they all looked a bit young. The second sight was no more consoling: they all looked distressingly athletic and able as well.

Yet, on a Ferme Park already bearing the first fallen silver birch leaves of the autumn, always, to this writer, a harbinger of the change in seasons, the Strollers pulled off a mighty win by 110 runs. It is difficult to recall a day on which we have bowled or fielded better.

On a bare pitch, almost completely devoid of grass, Matt won the toss and elected to bat. That we were dealing with a top quality side was soon evident. In the first over, the ball flew down to fine leg when Reynolds, the other opener was stationed, and proceeded to go through his legs for four runs. Standard stuff you might think, but there was much disgruntled muttering and irritated comments from the rest of the field followed by profuse apologies from fine leg. This lot were clearly a bit different.

And the Strollers innings stuttered accordingly. George was out third ball of the day to a very good one from Howell, tearing down the hill, while the tall Reynolds, the offending fielder from the first over, quickly attained an almost McGrath like metronomic accuracy just back of a length on or outside off stump.

Scoring runs was not easy and it boded ill when Spencer, having played and missed at Howell a few times, edged to first slip where the catch was safely pouched. Out-swingers, edges, a slip catch? Yep, for a while a proper cricket match broke out.  Matt didn’t trouble the scorers after the miserly Reynolds clipped his off stump, and then Davey, after manfully battled out the first 14 overs against top quality bowling, top edged the second ball sent down by first change Weymes, a leggie. It was a thigh high full toss at which David launched himself and it went many a mile high into the heavens. It was a brute of a skier but there was never any danger of it being dropped by one from this outfit and it was held safely by Rowling at midwicket.

Four down for not very many and at drinks, at the 18th over, we had amassed only some 60 runs for the loss of four wickets. Ron played himself studiously for one ball before launching the next one high into the trees at the bottom end of Ferme Park for a much-needed six. The innings began to stabilise a little but it still looked rocky when Ron was caught out at short midwicket (another sharp catch).
On previous occasions, the Strollers might have folded like a pack of cards at this juncture. But we’re made of sterner stuff these days, and, on this day, we batted deep. Viral Doshi is a pretty handy bat to come in at seven, and like another number seven from England’s line up of many years ago (one IT Botham), he has the capacity to utterly transform an innings.

He joined Tim at the crease, and, between them, these two lifted the score from one of not quite respectability to one that was defendable. Both played extremely well, the bowling perhaps diminished in quality and accuracy a little and, in the last ten overs particularly, the score went up very quickly. Some 95 runs were scored off the remaining ten, with, in one over, Viral hitting Weymes back over his head into the tennis courts twice in rapid succession. 

With the partnership worth close to 100 runs, Tim got to his fifty and departed shortly thereafter. The remaining four bats didn’t amass many more themselves but they stayed with Viral long enough  for the Strollers total to go beyond 200 – a landmark which had appeared a very long way off some 90 minutes before. The Butlers were beginning to look a teeny bit ragged at this point. The confident jocularity of earlier in the day had been replaced with a degree of tetchiness and there was some double tea-potting going on. The last ball of the day involved two overthrows, which required Simon to leg it down rapidly to one end, hurtle past the stumps at the non-striker’s end by some additional 20 yards as the momentum carried the old feller forwards, turn round and do the same thing at the other end only to find Viral had called for a further run and yet another taxing about-face was required. The third run proved too much.

After another North London repast which had retreated even further from the traditional and much loved staples of the English cricket tea, the Butlers innings started. From the outset, the bowling was very tight. Simon had a very good shout for LBW in his first over (very, very close – even the bloody non-striker said it was out — Ed) while Abi passed the edge a number of times. These two guys could clearly bat, but there was nothing to hit. The first eight overs went for only 30 runs, and when Viral and Spencer took over, there was no relaxation. In one of Viral’s first overs, he beat the bat outside the off stump five times and the sixth ball was another very good shout for LBW. Several overs of dot balls only accumulated; and the dam broke. Spencer trapped opener Rowling in front for an LBW so palpably plumb it couldn’t be ignored, and then, in the next over removed Court and Bullen in successive balls, spinning the ball back into the right handers.

In the next over Viral got a richly deserved wicket as Nicholson missed a straight one, and the Butlers were four wickets down for not many.  In fact, at the drinks interval, the score was very similar to what ours beenand Howell had signified his intent with several crushing shots. It was still very much gamebut we did not wilt under the pressure. If anything, the Strollers upped the pressure and the fielding, which, to be fair, has not been our forte in years past, was excellent. There were no cheap runs anywhere.

The crucial blow fell in the 20th over, when Davey, suddenly looking lithe and youthful rather hungover and bollocksed, moved very smartly to stump Howell to give Spencer his richly deserved fourth wicket. He seemed to have the ball on a string and the Butlers batters were clearly mesmerised. The fielding side had that comfortable feeling of being well on top, and we circled the batsmen like hungry sharks.

The rest of the wickets fell in a clump. There was another stumping for David off Ron, playing in his last game in Strollers colours before departing to be our man in Washington, while the lads Jamie and Josh polished off the final wickets. Jamie, in fact, bowled opener Low who almost carried his bat throughout the carnage, whereupon Jamie contrived to look winningly self-conscious.

This was a great win, one of the best of this season and of any season. The Butlers lot are a good, good side, and are also, it should be said, a very good set of blokes who stayed with us for beers in the pavilion. We recovered from early losses with resolution and skill, and then proceeded to bowl and field to build pressure. Like a real cricket team in fact. Remarkable.

Simon Boughey
03.09.14

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