Played at Mayow Park, Sydenham
Report by Steve Hamilton
We had been looking forward to playing Black Rose, but they
cancelled. So instead we travelled across the river to Sydenham on a
mild overcast day for another encounter with our South London rivals
Hobgoblin Nomads. They were leading us 4-3 on the honours board, so
we needed to even the score!
I won the toss and, as we do
whatever the situation, we batted first. This wicket was very
unwelcoming. It had an exceedingly low bounce at both ends. The
ground itself gigantic. The boundary was set back a 100 yards or
more from the wicket. The edges of the ground sloped up to create an
enormous bowl. The ball would often stop dead or even roll back as
it approached the boundary rope.
Our openers Jakaria and Asad
got us off to a decent start reaching 49 off nine overs before Asad
was caught at cover. Junaid was unfortunate to be run out on 19 by
some deadeye fielding. A third-wicket partnership of 57 between
Jakaria and Umair propelled us to 139 for three off 28 overs.
We needed to up the run rate and our players started to hit out.
Umair played some dazzling stokes until he was bowled for 29. Talal
Ali looked sensational as soon as reached the crease. He hit his
first ball for six with a trademark lofted drive straight down
middle. He scored a rapid 30 which definitely upped our rate and
delivered what was needed.
Jakaria was the glue that held
together our innings. He reached a well-deserved fifty which
included ten fours and lasted until the 30th over.
Syed
Rabbani, playing his second game, scored a quick-fire 19. As per
usual, after the top five were gone, a collapse occurred. We lost
the remaining five wickets for 19 runs, even worse than the previous
week, when our final five wickets departed for 29.
Nevertheless, we reached a respectable total of 216.
Tea was
provided for only the second time this season with a lavish spread
of sandwiches, chicken and vegetable pasta, fruits, fudge and
chocolate biscuits, which all definitely hit the spot.
We
were confident of defending our total and getting that monkey off
our back from last week!
The Nomads struggled from the
beginning. They advanced at a snail’s pace and by the half-way stage
of their innings had reached 60 for two off 20 overs. Anas Muhammad
and Goddalla Srinivasrao both took clean-bowled wickets. Jakaria
also knocked over the stumps to leave the Nomads on 88 for 3 after
25 overs.
The opposition looked out of the game and were not
helped by being down to just nine players. The win looked liked a
foregone conclusion for us.
However, things can and do change
in a blink of an eye! As they did when I agreed the Nomads could
bring on two random guys they had found in the park.
The
Nomads rocketed from 88 to 175 for three, scoring 87 in nine overs
without losing a wicket. Singh, one of the two 'random guys', turned
out to be a big-hitting ringer. He survived three dropped catches
and his only intention was to hit large, succeeding the majority of
the time. At the same time as this onslaught with the bat, we were
conceding extras at a rate of knots, 50 IN TOTAL, surpassing the 33
allowed the previous week!
With another two dropped catches
and some poor bowling from myself, the game was slipping from our
grasp.
A miracle was needed to halt the looming defeat.
Nomads required only 42 off six overs and had seven wickets in hand.
We desperately needed someone with composure, skill and gumption
to step up and rise to the challenge. The man of the moment was
revealed as Asad Mushtaq, who bowled a truly devastating spell of
pace bowling!
First Mushtaq removed the dangerous smasher
Singh for 47 after he hit the ball straight to cover where Syed
Rabbani took a game-changing catch. The very next ball Patel was
clean bowled for a golden duck. Another two wickets fell in
Mushtaq’s next over, both clean bowled. The first was Martyn for a
duck followed by Ben for two.
Talal Ali came back for his
second spell and put another nail in the coffin by taking the big
wicket of opener Phil, who had lasted 35 overs for a gritty 66. He
hit the ball to cover where the sprightly Goddalla Srinivasrao took
a majestic catch at knee height.
The next over Mushtaq got
his fifer, clean-bowling Jack for two to cap a sensational
match-winning performance. Mushtaq finished with outstanding figures
of 4-0-12-5, surpassing John Shaw’s haul of 5 for 19 in September
2019, the last player to take five wickets in a match (against
Southgate Adelaide).
http://www.oldfallopians.co.uk/scores2019/2019-09-14-southgateadelaide.htm
Talal took the final wicket of Nomads skipper Niz for a duck
after he hit the ball straight to mid on where Anas took a simple
catch.
The scorecard said we had won comfortably by 26 runs.
But the victory had required a breath-taking finish where we removed
the final seven wickets for just 15 runs.
The result means
we and the Nomads are now level at four wins each, with everything
to play for at our next meeting.
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