Monday 3 May saw the start of the 2021 edition of the Will Sherwood Memorial Cup. With heavy rain forecast and the Wolves chat buzzing with excitement for cricket, an earlier start time was agreed and several players rousted early from their beds!
Game 1 saw Potter’s Pacers take on Sam Payne’s Supernovas. With only 9 present at the ground Payne won the toss and elected to bat. The opening partnership of Ben Madden (53) and Rich Oliver (98*) scored over 150 runs leading to SPS posting a tough score of 171. In the Pacers innings Rahul Gupta (2-14) struck early taking the wickets of Lewis and Jones. A very quick 29 from Amit Borlikar gave the Pacers a small chance but the fight back was halted by strike bowler Daniel Crouch! The Pacers were bowled out for 121 giving the first 2 points of this year’s Will Sherwood Cup to the Supernovas.
| Supernovas | 171-2 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Oliver | 98* | ||
| Madden | 53 | ||
| Pacers | 120 | ||
| Borlikar | 29 | R Gupta | 2-14 |
Game 2 saw the Supernovas take on George’s Knights. With the clouds getting darker th Knight’s skipper Brian elected to bat. However the SPS opening pair of Rahul and Payne picked up 4 early wickets putting the Knights under early pressure. In came Chris Lynch who quickly started racking up the runs. Meanwhile, last minute ringer, Luke Murgatroyd took 3 wickets rapidly piling the pressure on. Lynch’s valiant innings came to an end when he was run out for 39. The wickets continued to flow with Shahrukh and the Chairman taking the final wickets. With just 65 on the board and the high winds making Kennington seem like it was in the Arctic Circle, the Supernovas innings began. In the harsh conditions some good bowling made it hard to get the innings going. The rain began to fall heavily with Rahul approaching the crease with SPS on 37. Gupta smashed 16 of the following over and, with his teammates beginning to freeze, Captain George admirably conceded the game with 12 runs left to get.
| Knights | 66 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Lynch | 39 | Murgatroyd | 3-9 |
| Supernovas | 54-5 | ||
| R. Gupta | 16* |
Despite the weather, we managed to play the two fixtures. It was great to see so many new and old Wolves together to bring in this year’s competition. It sets us up for a great season ahead, if it ever stops raining!
Report by Sam Payne