Saturday July 24th 2021

The Strand hosted a must win game for the 1st XI against Mansfield Hosiery Mills that saw lots of records broken, firsts established and, most significantly, the win accomplished. Batting first after winning the toss, the opening pair of Ben Shaw and Savin Perera put on 124 for the first wicket – the highest NPL opening partnership. Savin was dismissed for 57, his 14th 50 for the club, but Ben went on to secure his first hundred for the club and the club’s highest individual score in the NPL with 151 runs that included 15 4s and 4 6s. His third 50 boosted the run rate so much, coming from just 19 balls with 3 6s and 6 4s. The innings ended on 323 for only 4 wickets – the highest NPL score and the highest 1st XI score at The Strand. A tough ask for the league’s bottom side but one that they were in touch with for most of the game, being 186 for 2 at one stage, before losing a flurry of wickets and being bowled out for 242 in the 50th over. Star performers with the ball were Arjun Sandhu with an economical 5 for 28, his first 5 wicket haul in the NPL, and Mav Pamphile, making his debut for the club, with 3 for 44. Putting the individual performances and stats to one side, one pleasing aspect of the game was the quality of the fielding. Perhaps partly inspired by Mav’s presence in the team, there seemed to be plenty of rapid movement around the ground, a great commitment to saving runs and some good quality catching from the young side with an average age of only 22. The 8 point win establishes a 10 point gap between the Squirrels and Caythorpe who occupy the second relegation position in the league, albeit with one game in hand.

In contrast to the 1st XI’s high scoring game the high performing 3rd XI took on Gedling Colliery in a relatively low scoring game. After winning the toss and asking the home side to bat there was plenty of tight bowling from the Squirrels with Tom Shields conceding only 7 runs in taking 3 wickets from his 10 overs. Ben Goodlass had similar figures, also taking 3 wickets and allowing only 8 runs from his 6 overs – his first wickets for the 3rd XI. Gedling Colliery were bowled out for only 89 in just over 34 overs. Max Goodings was the foundation of the reply, hitting a quick 49 as the target was reached for the loss of 5 wickets from only 19 overs. The full points win sees the team retain their third position in Division F of the league.

There was a relatively close game for the 4th XI at the University ground as Ellerslie reached their target with 7 wickets in hand but with less than 2 overs to go. Batting first the 4s scored 178 for 7 wickets from their 45 overs with Finlay Meakin top scoring with 39, supported by Sam Dickinson 24, Reece Caine 20 and skipper Sam Randall, also 20. Martin Rayner collected 2 of the 3 wickets to fall for 52 runs; his first wickets for the 4s. Sadly the defeat sees the 4s drop a place to the foot of Division H.

Graham Shaw