Rogers sink at Chaldon

The Rogers took sail to the east of the county on a glorious day looking to bounce back from what was hoped to be a blip last week. Tom “The Stand In” Neville took the wheel in the absence of the El Lordo and picked up where the normal skipper left off, by losing the toss. Fortunately Chaldon CMO wanted to bat on a surface the Vandals had hoped to bowl first on.

James “Senior Pro” Randall shared the new ball with Mark “Returning” Ranger and both got the wicket to talk with light interrogation. It was Senior Pro who built up a good head of steam down the hill and picked up the first wicket with a well-directed bouncer that spooned up to debutant Tom “Two” Hudson. Both bowlers toiled in the heat without much reward and saw 3 catches go down off their bowling. It was the introduction of Liam “League Leading” Connaughton and Rich “Heeling” Davey that turned the innings though. League Leading first removed Qureshi, who’s luck finally ran out when he picked the right fielder in Two. With Heeling posing a threat with nearly every delivery and League Leading getting some prodigious turn, the Chaldon batting line up could not cope. From a base of 81-2 they collapsed to 113-8; League Leading claiming four victims (4-45) to his hit list and Heeling adding three (3-15). Heeling was ably replaced by Matt “Doubling Up” Dixon and again the Chaldon batsmen struggled against his line, length and movement. However, there were shoots of progress for Chaldon as the 9th wicket pair chanced their arm and managed to muster a crucial 40 runs before Dixon finally got his reward. He then wrapped the innings up with another rising delivery to leave Chaldon 156 all out.

Ruing the six drops in the field, the Rogers were still positive, as the pitch had seemed to settle in the last 10 overs of the Chaldon innings. A new and considerably younger opening pair of Two and Matt “Hammer Time” Holloway opened up. Two backed up his good display in the field with an assured start at the crease, particularly good clipping off his legs. Unfortunately he lost his opening partner and John “Holiday” Hall early on. Just as Two and The Stand In looked like they had settled in, the new ball was taken and with it a jaffa delivered to Two who saw his poles rearranged. Anish “About Time” Kulkarni and The Stand In combined for what would sadly be the highest partnership of the day for the Rogers, but when The Stand In departed a mini collapse ensued leaving the innings in dire straits at 99-7. Luckily the sultan of swing, Heeling, and his brother in arms, Doubling Up, didn’t let the innings wimper out and got the Rogers close with some excellent boundaries. Sadly it wasn’t close enough though and they fell 7 painful runs short.