Played at Woodford Green
Report by Steve Hamilton
A historic match with an Old Fallopians record chase of 254 to
win the game. Only one chase has been larger - 260 - but that
fixture ended in a draw.
This was our second fixture of the
season played on a cold gray day.
We won the toss and I
decided to field as we had some class on display with our bowling
line up.
The Woodford openers looked solid until Syed upset
the batsman with his unpredictable line and pace and soon got his
victim with a inside edge which hit the wicket and took out the
opener in his second over. Our specialist swinger Umair Shahzad
provided good support from the other end.
Debutant Gaurav
Prabhu came on and bowled a very controlled line and was rewarded
with the wicket of young big-hitting Waqur for 33, clean bowled.
Woodford reached 126 for 2 off 20 overs at drinks. I was
expecting them to reach a big score as on a flat wicket we were
struggling to repeat our opening success!
After drinks,
another dubutant Imran Khan bowled a tidy five-over spell and kept
the Woodford run rate down.
We needed something special to
happen as their opening batsman was on 92 and looked all set to a
100 or more with a total of 300 definitely on cards! That was until
a magnificent piece of fielding from Syed Hussian, showing the
athleticism of a man half his age! Reaching down low to pick up a
tremendously hard-hit ball, he released it immediately wth a precise
throw to keeper Milu Aslam who took off the bails.
Ahmed
Nisar came on with decent pace and was beating the outside edge
numerous times, finally gaining the wicket which he well deserved
with a snick to the nimble Milu who nonchalantly took the catch .
Syed and Umair came on for the remaining four overs, both
taking a wicket and stopping Woodford from accelerating to an even
more challenging target.
After a marvellous tea we were
chasing 254 and needed a decent start, game on!
Star batsman
Farhad Waqar, who never fails to deliver, was in first gear
immediately. He and Vishnu Dubey put on 70-odd on for the first
wicket. Farhad reached his 50 and was dispatching the ball to all
parts of the ground effortlessly. He was very much in control until
he went to drive a ball that pitched outside off, swung in and took
out his middle wicket.
Vishnu in contrast struggled early and
went through the gears but soon finally settled down and started to
play elegantly until he was finding the boundary with ease!
We struggled for the next 10 overs, losing a couple of wickets and
scoring only 30, with Sam Clough unlucky to get run out with a
direct hit. For second game in a row we needed some something
special to stay in the game, let alone win it!
Umair was the
man of hour - in destructive form with two sixes and eight fours he
reached his 50 in no time, almost taking us over the winning line.
But the man of the match was Vishnu, ending on 95 not out. He was
not a man to be broken down and was full of class and gutsy spirit
who went through the gears before finally hitting the winning runs.
Well played Old Fallopians with and a great all round team
performance!
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