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Played at Wallsgrove House
Report by Steve Hamilton

On a crest of wave we arrived at the luxurious surroundings of High Beach CC, located in the grounds of the neo-Classical Wallsgrove House on the edge of Epping Forest. Horses and sheep were grazing in the distance and the weather conditions were perfect, with a subtle southerly breeze and temperatures hitting around 21C.

We won the toss for the fifth consecutive game and chose to bat first, a decision validated by our batsmen delivering in bucket loads!

Waseem Furqan destroyed the opposition bowlers using the whole 360 degrees of the ground to dispatch the ball at will. He was unfortunate not to get his hundred, reaching 93 which included four monster sixes and twelve fours, sharing a second-wicket partnership of 116 with Azaz.

Azaz Khalil reached a well-deserved 52 including one six and five fours. He is looking more powerful this season and was destructive from the start.

Umair Shahzad was carrying a slight back injury, which luckily did not seem to affect his batting performance at all! He scored a quick-fire 40 in 6 overs with one six and six fours, sharing a third-wicket partnership with Waseem of 54.

Thanks to these heroics we reached a very satisfactory total of 274-8 off our 35 overs.

In reply, we got off to a perfect start when Waseem trapped Barckley lbw for a duck in his first over.

Goddalla Srinivasrao removed John for 4, tempting him into a drive that reached the in-coming gazelle Azaz to take a spectacular running catch.

After five overs, High Beach were 13 for 2 and we were in total dominance.

Now at the crease were two very familiar faces, Asad Mushtaq and Jay Uthaman. The pair put on 105 for the third wicket and gave the home team some hope.

By the drinks break High Beach had repaired the early damage and were looking competitive at 117-2 off 19 overs.

But the wheels began to come off their recovery in the very next over. Fahad Karim removed Uthaman for 50 with a slight nick behind that rocketed at a rate of knots into the hands of Jakaria Ahmed who took a sensational catch slightly above face height.

The following over hammered the final nail in coffin for High Beach. Nihar Ksainihar dismissed Mushtaq for 42 with a delivery that tempted the batter into an off drive that only reached mid-off, where Azaz took a comfortable catch.

From there High Beach crumbled from 117 for 2 to 150 for 7.

I decided to bring on a golden-arm specialist (who could this be? Ed.) and was soon rewarded with a wicket in my first over (aha!) by first clean bowling Khan for a duck.

In my third over I was set for a hat-trick. First I removed the aggressive Ali for 14. He had smashed me for couple of boundaries in my previous over. But he was starting to be predictable, walking down the crease as he tried to wallop me. I outfoxed him by delivering a fuller ball at fifth stump. He was too far down the crease and could not get near the ball, due to the extra pace. Jakaria had no trouble picking up the ball and removing the bails.

Next ball I took the wicket of Mutzala for a golden duck. He hit the ball straight to mid-on where Goddalla took a superb low catch.

But the hat-trick ball was unsuccessful. I bowled at fifth stump but this time the batsman just left it. Never mind, I will settle for 4-0-12-3.

Debutant Saiteja Garikapati grew in confidence in his third over and wrapped up the game by taking his first wicket, removing Yasir for 22. The batter had hit the ball firmly to short leg where Fahad took an exceptional catch. A couple balls later Saiteja clean bowled Adnan for 26.

High Beach were all out for 191. They had put up a decent fight and we had to work hard to get our breakthroughs. We won by 83 runs. It was definitely a complete team effort.

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