If it’s cold and raining it must be the summer. If it’s the summer it must be the cricket season. If it’s the cricket season it must mean that the Strollers are girding the collective loin. Over the last couple of months the loin has, weather permitting, been girded and this has been done with increasingly impressive effect. However, the lack of action has meant that the loin has remained, with one or two notable exceptions, disappointingly unsweaty.
Now we are in the full bloom of summer the snorkels, flippers and rubber suits have been discarded (except for those with special interests) in favour of the pristine whites which, somehow, all seem to have shrunk a size or two over the winter. Despite the inclement weather, the Strollers have been able to gather some kind of momentum between the spate of abandoned games. By the end of June the team remains undefeated and several of the games have featured individual performances of such note that new club records have been established.
So far only one League game has been played, against the public school harlequin caps of the Kensington & Chelsea Strays. Rajesh Sharma marked his debut for the Club with a dashing 41. The highlight of the innings was Alun Hughes’ appearance at the batting crease wearing only one pad. It was uncertain whether this was the result of complacency or cunning tactics. If it was the latter, it was successful. The Strays lost their concentration and as a result the game they should have won. The Strollers managed to squeeze the Strays innings to such effect that when chasing a mere 87 runs in the last 20 overs of the game, the Strollers bowling strangled the life out of the game and the Strollers won the game convincingly. Unfortunately, the opportunity to build on this high spot was thwarted by a month without a further game.
Subsequent games have seen old adversaries WRECC seen off, largely helped by skipper Phil Connell eschewing the keeper’s gloves and showing the bowlers how to do their job. He took a career best 4-4 and to this point in the season is the Club’s leading wicket-taker. His bowling has shown a mastery of flight and spin and has been greatly assisted by the ability to read match conditions so well that he takes advantage of his position of skipper to put himself on to bowl when the opposition batsman look most vulnerable. The Club remains wary that he is may at any time be reported to the RSPCA for his merciless slaughter of so many rabbits.
The following games, against John Lewis, Sunderland and the Duke of Hamilton were all won and have featured significant individual performances. Paul Lupton has bowled with such efficiency that the Norcross legend of the Ginger Flash has been revived. Fortunately, this time it refers to his bowling rather than his more questionable hobby. Nick Clark has hit successive 70s and a maiden ton. Against Sunderland, Nick and Rajesh Sharma, who hit 96, put on a Club record for any wicket of 170, on the way to a Club record innings of 271-2. Simon Robinson has also hit a ton and has since not been seen since. His disappearance is not thought to be connected to his threat to Nick Clark’s title of leading batsman. Furthermore, there is no obvious sign of human blood on Nick’s bat (although the edges have not been checked). However, the Club remains unconcerned given that we are all happy to toast Nick’s continuing batting successes with the jugs of beer that each new achievement warrants. The Club is now happy to announce that it will be in future be jointly sponsored by Nick Clark and the Carlsberg Brewery.
The HQ Team has met with mixed success. It convincingly won its first game in this year’s Curtis Bennett Shield, the highlight being a 50 from new skipper Ben Aylott and a hat trick by Rajesh Sharma. However, in the following round it lost a closely fought game with the Astra Comets, a police team. It looks as if the Club’s donation to the Police Widow’s and Orphan’s Fund was wasted; the problem is now how to hide it in the Club accounts. However, in order to handicap the Comets’ future progress we are thinking of asking them to investigate Simon Robinson’s disappearance.
Lastly, the HQ sixes side played very well to reach the final of this year’s London CSSC 6s competition where they were narrowly beaten by the 1998 national champions. The side won four of their six matches, including a victory over last year’s winners of this event in the semi-final.
Post Script – This column was not written by Rajesh Sharma – it is just that he started his Stroller’s career very well.