Clinical 2s record first win of season at Claygate

Words: Josh Willmott

Whilst it’s been a somewhat truncated season in 2020, it’s also felt like an incredibly long season already, which made the 2s first victory of the year against Claygate on Saturday all the sweeter.

After making the short trip down the A3 to face Claygate, skipper Josh finally won a toss to the sweet relief of the bowlers and elected to bat. In pleasant surroundings and with the added Englishness of two splendid trees within the boundary, Sacha and Saqib strode to the crease looking to set up the 2s for a good score. Both scored steadily against the opening bowlers, and despite both batsman getting multiple lives, they looked comfortable and well set for big scores. Saqib eventually fell for a well constructed 39, bringing birthday boy Joe Purnell to the crease. It turned out this wasn’t going to be the big boy birthday score he’d been hoping for, dismissed plumb LBW without scoring.
Rossco made his way to the crease in place of Joe, having just returned from a dash round Europe to avoid any quarantine restrictions. However when Umer decided Ross was also out LBW despite a significant stride and a limited appeal from the opposition, it was assumed that Ross would rather be back in the South of France, or maybe at home quarantining instead. (The apology on the RCC WhatsApp group was impressive though! - Ed.) Having been 82-0 and looking well set for a big total, the 2s found themselves at 99-3 and looking like they might fall short against some disciplined Claygate bowling.

Josh came to the crease to join Sacha, who by now was in full flow peppering the leg side boundary (the opposition suggested he only had one shot, turns out if you bowl at Sacha’s legs he probably will continue to hit you to the leg side, who knew?) and they set about rebuilding the innings. Sacha flaying the ball to the leg side boundaries, Josh in slightly less flamboyant style hammering the third man boundary. Sacha cruised past yet another 50 for the club, negating some of the tricky bounce from the wicket well. Josh fell for 30ish with the score having just passed 200, before Sacha soon brought up yet another excellent hundred, going on to carry his bat and finish the innings with an unbeaten 123. Vikash and Stu came and went quite quickly, Stu clearly disappointed to have to bat aggressively and therefore not being able to bag another red inker to boost his average, although he will no doubt have been cheered up by the excellent footage captured by Joe of his dismissal, fending off a slow back of a length ball like he was facing Dennis Lillee on a flier at the Gabba. It definitely wasn’t. (Make sure you mention this clip to Stu when you next see him, he's very keen to discuss it. At length. Ed.) Yas joined Sacha for the final slog, with the 2s finishing on an excellent 245-6 from their 40 overs.

More samosas and fruit (this week plums!) appeared from Umer, which went down very well, before the 2s took to the field. Umer, clearly fuelled up by all of his samosas tore into the Claygate top order, picking up an excellent 5fer in his first 5 overs. Well supported with good catches in the field, the 2s were looking every inch a team intent on a clinical win. Surinder bowled a tight 8 overs, not getting a wicket but beating the bat regularly, before Vikash came on and got a well deserved 4 wickets with some probing bowling.
The pitch by this stage was incredibly difficult to bat on, with balls from all bowlers misbehaving making batting difficult for the opposition batsman. Some good hitting from the Claygate lower and middle order took the score past 100, but with the game already in the bag with the opposition 9 down, the skipper made the fateful decision to give in to Joe’s harassment to give him a bowl, and decided as a birthday treat he could have an over or two. After the one over, it was decided that it would definitely just be a 1 over spell, having been hammered for a couple of 4s and injured his hand stopping another one that was hammered back at him. Happy birthday indeed Purnell du Jour. Vikash finished the innings off, with the 2s winning by 131 runs.

MOTM goes to Sacha for not only scoring an unbeaten 100, but also managing to bat 40 overs without both of his hamstrings exploding.