London New Zealand

Match Report

With Torry Hill looking glorious in the mid-summer sunshine, the Stragglers welcomed London New Zealand for a second year.  Winning the toss, one of the few positive outcomes, the Straggs struggled to gain momentum in the opening overs and this proved to be the difference between the sides – after 20 overs the Straggs were 73 for 2, while at the same stage in the chase London NZ were 173 for 2!  Archie Brown blocked the tight early bowling with considerable care, when he was undone by the opening bowler, who sent down a series of balls, which moved away from the bat – Archie had them covered – and then sent one which went the other way to find a gap.  At the other end Hector Hulme (20) was also defending stoutly with the occasional strike back over the bowler’s head before dropping one into the waiting hands at long-off.  Will Hilton, now joined by Freddie Evans, began with uncommon circumspection before the drinks break.  The break seemed to do the trick, and the rate began to accelerate, particularly when Toby came in at the demise of Will (54). With the rate accelerating nicely, Freddie (45) failed to make his ground due to the shoes he had found at the back of the pavilion.  Seeing double from a heavy night, Toby was picking the right balls to hit and charging towards his ton, only to fall just short, caught on the fence on 95.  The lower order fell away cheaply but managed to reach what was deemed a competitive total of 235 for 9.

Under the impression that he was a left arm quick, Tom Copestake was asked to open the bowling. Much to our surprise, he was in fact a left arm orthodox. It seemed to work with him striking early and getting our hopes of a repeat of last year well and truly up, particularly with two more wickets falling cheaply. That hope was short lived. We got absolutely taken to by Vaughan Robertson, who blitzed a quickfire 68 and took the game away from us, whilst the other LNZ opening batsman was steadily ticking things over from the other end, before retiring hurt. The Straggler total was chased with 9 overs to spare for the loss of 6 wicekts, very much due to the incredible partnership of Robertson and Maroof.  However, 41 extras and most of the bowlers going at more than 10 an over didn’t help hugely.

The highlight however, as it was last year as well, was a few well-earned pints with both teams at ‘The Chequers’. Something we don’t do often enough with our opponents nearly enough – must be a Kiwi thing!