Energy Exiles Cricket Club

Match Summary: vs. Putney, Sunday, 10 Jul 2016

Ground: Putney Heath
Captain: Chris Plume
Match type: 40 overs
Toss: Exiles elected to bat
Weather: Cloudy
Opposition: Putney scored: 210 for 6 (38.4 overs)
Exiles Score: 207 for 4 (40 overs)
Result: Lost by 4 wickets
Man of the match: Neel Dillip 83 runs

On Sunday, under the auspices of the cricket conference, Exiles found themselves at a secluded ground adjacent to Putney Common, taking on Putney Cricket Club for the first time in a decade or more. Our original opponents WICC had scratched due to an abundance of family weddings, but we were grateful that Neel, Ashok and Joshi were able to help us get at least towards a full side.

We batted first, and Keith, opening with Chris, was reminded immediately of one of the reasons why the original fixture with Putney may have lapsed – very variable pace and bounce, exploited by a number of young and fit seamers!

Chris went early, caught in the covers as he struggled to time the ball, and Keith followed a few overs later, timing a full toss beautifully – but straight to midwicket!  Which made room for the main event – a fantastic partnership of nearly 150 between Neel and Craig, making light of the early vagaries of the pitch.  Craig scored a typically robust 62, and Neel hit a silky 83, including a couple of big 6s to the longest boundary. 

Exiles finished on 207 for 4 – which rumour had it was the highest score on the ground (not sure about that – with those short boundaries?).  Should also note for the second week running 5 penalty runs were awarded for the ball hitting a helmet – first and second time I’ve seen that happen in 35 years of playing!

After a break for tea – fortuitously timed so we could see Murray win at Wimbledon, and taken in the pavilion, detached from the ground by several hundred yards and across a couple of roads (which didn’t help those of us hoping the match would be wrapped in time to watch the Euro 2016 final – no great loss as it turned out!) – Putney set about their reply.  They were soon pegged back by an excellent opening spell by Ammar, ably supported by Ashok from the other end.  He quickly accounted for the top three, and crucially would have had their eventual top scorer too, but for a mix up in the field as a skier dropped between two Exiles both loudly claiming the catch as their own! 

Once the two opening bowlers had finished their stints (Ammar 3-31, Ashok 0-33), Chris turned to spin with himself and Joshi bowling in tandem.  Gradually Putney’s batsmen began to assert themselves, rotating the strike efficiently, in between some judicious big hits. 

Suddenly Exiles were up against it, and it was a huge relief when Chris made a breakthrough, having their top scorer caught at short fine leg, top-edging a pull.  Having said that, it took a while for the breakthrough to be confirmed, as the batsman pointed out that Sam, our wicketkeeper, had broken the wicket, claiming that therefore the ball should have been called dead.  It felt like a teaser from You Are The Umpire on the back of the Observer, and smart phones were reached for all over the ground - eventually the batsman was dispatched on the basis that the wicket had not been broken before he hit the ball.

But this setback did not greatly inconvenience Putney, and we began to rue being a man light in the field, and also a bowler short. Keith, Steve and Neel tried to make up the allocation, but Putney kept finding the boundary, and despite a brilliant caught and bowled from Steve which momentarily interrupted their momentum, a final flurry of fours and sixes saw them home in the penultimate over.

Report By: Keith Roberts

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