Hurlingham

Match Report

On a beautiful early summer evening in west London, the Stragglers and Hurlingham came together for a game, which seemed ultimately determined by the first five overs of each innings. Hurlingham were on 56 without loss, poised for a huge total, while the Stragglers managed a much more circumspect 15 for 1. Indeed, Hurlingham had begun even more smartly, with the rate approaching 14 in the opening salvo. The only saving grace was some excellent fielding, notably Harry Churchill and Will Fenwick racing round short boundaries. Pace off was the order of the day, and the Chairman, under strict medical supervision for his first outing of 2025, was introduced to remove any semblance of pace, and promptly bowled three wides. However, when the radar had been nudged into some sort of order, the absence of pace proved too much for the opener, who had spent most of the first few overs as a spectator, and he launched a widish ball straight to Angus Balfour ten yards in from the long on boundary – 68 for 1. At the other end, Alex Reese dragged the run rate back still further and unleashed the flipper (known as the Mohammad ball after Corfu) to send another batsman back to the pavilion – 85 for 2. Opener, Hendricks Robyns (74*) was still there, however, and was just beginning to put the pressure back on, when Will Falcon was introduced. Pace now did the trick with a miscue well held by skipper, Charlie Munton running in hard from long off. A final flurry of runs was brought to a conclusive end, as Will (2 for 26) scattered the stumps. The Straggs were well satisfied, having restricted Hurlingham to 163 for 4 after such an electric start.

Hurlingham had selected some quality bowling, and openers George BW and James Grant did well not to find an injudicious edge. George was just finding the middle of the bat, when he called for a second, only to be somewhat surprised to find the finger raised by the square leg umpire. Harry Pattinson (40) joined James and began to find the boundary and generate some impetus to the chase. He struggled to hang on to partners, however, with James, Will Fenwick and Jasper all falling for single figures, 61 for 4 in the 11th. Charlie (12) and then Will Falcon (25) added some urgency, but wickets kept falling, the target just tantalisingly out of reach. The final pair of Alex and Nick Wright were left just too much to do (32 from 11 balls), even with some generosity by the bowlers with five wides more than once towards the end. Alex and Nick remained undefeated, the Stragglers 16 short and a first defeat in 2025.