Trevor Bailey Sports Ground, Dulwich, Sunday 9 June 2024.

Mandarins 213-4 dec (33 overs: Arun Sajjan 52* ret, J Wilmot 51* ret, Gren Thompson 2-30) beat St Anne’s Allstars 101 all out (32 overs: Gren Thompson 30*, Barathwaj Nagarajan 24, C Healey 3-8) by 112 runs.

Allstars Debuts: Anil MK, Anindya Roy.

Report and photos by Vivek Seth

On a sunny morning in June, the Allstars headed to Dulwich for their second game of the season. Our opponents, Mandarins CC, are a spin-off of our old friends the Superstars – who now confine themselves solely to midweek T20 fixtures . As well as a new oppo, we welcomed two new Allstars, Anil and Anindya, and a new skipper with Barathwaj Nagarajan captaining us for the first time.

The Allstars lost the toss and fielded first. We opened with a combination of pace (Gren) and slow (me) in an attempt to quickly unsettle the batsmen. To begin with, it worked well with the Mandarins struggling to get going. Gren bowled both openers and come the 10th over, Mandarins were 28/2. That though, brought Wilmot and Arun Saajan to the crease. Both established themselves very quickly and began a considerable counterattack. A combination of Pradosh Bose, Anil, Andrew Lipscombe and Iain Wilson all did their best to dislodge both batsmen but with very little joy. Even with a slow outfield, and some outstanding fielding by Pradosh and Jimmy Scott in particular, both batsmen found the boundary with relative ease. A couple of tough dropped catches did give us some confidence, though: there were chances to be had and we were still in the game.

Both Wilmot and Saajan retired upon reaching their fifties, further emphasising that Mandarins really do play Sunday cricket in the right spirit. The hope was we could reassert ourselves with new batsmen at the crease. Pradosh initially obliged, taking his first Allstars wicket as he bowled Jarvis. Vijay Anand, however, took on the heavy hitting role for the Mandarins, with skipper Barath eventually taking his wicket for a quickfire 44.

Manadrins declared on 213/4. A tough total but one which we thought could be gettable with a couple of strong partnerships. The draw was definitely a realistic target.

Barath and Anindya opened the batting and immediately looked to score quickly and assert themselves. There was early joy, with both finding the boundary. Anindya fell in the 7th over with Allstars now 31/1 and with a good platform to push for a good total. However, in typical Allstars fashion, we opted to collapse instead, in the face of some particularly strong bowling from Healey and Mandarins skipper Dan Forman. Andrew, Barath, and Anil all looked to hang around but fell to tight bowling. Pradosh and Nathaniel Hill then also went in quick succession, leaving victory well out of the equation.

At the start of the 20 over countdown, the Allstars were 49/6. With me and Iain at the crease, we immediately tried our best Boycott impressions, leaving as much as possible to try and salvage the draw. It worked for 7 overs before I was then bowled. That then brought Gren to the crease who again initially blocked out but then quickly went on the attack. The partnership lasted another 5 overs before Iain’s stand ended with 8 overs left. Gren continued his attack, taking the Allstars beyond 100. Neale Adams then fell, leaving 6.4 overs for Gren and Jimmy to see out. Hopes remained high, but some outstanding Mandarins fielding led to Jimmy being run out at the end of the over. Allstars all out for 101, with the Mandarins winning by 112 runs.

A tough day for the Allstars. While a well-deserved victory for the Mandarins, we were competitive and certainly had our chances to make the game much closer. Despite the result,we all agreed that it was a great day out: a lovely setting, a chance to meet up with friends old and new, and an oppo who were clearly cut from the same cloth as ourselves. We very much look forward to playing the Mandarins next year.