Unstoppable Hurlingham overhaul 260 with nine wickets to spare

Jesters CC 260-9 dec (Butler 81, Clapp 62, Sachin Rawson 60)

Hurlingham 261-1

Lost by 9 wickets

On a sunny late-summer Sunday, we returned to one of the finest cricket grounds in London, at the Hurlingham Club. Given the beautiful wicket and the croquet-lawn outfield, one of the most important contests of the game was before the start - the toss. We came second, and our knowledgeable hosts invited us to bat first.

Their strong opening attack caused some early alarm, which was ironic given the late arrival of several members of our top order. Surprisingly the tardy parties did not include Shorbo Nag, who benefitted by striding out at number 4, only to last 2 balls (to complete successive ducks in this fixture).

However, the returning Simon Butler and the ever-impressive Sachin Rawson dug us out of our early hole (at 27/3) to reach lunch at a very respectable 158/3. Their initial circumspect approach in the face of a threatening home attack was rewarded with a flurry of runs in the overs leading up to the break.

Unfortunately, as is often the case, a mid-innings wobble is never far away, and both fell victim to the Hurlingham left-armer Tom Nunnely, as Simon fell for 81 and Sachin for 60. At 200/6 we needed a late order flurry to get us to a competitive total, at which point Rowan Clapp provided his customary fireworks, with a 53 ball 62, before falling over his sword when attempting a comfortable second. After a few further swipes through third man from the lower order, we declared on 260/9, with Nunnely finishing with figures of 17-2-61-7. A fine effort, and potentially match-defining.

Our hopes in the field hinged on the wily Ilija Krunic, the passionate DJ Chak and the canny off spin of Nick Mumby. All bowled well, but without luck, as a couple of testing early chances were put down. Simon Butler also rolled back the years with his metronomic military medium, but couldn’t quite find his just reward. The Hurlingham openers put on 108 patient runs before Nick found an outside edge, well pouched by Shorbo.

Unfortunately, the break-through only served to hasten the chase rather than bring us back into contention. Some bold bowling changes by the skipper tested the home side’s stock of reserve balls, and Hurlingham hurried to a well-deserved 9 wicket win, with their surviving opener, Ollie Logan, making a fine 132*.

Thanks very much as ever to the Hurlingham for hosting us so generously, and also to our guest scorer Alan Lane, who scored impeccably!