Match Reports by Team Captains
1st XI
Fixture – Home against Harborne
Result – Win
A wet and miserable Saturday looked set to force an abandonment in our clash with Harborne, but thanks to the hard work of Dave Hayden and all the players we managed to get a 27 overs per side contest.
H and Guesty opened up again but were unable to make a breakthrough as the openers set a foundation. Kash came on first change and soon removed the opener who was looking to press on. TC and Powles again bowled in tandem and had good success, TC the pick of the bowlers with 2-24 off his 6. Guesty returned to pick up a few late order wickets and Harborne closed on 136-9. A good effort given the wet ball which must be the reason the why Tomo dropped a sitter!
We went out to bat looking to take advantage of the power play – Niall’s whip made a reappearance as the overseas pro struggled to find a consistent line. Shoaib fell early and Niall soon followed. Macca and Maz got stuck in to bring Harborne back into the game with a succession of dot balls.
Powlesy and TC then changed the tide with a swift 40 run partnership before TC fell caught on the boundary with 23 to win. Tomo was trapped plumb in front LBW, Powlesy got caught and bowled, Guesty caught on the boundary and then Haroon caught at mid on.
All of a sudden we were 9 down with 2 to win and the last over about to be bowled in some heavy rain. Kash held his nerve to hit the first ball of the over for a boundary with Jem at the other end after having hit 5 runs from the previous over showing great composure.
Another fantastic victory to keep the 100% league start going before we host Hawkins next week. A great team effort showing the guts and determination it takes to win tight games.
2nd XI
Fixture – away at Wellington
Result – Win
Match day 4 saw us travel away to Wellington. We required our troops to bounce back after the first heavy defeat of the season the previous week.
Having been delayed for over an hour due to rain, the sun attempted to break through and we lost the toss and were put in to bat.
R Flannery and M Davies opened the batting and gave us a good start putting on 89 with R Flannery scoring his first of many we hope 50’s of the season. Being 120 for 2 at one stage, we were looking to amass a total of 220 plus. Unfortunately our middle order did not fire and with the exception of a 32 run partnership by Z Shah and K Ahmed we managed to close our 40 overs on 180 for 6.
Wellington looking eager came into bat confident of knocking off our total on a wicket that had done little to this point. D Hussain on his return to competitive cricket after several years open the bowling, and though understandably a little rusty, bowled well and too quick for the Wellington opening bats who struggled to play him. With Wellington 68 for no wickets and the game evenly balanced we turned to the father & son spin duo to attempt to swing the pendulum back in our favour. This they did with some good bowling, putting the pressure back on the opposition, with Z Shah senior finishing with figures of 0 for 20 from his eight overs and Z Shah junior finishing his 8 overs with man of the match figures of 4 for 25 which included taking the wicket of their number 3 batsman with a Shane Warne to Mike Gatting type delivery that pitched outside leg and took the batsman’s off stump leaving the batsman seriously complexed to what a 14 year had just done. With the opposition needing over 15 an over and M Pitchford finishing on 46 not out, Wellington concluded their innings on 165 for 8 from their 40 overs leaving us with our third win in four games.
Well done the 2’s on bouncing back so well after last weeks drubbing.
Both 3rd XI and 4th XI games were abandoned due to rain.