1s Fall At Home to Sheen

Words: Badger Ewins

Still coming down from the high of their comprehensive win over Teddington Town a week before, the Ones gathered on the Heath for their first home game in the 2020 League. After a mix up over which wicket to use and much fine tuning of the sight screens, the captains strolled out to the middle for the toss and, after an uncharacteristic win for Dharmesh, he decided to mercilessly force the Sheen Park attack into the 31° frying pan that was Putney Heath.
JP and Sticky took to the crease and batted solidly for the first 10 overs although it became clear that runs were going to come slowly partly due to some high-quality stops in the field. After the two wickets of Sticky and Saqib fell for 20 and 0 respectively, Max came to the middle and formed a (slow and) steady partnership with the ever-reliable JP, who found a rival in the Sheen Park attack in the form of a fast bowler who, among other things, appeared to be running in from the boundary flags (a fact which JP duly informed him of). An entertaining battle ensued as Max and JP took the Ones from 52-2 to 130-3, the partnership was sadly ended when JP was dismissed by a ball which he helped to short cover after its second bounce, nonetheless his 64 runs were very well earned and as classy as ever.
However, by the last 10 overs the innings the impact of the slow rate of the top order was becoming clear and, in an act of pure selflessness, Joe Purnell demoted himself to 6 in favour of Mo who hit a quick 19 before being caught out. Joe then stepped out to bat and after adding 8 to the scoreboard was dismissed in the 40th over by what some might call a jammy catch at mid-off. Max then saw off the rest of the over giving the bowler a wicket maiden and leaving the crease on 53 not out off a rather larger number of balls. This left the Ones on a slightly under-par 181 from their 40 overs however, on the condition of a good bowling performance, the game could still be in the balance.

After a quick (tealess) turnaround the Ones took to the field and, following an invigorating talk from Max, felt ready to take on Sheen’s batsmen. This positivity was somewhat lessened though after Mo bowled the first ball of the innings and was heaved over the short boundary for six. But after this hiccup, Mo returned to his usual pinpoint lines and claimed the wickets of both openers and the number three leaving Sheen Park reeling, things were looking even more on Roehampton’s side when JP claimed the wicket of the Sheen number four when he dragged a ball at shoulder height onto the stumps in a dismissal which the word ‘village’ doesn’t quite cover.
Unfortunately, RCC’s luck seemed to run dry after this as the new batsman settled at the crease and, after a few reckless shots, relaxed into a controlled innings. However, when Max came in to bowl, he consistently sent the ball flying past the batsmen’s edge and was very unlucky not to pick up any wickets, although his economy of 2.88 off eight overs brought the game back from the brink, for a while at least. This left the Ones needing to defend 40 runs off of the last 10 overs of the game. The Sheen batsmen played calmly and patiently until the 34th over when poor decision making caused a shambolic run out and some controversy as the Sheen batsmen kindly demonstrated that they could be just as cranky as us. Nonetheless, they pushed on and reached the target of 182 with just over four overs to spare.

Despite the loss there are many positives to take from the game, JP and Max’s 50s were hard earned and Mo showed his quality with that ball once again, however the disparity of fielding between the two sides proved to be a key difference. Although, the team, somehow, managed to stay motivated despite the sweltering heat of the day. A special mention must also go to Barry who, some might unnaturally, spent all 80 overs in blazing sun and seemed completely unfazed. Nevertheless, the Ones can look forward to playing Shepperton next week and will hopefully be able to produce a better result.