Rare victory stuns bookies
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| The winners: (Back row, L-R) John Shaw,
Matt Wales, Simon Hemelryk, Nick Clarke, Justin Roy; (Front row, L-R)
Ed Paleit (capt), Steve Bond, David Fitzpatrick (66 n.o.), David
Sultanti (photo by Tim Castle) |
Old Fallopians’ utterly consistent season in all forms of the
game was
derailed on Sunday by a convincing defeat of Woodstock, writes Ed
Paleit.
Losing the toss and forced to bowl in humid conditions,
Fallopians restricted the opposition to 144 thanks largely to
masterclasses in line and length bowling from Bond (6-2-12-2) and
Shaw (7-0-17-1) on a low seaming pitch.
Cunning full-tosses from Sultanti (5-0-36-2) obtained the two
most dangerous upper-order wickets – the first thanks to Roy’s
stunning lunge-grab-and-juggle. Paleit (4-0-7-4) mopped up the tail.
Fallopians’ reply was initially graced by the arrival of Tim Castle
(et
fils) who, learning we were already one down, asked if it would all
be over
before he returned from buying ice creams. So confident are we these
days,
apparently!
Set on their way by Wales’s well-struck 22 on cricketing debut,
Fallopians
made light of an undemanding run-rate.
But at 85 for 5 and with the middle order wholly bemused by the
whirling dobbers of Kevin (2 for 8 off 7 overs), capitulation
threatened once again. Order was resoundingly restored by an
unbroken partnership of 62 for the sixth wicket between Fitzpatrick
(66*, 10 x 4) and Bond (16*).
Fitzpatrick’s fine hitting, and resourceful testing of
Woodstock’s catching abilities, was a man-of-the-match performance,
leading us to the first win in nine attempts. Hooray!
The game was played in a fine spirit, with inspiring background
noise coming
from thrashy tribute band ‘The Strolling Phones’, playing on the
Heath
behind the ground.
But even dropping sitters to ‘the honky tonk blues’ (mentioning
no names) couldn’t deprive us of satisfaction this time.
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| Still smiling: Woodstock make light of defeat.
Photo by Tim Castle |
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| Man of the match: Fitzpatrick cracks
another ball towards the boundary |
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