Played at Hainault Recreation Ground
Report by Hassan Khan
On another scorching day on the parched Farlop plains, Oakfield
Parkonians elected to bat after winning the toss. Their openers
immediately set about trying to bludgeon the bowling, with Najeeb
hammered for 22 in his first over.
However, the big fast
bowler hit back to break the spine of the Parkonian batting with
three wickets in his second over. Packed full of T20-obsessed colts,
the Parkonians continued vainly to flay the moving ball on a
treacherous wicket and were soon tottering at 50-5.
However,
the opposition's veteran opener Bal carefully guided the youngsters
and lead a recovery, despite beeing utterly bamboozled by eight
overs of spin and seam from Castle - firstly four overs of Derek
Underwood tidy spinners combined with four overs of hostile Andy
Roberts swingers.
On a difficult wicket, Bal completed an
excellent century - apparently his first ever in a long career at
the crease, before the left arm pace of Hashmi cleaned up the tail
to leave us chasing a tough total of 203 from their 40 overs.
Fallopian openers Turner and Dubey looked good until Turner
mistimed a pull to square leg and Dubey was given out caught -
unfairly, he thought. Star batsman Prabhu was pinned LBW for 0 and
Mansha quickly followed to leave us in disarray at 40-4.
Skipper Khan and Hashmi rehabilitated the innings with a 64-run
partnership and an OF win looked plausible at the half-way stage
with 104-4 from 20 overs.
However, the flamboyant Hashmi
played one shot too many to fall with our highest score of 42,
triggering deja vu as our innings folded with 10 overs to spare.
One silver lining in the O.F cloud was a superb all round
performance from Najeeb, whose brilliant 4-36 was complemented by a
belligerent 23.
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| Cloudy but warm: Waqas Hashmi
facing with partner Hassan Khan at the non-striker's end
Photo: Tim Castle |
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| Throat ball: Hashmi
takes evasive action from a high delivery
Photo: Tim Castle |
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| Ball play: Hassan Khan
prepares to strike
Photo: Tim Castle |
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| Head shot: Hashmi about to
slog a beamer over his head
Photo: Tim Castle |
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| Poised for the kill: Mo
Najeeb about to punish the ball
Photo: Tim Castle |
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