RCC 2s lose to Old Tennisonians

The Seconds had a disappointing loss against a defensive minded Old Tennisionians team. Electing to field on a hot summer's day Roehampton stuck to their task well and bowled 52 overs in the heat of the day, during which the opposition put 248 runs on the board. Chris Edwards (4 for 82) was the pick of the 2s bowlers sending down deliveries with intelligence and aggression. A quick outfield meant that this was always going to be a high scoring game but RCC hung in there when the going got tough. Unfortunately, it speaks volumes for Old Tennisonians that they used their full complement of overs even with a huge score on the board and removed any sort of contest from the day's cricket.

RCC were left with 43 overs to knock off the runs at nearly 6 an over. The 2s made a great start in the run-chase. Marc Moderegger (47) and Gaurav Patel (56) both hit the ball well at the top of the order. Both dug in and played top innings that they should be proud of. When they were together the chase was definitely on for RCC. Unfortunately, when both got out after a 103 run partnership the middle order were unable to keep up the pace of scoring and wickets began to fall. In the descending night RCC could have easily shut-up shop and played for a tame draw. (Maybe that would have taught O.T. something about batting too long...) It is a credit to the team that they didn't consider just batting out the overs getting a pointless draw and wasting everyone's day. "We have all got lives to lead and families to spend time with - some of us have young children" rather than spending a whole Saturday playing bore-draw cricket. Well done Roehampton for not succumbing to weak pointless defensive cricket.

Old Tennisionians are in the bottom half of the table - not a surprise if this is all they have to offer.

Man of the Match - (And it's great to have him back) Gaurav Patel.
(report by Hemish Gunasekara)