Rogers cater for spectators with tight last over loss

On a scorching day at Brownacres Matt “El Lordo” Lord returned to the helm with yet another dramatically changed line up – only 5 players surviving from the previous week’s game and a new umpire, Alan “Cheering” Chapman. As is customary at the Vandals, El Lordo lost he toss and the Rogers were asked to have first dig.

Another week and another new opening pair, this time a pair of Matt’s, “The Dude” Dixon and skipper El Lordo. The Dude went early, succumbing to the two paced nature of a surprisingly stodgy track. Tom “Sockrates” Neville replaced him and thanks to some wayward bowling he and El Lordo quickly put on 40. Unfortunately just as they had done so, Sockrates fell to the age old combo of a full toss and an awesome catch in an over of particularly village cricket. John “Huge” Hall kept the momentum going and went one better with El Lordo and put on a 50 partnership, compiling a pleasant 29. His dismissal saw a little stutter in the scoring and another wicket fall, before El Lordo really pushed one with the support of Anish “Ice Cold” Kulkarni. With some excellent running and lovely flicks and drives the skipper registered an excellent 52. He fell on his sword going for another boundary, but he’d given the innings both a great foundation and real momentum. Ice Cold carried on the lord’s good work in a quick fire 21 before also departing caught off a skier. After his loss the innings only saw one more boundary before ending on a respectable 178-8, Bruce “50 Over” Magill losing his wicket off the final ball of the innings.

Despite the loss of momentum in the closing overs, 178 looked a competitive total on the wicket, and so it proved. The reunited opening pair of James “Ewing” Randall and Suchin “Shorts” Kumar started where they left off a few weeks back. They both bowled consistent tight lines with hints of movement each way, frustrating the Caterham openers as they tried to get away. It was Shorts who finally got the breakthrough in the 10th over, removing the dangerous looking Rathore with only 24 on the board. With both bowlers taking an obligatory 7 over rest James “Chef” Martin and The Dude were called upon. Both continued in the same vein as the opening pair, with Chef particularly hard working. Three catch hero, Holton, decided enough was enough and set about attacking. In a frantic 2 over burst he first punished The Dude and then Chef, but it was The Dude who had the last laugh, removing his off pole for 22. As Chef bowled through to complete a tight 9 overs, Ice Cold had replaced The Dude and he picked up the next wicket aided by a sharp slip catch from El Lordo. It was the skipper himself who fought off cramp to replace Chef, and the pair combined for the next wicket just as a partnership had started to look ominous; the Chef pulling of an excellent catch. Ice Cold took a wicket next ball to put the Rogers on a team hat-trick and thoughts soon turned to victory as El Lordo removed opener and top scorer, Owen, for 47; Caterham were 141-6. Unfortunately for the Rogers a couple more half chances went begging and although Matt “Royal” Holloway stayed calm and ran out the next batsman in, by the time the 8th wicket fell to El Lordo (3-23), only 11 runs were needed. Despite some excellent efforts in the field, particularly one full length diving stop from Adrian “Wisecracking” Waldock, Caterham got themselves over the line with 5 balls to spare.

Although this was another loss for the Rogers, it was an excellent effort from all that played and a marked improvement in performance; on another day things might have gone the other way. As ever the Rogers kept the crowd interested right until the end in a game that swayed more than the awning on the nearby Caravans.