Club Statistics

Home page

Club Statistics

Match Summary: vs. Dodgers, Wednesday, 29 Aug 2007

Ground: King's House Sports Ground
Captain: Andrew Wingfield
Match type: 40 overs
Toss: Dodgers elected to bat
Weather: Sunny
Opposition: Dodgers scored: 64 all out (33.1 overs)
Exiles Score: 65 for 5 (25.2 overs)
Result: Won by 5 wickets
Man of the match: John Tither 34 & 1 for 7

charts of Exiles wicket partnerships for this match
Score board
 Batsmen RunsBalls4s6s
Keith Roberts b. 
Mark Bradshaw ct. 
John Tither ct. 34  74 
Pablo Palao run out 
Sam Scott ct. 
Wil Scott (W)not out 12  50 
Simon Gundry not out 11  13 
Andrew Wingfield (C)dnb      
Naren Patel dnb      
10 Gwyn Thomas dnb      
  Extra(s)           
    65  150   
Bowling
 BowlerOMRWAvg
Andrew Wingfield  5.0 12 0
Naren Patel  6.0 12 6
Simon Gundry  5.0 4
John Tither  4.0 7
Pablo Palao  4.0 0
Gwyn Thomas  6.0 15 7.5
Sam Scott  3.0 5
Keith Roberts  0.1 0
Wicket Keeping and Fielding
PlayerCatchRun OutStumpingPenalty
Keith Roberts    
Pablo Palao    

What is it that is so difficult about chasing small totals? Even Steve Waugh's all-conquering Australian team used to occasionally come a cropper when faced with a molehill instead of a mountain although any comparison between the dour Aussies and the fun-loving Exiles begin and end there.

Against Dodgers on a pleasant late Summer's weekday afternoon the Exiles were faced with the less than daunting target of 65 to win. After a thoroughly efficient and effective display of bowling and fielding the Exiles enjoyed their "bring your own" sandwiches in the lush Chiswick long grass oblivious of the tension and trauma to come.

All that changed in a blink of an eye as Keith Roberts was bowled by the first ball of the Exiles' reply. A Roberts' duck is a rarer event than the mowing of the Chiswick outfield and a first baller is quite possibly unique. But the Exiles had little opportunity to ponder Keith's fate as the dismissals of Mark, Pablo and then Sam quickly followed. The fact that wicket and outfield suited the bowlers was confirmed and the Exiles were in deep trouble at 17 for 4 with the Dodgers scenting an unlikely triumph.

But just as experienced Exile boundary watchers were starting to reminisce about previous occasions when defeat had been snatched from the jaws of victory; John Tither and Wil Scott were going about the business of reconstructing the innings.

It was an impressive achievement in the circumstances with both players showing the necessary restraint to play out maiden overs and take no unnecessary risks. And slowly and steadily the runs started to come with John the more aggressive favouring the cover drive whilst Wil was content to wait for the balls that he could push, or on one occasion that sticks in the memory punch off the back-foot, for singles.

As they took the score past fifty the partnership looked more and more assured and it seemed as if only the irritant of what must have been one-game-a-summer participants in another game moving behind the bowlers arm would unsettle them. But with the end in sight John tried to up the tempo and played too early at a ball from the impressive Paterson and succeeded only in spooning a catch to mid-on.

But there was to be no further alarms as Simon Gundry breezed to the wicket with the air of one determined not to be late for a pressing evening engagement and the total was reached with the minimum of fuss. Following John's 34, Wil was not out 12 whilst Simon was able to reach 11 in double-quick time with a series of deft deflections to fine-leg.

Earlier, aided only in part by poor shot selection from the Dodgers, the Exiles had turned in an impressive performance with the ball to restrict the score to 64. Wickets were shared throughout the team – a brace each for Naren, Simon and Gwyn whilst John, Sam and Keith each picked up a wicket – as Andy skilfully marshalled his resources to ensure that almost everyone received a meaningful bowl. Even the wicket-less Pablo was able to post the eye catching return of 4 overs, 3 maidens, 1 run.

The Dodgers only ever threatened whilst their opening batsman who had so damaged the Exiles in the Twenty-Twenty fixture was at the crease. But just as he was looking well set he was bowled attempting to run Simon to the third man boundary. An effective means of scoring runs off the miserly Mr Gundry must exist but this was most definitely not it.

Dodgers never recovered from this loss and as each new Exile bowler maintained the pressure with good line and length bowling the wickets fell at a steady rate. With an eerie symmetry the Dodgers innings ended in the same manner as the Exiles reply was to begin with a Keith Roberts one-ball cameo. As Andy decided that every available bowler should get a piece of the action, Keith was introduced to try and get the final wicket and duly achieved this with a first delivery caught and bowled.

For the man of the match award consideration was given to Simon for getting the key Dodger wicket and scoring the winning runs and Wil deserves honourable mention for participating in both game winning partnerships and keeping tidily in the face of some pretty uneven bounce. But for keeping his wicket when all around were losing theirs and scoring more than half of the required 65, the gong must go to John Tither.

Report By: Gwyn Thomas

Last modified: 11 March 2018 14:31:46. Top of the page

Energy Exiles Cricket Club © 2025 Information: webmaster at energyexiles.org.uk