Mandarins vs St Anne’s Allstars

Mandarins (213/4 dec) beat St Anne’s (91 all out) by 122 runs

St Anne’s Allstars (originally formed from some Oxford alumni in London but now, like so many friendly teams, only loosely based on their original conception) were a very welcome new addition to our list (inherited from our friends at the Superstars CC deciding to cut down their Sunday commitments). They are a like-minded club, very much prizing the spirit of friendly cricket first. It is a wonder we have taken this long to find each other, but hopefully our Dulwich Sunday afternoon (thankfully dry but slightly cooler than anticipated) was the first of many that we will spend together.

The game was a fair bit more competitive than the scorecard might suggest, thanks to an unusually and suddenly powerful Mandarins middle order performance, and the Allstars‘ understandable decision to aim for the draw after a gallant initial attempt to keep up with the rate. In the end they were five overs short of securing it, after being stubbornly hard to prise from the crease.

Highlights with the bat were a classy anchoring 50 from Wilmot at 3, a debut 50 from Arun at 5 and a brutal 44 from significantly fewer balls from Vijay at 6. With Arun and Wilmot retiring not out and Harry hitting the first ball he faced for six, it took the 4th wicket composite partnership to an astonishing 166 (which Baker may or may not declare as a club record). Either way it will take some beating this season at least and allowed your correspondent and captain the rare treat of declaring with a score in the 200s.

With the ball Hurst was forever threatening, Healey broke through the middle order with a quick three-fer that put paid to attempts at a chase, and Vijay got rid of a very dogged number 7 who was threatening to take the game very deep indeed, and followed up with another for figures of 2-2-0-2. A Healey run out completed the job (not quite as mad as it sounds in the circumstances as they were trying to keep the number 11 off strike for the next over) and the Mandarins had won again. It won’t always be this comfortable or successful against this fine new oppo, but hopefully it will always be as enjoyable.

Dan Forman