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To The Gents, and in particular to the masterful, nerveless Sanjay Patel, the two league points but to a brave, ten-man Weasel side the plaudits as they very fought like tigers and nearly pulled off a sensational win. Facing a moderate batting total of 136 on a batsman’s paradise of a wicket, a combination of ill-luck, good bowling and rash strokeplay saw The Gents in the mire at 21-4. An excellent Wright/Sanjay stand then brought the visitors to within sight of victory before a tumble of wickets ensured a tense finish, in which The Gents just prevailed.
The trip to King’s College Sports Club, affectionately if with geographical imprecision known across the circuit as Berrylands, is eagerly awaited and it is a pleasure to report that this game was oversubscribed, though Mr. Snelling could not make it, preferring a neighbour’s BBQ, at which, we speculate, no conversational topic from water features to house prices was left unexplored. A healthy looking side was still put out, however, and did well to restrict Weasels, though too many four-balls were bowled, the hosts finding the boundary 17 times to The Gents’ 14. Courtney Perry was the most destructive batter but a good piece of thinking and execution – long-on back with Dhruv bowling – saw his demise, Ryon Derriman taking a brilliant catch off a rocket of a drive. Bishop, the suspiciously named Regnier-Wilson and especially Alexander also impressed, as did Sanjay and Thompson with the ball. NZ Waynie also took an excellent, instinctive low catch at short mid-wicket while gully Justin Norcott had earlier poached Greg Wheldon off a top-edged hook.
After tea, Sanjay promptly incurred the wrath of the cricketing Gods by giving the scorer only positions one to three in the batting order before marching out to perform umpiring duties with Scibo. After a solid opening stand featuring an exquisite Norcott cover-driven boundary, four wickets then fell in a heap, three to the ageless Owen. Thompson chipped a full-toss to mid-on, Norcott was harshly adjudged caught down the leg-side and Dhruv Patel pulled limply to square-leg. Derriman then did the club’s reputation no harm by walking off a thin edge that the umpire did not see or hear and it was backs to the wall time. Jim Wright and the skipper responded bravely, being particularly harsh on Perry and Welling United-fan Gregg Dyer. After Jim fell to the nippy Wheldon, only Scibo of the remaining batsmen batted with confidence as Weasel tails were alert and twitching. But Sanjay displayed a calm maturity, punching the singles into the covers or nudging them to mid-wicket and despatching the loose ball with élan. His seven fours were caressed thorough the off, driven straight and once, off Bishop, glanced subtly. His innings deserved to win the match and it did. The Weasels were excellent company and they creditably, if perhaps sacrificially, declined the offer of an eleventh man from Gent ranks. |
