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ST ANNE'S ARE DIAMONDS |
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The Superstars gathered for our first game of the 2022 season at the
Dulwich Sports' Ground. The fans (yes, we had two) were looking forward to be entertained, presumably by our
opponents St Anne's Allstars who'd we'd beaten
in the first ever clash between the two sides after
a Matt Sears inspired run chase. |
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On a sunny enough day, considering it was April in England and
we'd decided to start the cricket season that day, Superstars won the toss and elected to bat first.
You will not be suprised to hear that Barry was unavailable for this match. |
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Skipper Gaught-Allen and Captain of Vice Matthew Conway opened
up against the dangerous Thompson and tight spinner Seth and made solid progress before Conway was bowled.
Spencer-Bickle, making a welcome return to the line up, was just getting going when he was defeated in
the flight by Scott and bowled. Hewlett joined the skipper at 36-2 and they built gradually,
possibly too gradually but they certainly were building well when Gaught-Allen waved his bat at the
ball and was given out caught, even though it's unclear if the bat and ball were in the same post code
let alone ever in proximatey. The skipper's demise (for 39) bought about what other team's would call a collapse
and Superstars would refer to as solid middle order batting as Patwal (1), Hewlett (26) and Plahe (7)
departed as Sups went from 76-2 to 106-6. The highlight of this spell being one of Gary's shot ending up
with the bat going further than the ball. Superstars may have avoided complete embarrassment but
needed some good batting to get towards a competitive total and luckily they had it with some lusty blows
from Aaron Harris, supported by John "the Arch" Bishop. In a partnership of 55 runs JB scored 6 but sensibly
gave Harris much of the strike. He was on 39 with 2 balls of the innings left, forward defenced the first
and then hit a mammoth six of the final delivery to take the home side to 161 in our 35 overs. Certainly
competitive. |
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After a tea we headed into the field hoping to keep our unbeaten
run that had lasted 225 days. Konrad bowled absolutely beautifully, taking only one wicket but constantly
troubling the batsmen. His final three overs were all maidens, with the batsmen (Biss) joking that
we needed have bothered as it was clear the overs were maidens. Konrad bowled 7 overs "off the reel"
with figures of 7-4-6-1 that while statistically won't be the best of year we'll be fortunate to see
a better stint this season. Gary struggled with his rhythm at the other end and was replaced by
the man of the moment Harris who picked up a wicket. With Konrad out of the attack Hewlett and
Duggan joined the attack. Duggan was unlucky, defeating the batsmen in the flight numerous times but
Hewlett did pick up the two wickets with his extra pace on an uneven track. Our fielding had been
good with Hewlett's sliding efforts and Matthew's Messi style football juggling skills particularly
impressive. At 66-4 in the 17th over Sups may have been slight favourites but unfortunately those
putting a few quid on our heroes would have lost as Hewlett, Duggan, Thompson, Plahe and
Harris were unable to dismiss Shahid and Perera despite a variety of bowling and fielding positions,
including Konrad tempting the batsman into a reverse-sweep off Duggan by pointing out the free
area at third man, a shot that was almost his demise. The St Anne's batters produced an excellent match
winning unbeaten stand of 98. St Anne's won by six wickets with three overs to spare. |
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In a mirror image of last year's game this year it was Sups who
lost to a great stand in the chase but it was certainly a creditable performance and an enjoyable
game played in exemplory spirit. The post match analysis suggested if Sups keep performances
to that level we'll win more than we lose. |
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Paul Gaught-Allen (c), Matthew Conway, Gary Plahe, James Hewlett, Arron Harris, Konrad Chodzko-Zajko,
Chris Thomson, John Bishop, Diwakar Patwal, Michael Duggan, Adam Spencer-Bickle. |
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Aaron Harris' 45 not out was his highest score for the club. |
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Konrad's bowling will take
some beating for best individual performance of the year. |
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Gary's flying bat and the oppo's batsman calling maidens early
are early runners for funny moment. |
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Chris' umpiring decision makes his an early runner for Worst Umpire. |
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James Hewlett's two wickets took him to 10 career wickets for the club. |
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