KING'S ROAD CRICKET AND SOCIAL CLUB

Mo near yet Mo far! Shaboodien’s unbeaten 49 not enough to defeat Badgers

Full Scorecard: http://kingsroadcsc.play-cricket.com/website/results/3200452

A rear-guard from Mo Shaboodien and Mark Isham was not enough as the King’s Road were unable to chase down the Battersea Badgers’ score last Saturday.

The Road were an agonising 15 runs short of a victory that would have tied up the 2017 South London Ashes series, following a Badgers victory in the T20, and a 2-day Supertest washout.

But this result was flattered KRCSC, as an all too familiar middle-order collapse saw them fighting to prevent a thrashing.

Dundonald Rec was the scene for the latest instalment of south west London’s fiercest rivalry, and it began with Road skipper Daniel Sherman winning the toss and electing to field.

The Badgers made a strong start, with openers Cloke and Lee making good progress against the bowling of Chris Brown and Mo Shaboodien.

Such was the batsmen’s comfort, that both were removed from the bowling after just five overs between them.

Sherman looked to take the pace off the ball, and turned to Mark Isham and Michael Rossi as change bowlers.

Some tight bowling and excellent fielding saw the batsmen struggling to find the MASSIVE boundary (in spite of them looking to accelerate), and finally The Road’s persistence paid off as Isham claimed the wicket of Cloke, caught by Jamie Keating at mid-off.

With the first wicket falling for 68 runs, it looked like it would be a long afternoon for the Orange Caps, but the floodgates opened and wickets started to tumble.

The big hitting Cornish was caught by Isham at cover off the bowling of Michael Rossi, and not long after Shone fell to Matt Small, caught smartly by Raju Mazumder.

Dickinson came and went for 10 runs, his leg stump clattered by the resurgent Brown.

Throughout this time Josh Lee had been a thorn in the side of The Road, stubbornly refusing to be dismissed, but just as it looked like he would carry his bat, Smalley grabbed a low chance at cover to remove him for an excellent 72.

Ally Craig and Nick Foord became Brown’s third and fourth victims respectively, both bowled.

The King’s Road had fought back to 156-7, and what followed was a bit of carnival cricket, as Matt Cocken took three wickets for five runs in the final over in the innings.

First Thorpe fell for 26, with a looping catch to square leg, then Webb was bowled after getting an all run four (much to the chagrin of –P-e-te-r Jac—-kso-n Eastwood-, who was force to pursue it all the way till it stopped a foot inside the boundary).

Lewis danced down the wicket for his only delivery, and was smartly stumped by Mo, who had picked up the keeping gloves after his short bowling spell.

The Badgers had slumped from 68-0 to 161 all out, and the Road were cautiously optimistic.

The batting response began with Cocken and Adam Paterson, who looked comfortable against the new ball, before Matt was bowled with the score on 22.

Raju (in at number three) suffered the same fate without troubling the scorers.

Adam was not long behind, bowled for 12 with Keating lobbing the ball back to be caught and bowled on 3.

Sherman made the same score before chipping a simple catch to Ally Craig who gratefully accepted.

Peter Jackson Eastwood had come in at number four, and was looking to dominate the opposition but his firecracking innings of two off 20 balls was cut short when he was bowled.

The Road had lost six wickets for 23 runs, and were looking in trouble at 45-6

To take their mind off their woes, the Kings Road player’s attention had turned to Chris Brown’s girlfriend and what she thought were his best features (n.b. NOT his beard).

Oblivious to this, Browny had started something of a mini-resurgence with Mo, but their promising partnership was cut short when Chris ran himself out for 12 runs (cue mega-tantrum).

At 64-7 all hope seemed lost but the patient partnership building of Mo and Isham so fortunes start to chance.

Bowler after bowler was tested, but like a persistent Tuberculosis infection, the Badgers just could not rid themselves of this pair.

With the momentum swinging towards Kings Road for the first time, the Badgers looked to Aussie Ben Cornish, and he delivered with his third ball, bowling Isham with an excellent spinning delivery.

Such was the quality of the delivery, it injured the wicket keeper, and with a lengthy delay the Road were able to contemplate their latest position.

Mo and Mark’s partnership had been worth 56 runs, and it left the Road needing 42 runs off nine overs; challenging yes, but not an impossibility.

With the new batsmen Matt Small, Mo attempted to guide KRCSC to the winning total, but as darkness descended they were not able to capitalise on some good Badgers bowling, and simply ran out of overs, leaving Shaboodien on 49*.

It means the Battersea Badgers retains the South London Ashes with a series score of 2-0, and Sherman’s team can turn their attention to a possible London Premier League win when they take on Cairns Fudge next weekend.

Oscar Newlove

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