Ultras, who are the Bromley supporters', arrived.
This is a 20 over match, with a pre-arranged agreement that when a payer reacehs a score of 25 runs he retires at the end of that over, to ensure as many players as possible have an opportunity to bat.
In good cricketing conditions (well as good as can be expected on an artificial wicket) Bromley were put into bat by our sef-appointed captain Phil 'Boycott' Baker.
In the opening exchanges Dulwich bowled very tidily & Bromley were finding it difficult to hit boundaries & set a challenging target. After the first half dozen overs the Ultras started to pick up the pace & found some of those much needed boundaries, so that at the halfway stage of their innings were 57 for 2, with one retirement.
As we delved deeper into our bowling(or lack of bowlers perhaps!) Bromley started to find their feet lusty blows for sixruns catipulted their score to 131-5 with three retirements after their alloted twenty overs.
Matt Hammond was our leading wicket taker, with a brace; Danny & Pete also claiming one apiece; with Pete also running out a Bromley batsman right at the death.
This, for 'The Rabblers'. was a daunting target, as we have never passed a ton of runs against Bromley.
Phil Baker & Shaun Dooley opened the batting for The Hamlet,
Ah, this is easy...
Erm...what next?
Keep going...
Their combination got the scoreboard ticking along, after a couple of boundaries Shaun was out for 10,replaced by Danny King.
Au revoir, Mr. Dooley!
He joined Phil at the crease
and carried on where Shaun had left off, but we then looked to be struggling when Phil & Danny were out for 7 and 13 respectively, to leave on 35-3. But a valiant effort...so off they went,
But hope was at hand, as two cricketing debutants for us, Will Patrick & Pete Mungeam took the game to Bromley with some fine stroke play, regularly finding boundaries, including some towering sixes! Both flew past the twenty five run mark within an over of each other & sadly had to depart proceedings with tallies of 28 & 32.
Keep on going...
All the way to the 'pavilion'!
By the end of the fourteenth over we had for the first time passed one hundred runs, no mean feat for us, at we reached 101-3, with two retirements. Needing 31 off of six overs to win the match, we started to slow & runs became hard to come by. Mick O'Shaughnessy was run out for two; better than his son James, who walked back after being bowled for a duck!
The Bromley bowling tightly restricted the Dulwich charge, Matt Hammond got on the scorecard, but was bowled for three; whilst Mark Hutton went the same way, but also for a 'duck'.
Be afraid,very afraid! (well maybe not!)
Martin Tibble was left with seven not out, in a total of 118 for 7, with two retirements.
Close, but not quite close enough. But nonetheless a gallant display from the Hamlet cricketers. A thoroughly entertaining game that swung both ways with us hitting our highest ever total, & also passing the one hundred mark for the first time.
Game over then, time to shake hands & get to the bar!
Yes we are probably a bit silly in playing a supporters' cricket game in the summer, but in the dim & distant past Dulwich Hamlet footballers traditionally packed their football boots away, & represented the Club with ball & bat in the summer months. We may not be of the same quality, but I am sure that 'Pa' Wilson looks down approvingly from above, as the Supporters' of the 21st century continue a Dulwich Hamlet cricketing tradition that has been part of our Club since formation in 1893, & only faded away in the nineteen sixties.
A big thank you to al lwho turned out, it's great fun, even if we invariably come off second best. Cheers to Colin Head & all his Bromley boys for the contest. Roll on next year!
Report mainly by Shaun Dooley, & photos from Mishi Morath.
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