Report by Daniel Mortlock:
Two thirds of the way through the season and we have just one official league win to show for our troubles, as opposed to eight losses. Sounds pretty grim, and even moreso given that our opponents today, Dullingham, were almost as close to the top of the league table as we were to the bottom. But there are lies, damned lies and statistics, and in this case our 1-8 record is very much in the latter category: natural justice on June 16 and June 30 would already have us at 3-6; and if we could recoup our moral investment in the greater good last week we'd been on the verge of respectability at 3-5. Which is all well and good, but from Dullingham's point of view they're in a two-team race for the league title and were up against the wooden spooners today, with home advantage to boot - not knowing any of the above details, one imagines them checking the league table and preparing for an easy win.
One look at the ground - bone dry and bumpy, like every other ground after two months without rain - and it was at least clear what to do upon winning the toss: bat first, with the plan of racking up a huge total and exhausting the opposition. Certainly that seeemed to be the Dullingham captain's perspective, and his players were as pleased to see him miming expansive drives post-toss as ours were disappointed to see Daniel Mortlock pretending to bowl.
But that all changed when Daniel bowled for real, as from the first over the pitch revealed itself to be a pretty nasty piece of work (apparently due to watering during the week), with balls rearing off a length - or, really anywhere - with the occasional delivery shooting through for good measure. The message was simple: get the ball on line and let the pitch do the work for you. And when we did that we prospered: Daniel (2/25) got one to keep low and was awarded an LBW (a decision that can't have been hindered by our team-level policy of not appealing moronically any time the ball hits the pad); Adi Vaidayanathan (2/9) struck in his first over when Richard Rex held a nice catch at second slip; and then Ferdi Rex (3/29) also struck in his first over after Daniel instructed him to ditch the usually useful over-spin and push it through flat to avoid a "tee ball" situation induced by the near vertical bounce.
Still, for all this good work, Dullingham were on 69/3 in the 18th over and had been scoring at a run a ball for the last few of those overs, so much as it was difficult to bat, it didn't seem to be difficult enough, at least for our liking. In particular, A. "Fred" Ahmed had repeatedly had us foraging for his hard-hit balls in the undegrowth on his way to 22* off 18 balls - any more of this and we'd definitely be behind in the game. At this point we reluctantly put another fielder, Martin Prowse, on the boundary . . . and the very next ball Fred smashed the ball in his direction, where he calmly made good ground in and then watched the ball all the way into hands, to make an absolutely critical contribution in his first Romsey appearance.
And with that we'd broken the back of the Dullingham innings, as wickets fell at the rate of one every 10 balls thereafter. Huw Davies (2/22) overcame a severe case of wide-itis to earn himself a fourth over by arranging to be on a hat trick at the end of his third. His first wicket was a face-preserving return catch; his second followed a rather simpler chance to Cam at short cover; and his hat-trick ball . . . was another leg-side wide. Then Stephan van Eeden came back beautifully to dismiss the most dangerous remaining batsman, when Adi took a well-judged catch at mid-on; and then Adi himself finished the innings off by the simple virtue of bowling at the stumps.
The resultant target of 119 to win should of course been hopelessly low - even in a twenty/20 match it would be sub-par at our level - but we knew that Dullingham had some excellent bowlers, and of course had seen the way the pitch had misbehaved in the first innings. And, sure enouugh, Cam Petrie (11 off 21 balls) and Richard Rex (5 off 17 balls) both perished quickly enough to keep Dullingham more interested than we'd have liked. But we then got the key partnership of the match as Martin Prowse (22 off 65 balls) and Ferdi Rex (42* off 60 balls) correctly opted for a block-block-nurdle (possibly sung to the tune of 'We Will Rock You') approach to batting that was as unappealing to watch as it was the correct policy. They took us to a solid 78/2 in the 27th over . . .
. . . at which point we promptly lost 3 wickets for 0 runs in 7 rather chastening deliveries. For the first time in an hour Dullingham were excited; and, with the fielders crowded around the bat and the pressure suddenly on us, it's no surprise that we went close to losing a few more wickets. Fortunately, Ferdi kept his head, batting just as he had previously, while Stephan van Eeden (26* off 14 balls) predictably batted in "the only way he knows how". That meant big drives, several of which only just cleared the heads of fielders, and he hit 5 boundaries - a total equalled only by Ferdi on either side - in his brief stay. We hence romped home with the best part of 10 overs to spare - we scored at exactly the same rate as Dullingham, but had lost half as many wickets. and that meant just about everyone had time to head down to the local pub.