RCC 2s beat Chaldon by 2 wickets

In these times of political and economic woe, turmoil in the markets and social unrest within Europe’s borders, a pleasant day of cricket is what is required to ease the mind and take solace in the certainties of life. Unfortunately, this is Roehampton where an ‘easy’ win is never straightforward and heart palpitations are part of the remit.

The 2s bowled and fielded well to reduce Chaldon to a below par score of 88 in 31.4 overs. Both Ross Cameron (5 for 38) and Paul Matthews (5 for 43) bowled unchanged; regularly picking up wickets and rest breaks, due to the rain showers that brought the teams and the covers on and off the field. It was impossible to wrest the ball away from either bowler. When playing together, they are turning into a formidable partnership at this level. Cameron and Matthews were supported brilliantly by their fielders who barely put a foot wrong. The team put together a decent display in the field with some stonking catches close to the bat as well as in the outfield. Step forward Dave Allen (two screamers in the covers when the balls were past him), Geet Kumaran (a low sharp chance at slip), Mark Boag (a ball that died on him and took an eternity to nestle into the gloves) and Pete Dandy (moving smartly in the outfield to run round to a skier). After a fine performance with the ball RCC went to tea a little over-confident with 20 points seemingly in the bag.

All the good work in the first session was very nearly undone. The tone was set by some diabolical running between the wickets by the skipper - It never looks good when both batsmen finish up at one end! What followed was a bit of a procession and a return to early season inconsistency in the batting order. RCC knew that a single steady partnership would be enough to see the team home but a spirited Chaldon side kept picking up wickets with their combinations of unorthodox spin bowling. In fact, the Chaldon ‘spin doctor’ as his emblazoned shoulder blades announced, was soon causing all sorts of irregular heartbeats and stomach pains (and that was just the skipper resigned to watching from the square-leg umpiring position). Only two Roehampton batsmen got to grips with the spin attack and both in totally different ways. Geet Kumaran (21) put the bad ball away very well over the leg side and played the good balls with a straight bat. When he was out, Joe Purnell (28 not out) took up the reins and blasted the ball through the off side and met Chaldon’s enthusiastic fielders and bowlers head-on.

Purnell took the game by the horns and wrestled control from the growing domination of the opposition. He showed a maturity beyond his years in a very tight and pressure filled situation. As both teams pushed hard for the win, a minor diplomatic incident was narrowly avoided when a misalignment of views ensued over a particular delivery. The umpire stood firm and the ‘spin doctor’ proved to be less Alistair Campbell and more Jose Manuel Barroso. To his credit, Purnell kept his head when all about were losing theirs (didn’t someone say something about that?) and guided RCC home with a match-winning innings.

Well done the 2s. Excellent bowling, fielding and a great spirit in the team ultimately gained an important 20 points to add to the total. The table shows us still hanging on in there and with power to add. Effingham next week...

A great deal of thanks also goes out to Stephen Kent who had an excellent game as umpire.

Man of the match: J. Purnell.
(report by Hemish Gunasekara)