Played at Springfield Park
Report by Steve Hamilton
This fixture was against North London rivals Pacific who were
celebrating their 2,000th game.
The weather was kind to us as
we were expecting some rain interruptions. Instead we had plenty of
sunshine, with temperatures hitting 20˚C.
I lost the toss and
Pacific captain Murtaza Siddiqui decided to bat. However, we were in
control from the start. Talal Ali removed opening batsman Ben
O'Connor for 20 with a plumb lbw. A few overs later Azaz Kahlil took
the wicket of Kieran McCarthy for four. It was Azaz’s first opening
bowling spell for a couple of seasons but he did not show any signs
of rustiness. His delivery forced the batter into making a fine nick
behind, into the ever-reliable hands of our keeper Mo Junaid.
Our first change bowlers Jakaria Ahmed and Asad Mushtaq kept up
the pressure. Jakaria was rewarded with a quick two wickets, first
clean bowling opener Toby Chasseaud for 22 and in his next over
removing the highly entertaining Jack Mainick. This batter was
constantly going for his shots and did a full 360-degree turn at one
point which left him flat on his backside! A few balls later he
mistimed his shot off Jakaria's slower delivery, sending it to
backward point where Salahuddin Zaidi took another superb catch in
his second game.
At 72 for 4 off 17 overs we were in pole
position.
Young debutant Harsh Khanna showed a lot of promise
and bowled with control and accuracy which resulted in two wickets,
clean bowling Simon Wedlock and Harry Rix for 13 and four
respectively.
Now it was time for the battle of the day,
reminiscent of David’s battle with Goliath. At one end stood the
towering figure of big hitting Muhammad Saqib who was well in his
stride on 37 with eight fours. At the other end we had the Comeback
Kid – none other than John Shaw, back after 33 months.
He
showed he had lost none of his skills and was soon displaying his
full repertoire of red-ball trickery. He took the key wicket of
Saqib after tempting him into a big shot too many. Saqib hit the
delivery cleanly towards cow corner where Jakaria Ahmed took a
breath-taking catch a few yards in from the boundary. John's next
victim was Jonathan Hungin for nine as he found the outside edge of
the bat, sending the ball straight into Junaid's gloves.
Murtaza Siddiqui scored freely for his 30 not out, to give Pacific a
reasonable total of 181 for 8 off 40 overs.
We were very
confident of chasing down the total, after having scored 272 and 249
in our two previous games. But would reaching 182 be a walk in the
Springfield Park? Only time would tell!
Jakaria and Asad put
on 45 for our first wicket, before Jakaria was bowled by the awkward
leftie Hungin for an exhilarating 26 which included six fours.
Junaid's innings was an exciting but brief 20 which included three
fours and one almighty six over deep square. Hugin’s left-hand
deliveries caused problems for Junaid who never quite connected
cleanly, resulting in a simple catch for Mainick at mid-off.
Nonetheless, at 83 for 2 off 15 overs we were in the driving seat.
Asad played a delightful innings full of class and elegance with
some particularly handsome straight drives. He scored a
well-deserved half century which included ten fours for his 54.
Anas and Azaz both got starts but never went on, scoring 23 and
19 respectively. At 140 for 3 off 25 overs things started to turn
and we were struck by a mini-collapse!
We lost six wickets
for just 40 runs and at 176 for 8 our chase was looking extremely
vulnerable. But no fear! Fahim Pathan was here! He comfortably took
us home with two eye-catching straight drives for four to cross the
line with two wickets to spare.
Scorecard below photo
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Boundary view: Old Fallopians enjoy the
sunshine as the match progresses. |
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