Repeating Remarkable Runouts at S&M

A match of repeating remarkable runouts.

The Mandarins batted first, with Dan Taylor and Jeremy Jarvis opening the innings. Thanks to some good bowling and Streatham and Marlborough’s complete lockdown of the field with their smart fielding positions, we only gained runs at a slow rate. 33 runs in and Dan Taylor fell victim to the first of four run outs by a sniped throw from a fielder. To the dismay of the Mandarins on the sideline Jarvis, Baker and Paul fell in quick succession making the score 35 off 4. Baxter and Hawkins got things moving again adding 22 to the score before Baxter was caught. Then Hawkins called an optimistic single and was run out.

Adam’s spectacular 3 runs must have reinstated hope in those yet to bat as Graeme and Rakesh had the most successful partnership of 36, only to be cut short by the third run out of the innings (Graeme out for 21). Rakesh scored 22 before being bowled by Sami Taraki.  Last batsman Dan Forman got kitted up and walked on only to find himself not facing a single ball as Andrew Shackelford was the fourth run out, finishing the Mandarins' innings at 119 all out.

We took our fielding positions knowing we had to prevent as many runs as possible to have a chance at victory, but soon found our necks angled upwards to watch the ball that Sami (a Streatham & Marlborough batsman chosen by Dan.F to play against and not with us) sent far beyond the boundary for 6.

Sami continued to find the boundary although some were stopped by great fielding from Dan Taylor. We could have used some of the luck that their second batsman had as he managed to survive multiple edges that found their way between Paul (keeping) and Chris Baker. Rakesh put an end to Sami’s scoring by bowling him and taking the first and only wicket of the innings. This was not the only merit to Rakesh’s bowling however, having a spell of 7 overs where only 9 runs were scored against him with 4 maiden overs. Despite all the singles prevented by Jarvis and boundaries prevented by others Streatham and Marlborough were scoring too many runs and ended the day by surpassing our score of 119 with a final boundary after a taunting ‘At least win with style’ from Mr Tunbridge.

Although we faced defeat at the hands of S+M, I was happy we made it through the game without losing all the cricket balls we had available, though two and nearly three balls were lost to the shrubbery.

Adam Eastaway