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Sat. 2nd June 2007
1st XI (162) vs Perivale Phoenicians (163/7) Lost
(Away – 11pts)
The 1s’ well-documented batting problems again
cost us dear, this time against an in-form PP in
west London. Skipper Tharic Mohammed made the right
call to bat on a hot day, but we collapsed after
being in a comfortable position at 79/2 with half
the allotted overs in hand. Just as we were starting
to dominate the PP attack, Tharic ran out Alistair
for 26 and the game changed. Colin Williams was then
triggered which then exposed the lower middle order
who could not cope with accurate PP seam bowling
from one end on a low track. Tharic made some amends
with 85*, mixing violence with sensible cricket shots,
but we were some 40 runs of a defendable total.
We made PP fight for the win with a disciplined
bowling display and it took them 46 overs to pass
our total. Nigel Bagley struck in the first over
and then PP’s number three was very lucky to
escape with an LBW decision on nought off the same
bowler in the same over. That was a huge decision
and he made 50 before being the first of Tharic’s
four victims (4/52), finally stumped by Chris Bennett.
Anthony Shaw claimed another and Stuart Trotter struck
with a direct hit from fine leg for a run-out to
at least bag some bowling points for AP to exert
some pressure on the home side. Some of the later
PP batters seemed content to hit a four and a six
then get out! Perhaps we would be better off chasing.
It is something to think about as we prepare for
Turnham Green at home this week.
NB
2nd XI (151) vs Perivale Phoenicians (153/4) Lost
(Home)
They lost the toss, we decided to bat and, apart
from a very well compiled 67 from Faisal Mohammed,
a resilient 19 from Matt Blackmore and a steady 17
from Dave Gillman, we were poor, very poor. So, 50
overs and 151 runs later, which was 30 less than
needed, we came in for tea.
In the field Amit Bose was the unluckiest of the
bowlers, but in saying that we fielded and bowled
like a team for the blind and that’s being
generous; this allowed the oppo to take plenty of
time in ammasing thDave ‘The Cat’ Cattell
bowled well, and congratulations are due to Matt
Blackmore for obtaining his first 2nd XI wicket.
If we play like this next weekend we should be back
at the club before 5.
KH
3rd XI (170) vs British Airways (171/8) Lost
(Away – 12pts)
What can I say – we certainly snatched defeat
from the jaws of victory! Batting first we struggled
on a slowish/lowish track. At 37/4 we might have
settled for 170 but in reality too many batsmen got
themselves out and we should have scored more. Zia
Saeed top scored with 49. We have 52 overs to bat
and over the years we have shown that the last 10
will usually give up 60 or so it doesn’t take
a rocket scientist to see that all we need to do
is get a platform and than launch. Three league games
and we haven’t yet batted through!
We opened up after tea with Dan Buckley and Shazad
Hagi. Buckley bowled unchanged throughout the innings
to finish with 6/71 off 20. Unfortunately, The seamers
at the other end kept them in the game and we just
didn’t bowl with enough control. Around 25
wides tells the tale of what might have been. Even
then it needed a last wicket partnership of around
20 (they only had 10 men) to get them home but we
couldn’t produce the goods!! That said the
ground fielding was good and we did take a couple
of decent catches. Perhaps the bowlers may consider
a net on a Wednesday or a game on a Sunday to get
in some sort of nick. Perhaps the batsmen may consider
a net on a Wednesday or a game on a Sunday to get
in some practice!! As they say “every little
helps”
JF
4th XI (114) vs MTSSC III (115/4) Lost
(Home – 6pts)
I won the toss and on a glorious and scorching day
at the Racecourse Ground opted to bat. It was a good
decision in theory: our batsmen could see off the
openers, who would surely tire quickly in the heat,
and then see what else they had in their locker;
the assumption being that MTSSC, the division leaders,
were more of a batting team than a bowling team.
Well, our batting put paid to that notion! Shalim
Salam and Tauqueer Jamadar opened against some steady
bowling on a typical, early-season AP ‘slow
and low’ track and put on 30-something for
the first wicket. As it was, Shalim top-scored with
35, mixing obdurate defence with some Ponting-esque
strokeplay, and the rest of the batting order didn’t
really fire. Batsmen (including myself) who should
have known better got out playing ‘Hollywood’ shots
and we were dismissed for 114 inside 51 overs. Charles
Tallamy, as ever, did an excellent job as umpire
during our innings and many thanks to him for coming
down.
After
an excellent tea Paul Sullivan and Manan Banker opened
the bowling, with not much room for error. Manan
bowled superbly (11/2/29/2), and Rohan da Silva and
Dave ‘Dadu’ Kassam both took a wicket
each, but MTSSC’s skipper Brian Arnold (brother
of Russell Arnold) scored 57 and the oppo romped
to victory inside 22 overs. A disappointing result
on such a lovely day.
Excluding the abandoned fixture at Southgate, in
our three completed games to date we have batted
first and occupied the crease for a total of approx.
147 overs out of a possible 156 – and yet we
have failed to reach 180 runs and maximum batting
pts (10) on every occasion. I must commend our batsmen
for their due diligence and doggedness but we really
must score more than 180 in order to a) set a challenging
total for the oppo, which I believe we can defend
as we have some good bowlers, and b) take maximum
batting pts which will at least give us a good pts
haul in the event of a draw or defeat. Naturally,
the best way to gain a good pts haul is to win (25pts
batting first, 20pts batting second), but failing
that we must accrue as many bonus points as possible
when batting first as we can’t always rely
on the bowlers to dig us out of trouble in the event
of our batting going belly-up. More runs please!
NW
Sun 3rd June 2007
1st XI (150) vs AP Vets (169/8d) Lost
The annual 1s versus Vets game and a win for the
old ‘uns (plus Henry!) in the penultimate
over. On a glorious day, the 1s stuck the Vets
in. On a slow paced track, John Freestone and Ali
Wilson were soon compiling an opening stand of
35 before Manan Banker caught Ali off his own bowling
for 22 – a good spell this. John batted very
confidently, driving the ball especially well,
but was eventually run out with the total on 95.
The Vets run rate slowed down as Nigel Bagley and
Paul Dennison took three wickets each, but Rohan
Da Silva stuck around for a long, long time to
grind out 31. The 1s bowled 51 overs – a
good effort.
In reply, the 1s lost a wicket as early as the second
over when JF took a remarkable one-handed catch to
dismiss Faric Mohammed. He won’t get out to
a better one all season. This was the first of three
wickets for Barrington Cameron (3/29), who also claimed
the scalps of Chris Bennett and Paul Dennison. It
was the best I’ve seen the old fella bowl.
The 1s recovered thanks to Tharic Mohammed who made
50, but the game changed when he tried to put a straight
one from Dan Buckley in the reservoir - and missed. ‘Buckers’ bowled
Stephanie Mindel (10), and Jeremy Anderson then sliced
Amit Bose to Jack Hyams at backward point for a duck.
The 1s were in trouble. As the run-rate escalated
we still tried to win it. Manan hit two huge sixes
but holed out to Dan Buckley off Freestone Sr. for
33. With 7 balls to go and a draw the most likely
result, Tom Spencer was unluckily stumped by Bryan
King as he fell over in the crease. The Vets had
won. Buckerss took 3/34 and John 3/20. Thanks
to Chris and Charles for umpiring, Amlan for scoring, ‘The
Cat’ and Carol for tea and Jenny for the post-match
buffet.
NB
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