Street End

Match Report

After two cancelled games either side of the wonderfully enjoyable 70th Anniversary dinner, Stragglers gathering at Street End were keen to get into the middle, even with a (very) damp patch on a length at one end, the result of a leaky cover. Match Manager, Ed Prest chose to send the batters into deal with some variable pace off the wicket; the bounce was remarkably even in spite of the damp. Jasper (27) took out some early frustration with a monster 6 back over the bowler’s head, and then set off on a charge. When he was out in the 7th over, falling into a neatly laid trap, the score was 32 for 2, and soon for 3. Al (56) and Ben (40) lead the counter attack, reaching 100 in the 17th over, but both fell in short order, along with a misfiring lower middle order – at 134 for 7 the Straggler tail needed to come to the fore. In this season of the bat, the Straggler tail has not had much to do, but cometh the hour, the tail duly wagged. It helped, of course, having a batter, George Martin (45), at 8 to marshal the final ten overs, but George was well enough supported by Will Sackett (11) and Ed (12) not to need to farm the strike. A couple of hard return catches were needed to disrupt the flow, and the innings closed on 207, perhaps a little more than expected, when wickets were tumbling in the middle overs.

Ed (radar on) and George opened, were tight, but could not break through. Seb Leggett and the Chairman were more expensive, and with the opening batters now cruising along 6 an over, the chase was on. Seb finally earned an lbw (and was immediately taken off); Ed turned to the spin attack of Archie and Theo. Suddenly, catches went to hand, and, more importantly, were held. Will Attwood, Ben Simpson, Archie (2) and, perhaps the best, Seb took some hard chances. Theo just about locked down the bowling award for the season with 3 for 30, and Archie made the most of his single game with 6 for 40. 85 for 1 became 111 for 5 and then, after a vain flourish from Paul Betts, Street End were all out for 158 in the 34th over.