Agricola

4th Jul 2018 - Chiswick
Won by 77 runs - NRR = 3.85

The CIPA team bravely battled the heat and train delays to get out to darkest south west London in good time to take on Agricola at their home ground. Our last two trips out that way had resulted in comprehensive victories for Agricola, and so we were keen to make amends.

Milton, standing in as captain for the injured/holidaying Spurr, persuaded Agricola to allow us to bat first whilst the rest of our team turned up. This turned out to be a good call, as CIPA then made the most of the better batting conditions to pile on the runs. Tom Fraser in particular set the tone, with a brutal 27 not out at a strike rate of 225. There were also strong contributions from Justin Wilson, Nick King and Yov (all 27 not out as well). Torrance, Chris Milton and Tim Headley then biffed the ball around a bit in the closing overs to get us up to a very decent total of 185-5 from 20.

Agricola's batsmen struggled to discover the same clean-hitting that had come so easily to the CIPA team, in part due to a very fine collective bowling effort by the entire team. Every player (bar Fraser who was keeping) bowled at least one over, with Dave Prothero leading the wickets with two (admittedly of dubious quality) and Andy Grant and Milton bowling six overs between them for just 18 runs. A heavy shower at one point threatened to curtail matters, but we soldiered on and Agricola made just 108 in the end.

A resounding victory for CIPA, which was followed by some beers (but no beige food, regretably) in the bar at the ground and a trip to a local riverside pub for those who were still thirsty. At least one player (he knows who he is) bought a snack on the way home, and his whites still bear evidence of the mustard that missed his mouth.

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