On the Fifth of August, the celestial chaos that is the universe was aligned for a young Nottingham Lad by the name of Stuart Broad. Whether you are a believer or not, something was different that morning and it all came to a head as one of the greatest bowling spells in cricket was bowled.

Clearly two young Clapham Mavericks were reading from the same Hymn sheet as Saturday saw COX put in one of the most dominant performances with ball in hand in their history as Clapham skittled newly promoted Wimbledon Corinthians to 43 all out and managed to finish the game by 3:15 pm and take home the 20 points.

With conflicting pre-match arrangements, Clapham were without a number of senior figures and due to the poor planning of the south London road network were starting the game with 10 men. Skipper for the day Josh Dickinson had a hard choice- start the game on the defensive or trust in one of the noblest and oldest traditions in sport- never take a step backwards. The choice was easy.

After loosing the toss and being put in to field- step up the two stars of the day- Steve Routledge and Asif. Things however did not start the way the captain would have wanted when on the second ball of the innings, an over excited clapham side tried a speculative run out at the non strikers end which ended up with 5 runs to the oppo. The only blemish of the day.

Clapham ripped through the top order of Wimbledon Corinthians and reduced the visitors to 11 for 6. A spirited number 8 and gave the bowling attack a slight scare before the godfather of Clapham Effie claimed the last wicket and Corinthians were bowled out for 43.
In the reply, a combination of extras and simple cricket meant without breaking a sweat, Clapham chased the score down for 1 wicket and the boys in the bar before 3:30. What a start.

Clapham have a chance to steal a march on the top by facing new rivals CCCI next week who also put in a dominant performance to win their first game. In what is now called the “Santosh-Dickinson” Trophy, bragging rights and early league dominance are at stake

Report from Josh Dickinson

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