A win is a win, they say, but a beer is just a beer until you’re Sir John Mills crawling into a saloon from the desert. Southgate 2nd XI won on Saturday 12th June, their first home win in competitive league cricket since August 2019.
Losing the toss on a hot day sounds bad, but we would’ve fielded anyway so we were in good heart at the start of play and there followed a determined and consistent effort from Southgate’s (mostly) youthful bowling attack. Four wickets each for Lewis Johnson and Tom Stanton were just reward although Babwah, Faruqi, and Benton all put in a shift as well. A target of 207 to win with 52 overs in which to do so seemed a fair challenge, but reachable. The chase was fairly bloodless in the end, albeit thanks to one formidable partnership.
The early loss of Declan O’Leary saw Ellis activate his patented mobile batting order and emergency number three Jeremy Dangerfield joined Bellwood for a second-wicket partnership that moved at a glacial pace but achieved the objective of blunting the new ball, wielded expertly by former Southgate player Seb. He sent down a succession of unplayable deliveries in an opening spell that yielded a single run but, crucially, no wickets.
Dangerfield was looking to up the pace of his innings with some aggressive footwork when Bellwood was forced from the field with a sharp pain in his right fore-arm (the bruise is coming along very nicely thanks); unfortunately, rather than acceleration, Dangerfield found a fielder. Three more wickets in fairly quick succession put the score at 53 for 4 from 22 overs with the aforementioned Bellwood attending to himself with an ice-pack on the boundary edge.
Any concerns about this position weren’t worn too heavily, though. Not by the older heads on the benches, and certainly not by the pairing of Ellis and Stanton at the crease. While the required run-rate did creep slightly above a run a ball, Alan’s Big Boundary TM provided plenty of real estate in which to build momentum through sensible, pro-active running. As the partnership took shape, both batsmen introduced lustier blows, and the pressure began to tell on the fielding side
Fast-forward a hundred runs or so, and the doubly (trebly if you count not having to buy any drinks) successful match contribution from Tom Stanton came to an abrupt end when he was bowled on 45 trying to swing a little too hard at a straight one, and Liam Babwah joined captain Ellis, now past 50 and playing dominantly.
Babwah dropped and ran very well until, through no fault of his own, he was stranded a yard or two outside the crease at the non-striker’s end and had to depart. That his departure came a ball after the actual dismissal is a long story involving some slightly conservative umpiring and a short discussion between captain and captain’s victim.
One run-out is unlucky; two could be considered careless. So, when Faruqi fell in similar circumstances to Babwah, there was a brief flutter of nerves on the Southgate bench. Fortunately, Bellwood found enough functioning arms (one and a half) with which to return for a nudge and a nurdle. A 20-run partnership followed and the game was won with Ellis unbeaten on 83.
A win is a win, they say, but this was a good one. Well played Ellis, Stanton, all the bowlers, and hopefully Bellwood’s physiotherapist.