SOUTHGATE 154-9 (45 Overs)
Wycombe House 84 all out (21.1 overs)
On a wicket where the previous league game had to be abandoned due to its dangerous state, Southgate won the toss, wisely decided to bat, but with some trepidation.
That emotion was proved to be an accurate one as the pitch was muddy, and somewhat inconsistent with its bounce, but it was slow so it was never dangerous. The home team had a varied attack with useful quicker bowlers and accurate spinners and with the odd ball misbehaving it was not easy but Rory Miscampbell (26 in 58 balls) and captain Tom Edrich (41 in 99 balls) grafted in a partnership of 53 before Rory was bowled. Tom was joined by Phil Dunnett (27 in 57 balls) and they added a further 51 together, taking the score to 110-3. In the circumstances this was a strong position for Southgate because on such a difficult wicket there was no chance of quickening the scoring rate without taking unnecessary chances, especially against such high quality bowling. There was a mini collapse as Tom, Phil, Jamie Jouning and Jack Upton all fell within a short while and it was left to Ashley Sivarajah (16) and young Henry Thomson (10*) to enable their team to reach a very reasonable total of 154 in their allotted overs. Not for the first time Henry impressed as a batsman and, if encouraged could be a very useful all-round cricketer.
Off-spinner, Ravi Desai, opened the bowling with Jack Upton and although scoring their runs at four an over Wycombe House never really looked capable of reaching their target. Ravi, who is improving week by week, bowled quite beautifully, out foxing the batsmen with turn, bounce and accuracy. By the final ball of his nine over spell he had taken four wickets and Michelle Pfeiffer was waiting on the boundary edge. An accommodating batsman elected to hit Ravi’s final ball as far and as high as possible and it disappeared into the far distance. But the batsman had not considered the capability of Darragh Edwards (great fielder!) who ran at least thirty yards at pace to hold a magnificent outfield catch to the excitement of his team mates, and in particular, Ravi, who finished his spell with 5-25 and a well-deserved ‘Michelle’. The remaining wickets were taken by Jack Upton (3-42), with the help of three lbw’s, and Ashley (2-3).
An excellent team performance, but still one point behind South Hampstead, but with a full strength team next week at home to Harrow confidence will be high for the final game of the season..
Peter Jouning