29 September St Lukes v Morden (Away) (Friendly - 40 overs)

James Somers (Capt)

Gotham Kandavelu

David Houghton

Richard Somers (w/k part)

Mitsi Patel

Wasif Zamir

Richard Bent

Hemant Joneja (w/k part)

Tim Blatt

Bob Gaddes

Jason Custance

St Lukes were looking to end the season with a win against a team the first XI had beaten comfortably in the League.  The noon start looked to have caught a few on the hop and at the designated time neither side had a quorum - it was necessary to wake Richard B from his bed but he made it just the same.

With the pitch looking green and still wet from overnight rain, it looked a good toss to win.  Which James did, inviting Morden to bat.  Whether end of season blue's or just the nature of the pitch is unclear but Bob had Morden in trouble from the first ball - on a length rising and moving away it took the glove and Hemant lunged forward to take the catch (0-1).  James was also getting some movement from the river end and soon had O'Connor LBW (13-2).  With James having a breather, Tim took the next wicket in his first over (13-3) - a good juggling catch by David (at the fourth attempt).  Bob then bowled Basraa and a few runs later Desai to leave Morden in real trouble at 18-5 of 15 overs.  But then as James ran the changes among the bowlers, a captain's innings from Del Ballard ably assisted by the much younger Justin MacLaren turned the innings round.  Del with some lusty hits and smart running scored a valuable 67 as the pair added 111 (Nelson's eye) for the sixth wicket in 20 overs - Justin finishing on 37.  Mitsi took both wickets (eventually).  With quick runs needed, Morden lost another two wickets to sharp run outs but, mainly through Ganantra (26 not out), took the score to 159-9 of the 40 overs.  Bob finished with the figures of 5-3 of 8 overs with Mitsi (53-2), James (10-1) and Tim (27-1) taking the other wickets.

After a fine tea, St Lukes took up the run chase.  The pitch was starting to dry out and play easier, the outfield was also noticeably quicker.  The openers Gotham and David enjoyed some luck but kept to the required run rate before both fell in quick succession (18 and 9 respectively) with the score on 38.  Richard S continued his fine run of form with an assured 30 but Mitsi, Wasif and James all went for single figures leaving St Lukes in trouble and behind the run rate on 101-6 after 29 overs.  But not to worry, Richard B and Hemant were both on form and pushed the score along taking 47 of the next 6 overs to ease the chase.  With little trouble they crossed the winning line with an imperious 4 from Richard (36 n.o.), Hemant finishing on 23 n.o. in an unbroken stand of 62.  Ganatra added wickets to his runs (16-3) as did MacLaren (30-2).

Man of the match - some good performances with the bat (both Richards and Hemant) and the ball (Bob) but my choice would be Del Ballard for a fine innings that made a game of it (fortunately he was less successful with his bowling).