A fightback in the field failed to make up for a shambolic batting performance as King’s Road lost by four wickets to the Sunday Times.
The Orange Caps were skittled out for just 86 in the clash at Dulwich Sports Ground, unable to cope with the nagging accuracy of the newpaper’s new ball pairing of Struthers (3 fpr 13) and Awan (3 for 12).
There was a golden duck for Chris MacNicol, Dan Howard and Amir Alipour also failed to get off the mark and just two of the team made it to double figures.
Opener Matt Small dug in to score 7, Will Gledhill scored 4 before being bowled and Shailesh Joshi was uncharacteristically restrained before opening his shoulders only to be spectacularly caught for 5.
Having collapsed to 27-5, a typically aggressive innings by Matt Glover helped stop the rot until he was given out LBW on 17.
Skipper Jamie Keating contributed 7, David Hughes managed just 1 before walking after being well caught behind off a thin edge.
Only a 17-run last wicket stand between Chetan, who top scored with 26, and Adam Majeed, left not out on 7, helped produce a total which was merely awful rather than catastrophic.
With the wind picking up, rain falling and temperatures plummeting it would have been easy for King’s Road to have rolled over and let the men from Wapping wrap up the win.
Instead they responded to the challenge by producing a performance that helped salvage some pride after the batting meltdown.
An inspired Glover charged in, extracting pace and bounce from the increasingly sodden wicket. Twice he sent the batsman’s off stump cartwheeling out of the ground as he took 3 for 14 from his 8 overs.
Small (0 for 16 off 3)and Joshi (1 for 19 off 5.5) also gave the batsmen plenty to think about and enthusiastic fielding meant the Sunday Times batsmen had to work for every run.
At 47 for 4, with the Sunday Times still 40 runs short of victory, the Road felt they had a chance of snatching an unlikely victory.
Skipper Keating found some turn to take 2-10, with Howard holding on to a catch made all the more difficult through a combination of cold hands, wet ball and swirling wind. Majeed also looked threatening but finished wicketless, his 5 overs going for 24.
At 5 for 63 and then 6 for 73 the Sunday Times crept close to victory and eventually reached the total in the 27th over.
A bowling performance that left the opposition on 87ย for 6 showed what the Orange Caps were capable of, and with another 20 or 30 runs on the board the outcome could have been very different.