KING’S Road started 2012 against a team they were thrashed by at the back end of last season.
That day the Thespian Thunderers hammered 201 in 35 overs before dismissing the Orange Caps for 99.
But what a change a winter makes as King’s Road returned with a bang on Sunday to steamroller the Thesps by 88 runs.
Sham de Silva was the main man with the bat as the boys from Battersea built a solid platform to post an identical 201 – albeit off 40 overs.
The Road’s pacemen then had the Thunderers in disarray as wickets tumbled on a disappointingly cold, soggy and grey day at Battersea Park.
Sham blasted 72 – his highest score for The Road – in an innings that increased in pace after a slow but steady start with Raju Mazumder.
Ever-cautious Raju took 23 balls to get off the mark and after 10 overs the pair were on just 26 – but that made little difference.
On a grassy pitch that had zero pace in it and a very slow outfield, the solid opening stand set the foundations for a big total.
And after Raju was out on 13, ending a 66-run opening stand, Sham kicked on until the opener finally holed out.
Leon Watson meanwhile nurdled on taking his score to 29 and was joined by newboy Jack Caesar who made a short but very sweet cameo in which he clubbed three huge sixes to run up 34 in 20 balls.
Last season’s skip Giles Fagan hit 10 off 11 and Dan Sherman got in on the act hitting 18 off 13 including an edge off the last ball of the innings to push the total past the 200 mark and set the Thesps 202 to win. Sherm with Matt Cocken, with 6, ended the innings unbeaten.
Barney Matthews was the pick of the Thespian bowlers with 2 for 27 off 7 while fellow opener Ant Jardine only conceded 17 in his 8 overs.
Straight after going into bat the Thesps ran into problems. Where their bowlers struggled to look a threat on the slow, spongy pitch, The Road’s openers Matt Glover and Matt Small immediately got their line-up into difficulty.
Matt Glover, bowling with pace and a tight line, struck in the first over while a series of dropped catches meant Matt Small was extremely unlucky not to grab two or three.
He eventually did get a deserved wicket in his miserly first spell of four overs – which went for just nine runs – when the batsman sent it straight to Leon at mid on. Finally a King’s Road catch stuck.
In his fourth over Glover – who also had chances dropped off him – struck twice to leave the Thesps reeling on 31 for 5. Glover finished with impressive figures of 4 for 15 off 6.
A brief fightback followed before first change Adam Majeed made the breakthrough to grab his first wicket of the season and cap a fine spell of six overs that included three maidens.
At the other end the pressure was building with the particularly potent James clearly pumped.
The new skip got right up the batsman’s nose and wafted it past the stumps before he finally squeezed one out at the wicket in his fifth over.
The breezy James, who was getting prodigious movement in the air, then let fly again with another ripper in his sixth.
If it wasn’t for those horrendous dropped catches – which by the end of the match must have got into double-figures – and a close run-out appeal given not out The Road would have been home and dry very early.
In the final overs Sham, Matt Cocken and Leon got a bowl with Sham picking up a wicket. Matt Small then bagged the final scalp as Leon dived for his second catch of the day to seal the win.
The only resistance came from Freeman La Page who hit a defiant 44 not out – by far his side’s top score as the Thesps were bowled out for 113. The Road’s captain James recorded figures of 2 for 25 while Matt Small ended with 2 for 14.
Despite an horrendous series of dropped catches – which must have been in double figures by the end – The Road fully deserved their victory and ran out clear winners against a team they have lost to many times in previous seasons.