No easy Regatta for the Rs

On a calm sunny afternoon with the rivers running still, Rowington visited table topping, undefeated Henley, with a scratch crew of ten players and several regulars still making poor excuses such as having heart surgery the week before. It can often be the case that in times of adversity a team can pull together and spring a surprise; well not on this occasion as the match went with form.

It now goes without saying that Scott Rogers, ever the true gentleman, lost the toss so that the Henley captain didn’t feel left out, as the previous nine captains had all got to choose whether to bat or bowl. So the Rs were put into bat and the Henley lads were a bit quiet as the opening lightweight pair of Smith and Haywood, having listened to the skipper's stern rollocking last week, made a positive start with strokes all round the wicket to put on 28 in the first 5 overs. Haywood got a bit hot under his new scull protector and thought it better to spend the rest of the afternoon in the shade. There then followed the fall of regular wickets after promising starts made by the engine room of Smith (18), Rogers (13) and Cross (20), but all got out leaving the lower middle order to play out the remaining overs with solid resistance from Griffin and Collins. Special mention to Griff’s reverse sweep; unfortunately he didn’t connect and he caught a crab and was hit full on the toe bang in front.

After a fine tea the Henley batsmen decided that they didn’t want to hang around and went hard at the ball, generally connecting. A couple of early wickets from Eike Gilbert (and it was good to see a slip catch finally taken!) followed up with three from Leon (don’t mention the first two overs) Clarke looked like it could have made the game interesting. However, a fine knock of 57no from Stibbon saw Henley cruise across the finishing line in 22 overs. Bowling figures: Rogers 0-20, Gilbert 2-41, Clarke 3-47 and Griffin 0-27.

The Rs batsmen need to start upping their stroke rate and give the bowlers a chance or they could be steering a course for a relegation fight. At least next week should be a bit easier as it’s only Henley again!!

Clive Haywood