Played at Mayow Park, Sydenham
Report by Steve Hamilton
I was expecting a close encounter, but it turned out to be a near
annihilation!
Now with a settled Fallopians team and everyone
knowing their role, we were ready to take revenge for the
dramatic
defeat by Hobgoblin Nomads last season when we lost by just one run.
We needed to heal our wounds and get over the battle scars!
I
won the toss and chose to bat in blistering humid conditions with
the temperature slightly above 30C. We needed a substantial total to
put on the early pressure.
It was a huge ground in deepest
Sydenham with some deep cracks on the wicket. The ball kept
particularly low from one end, so it was not the easiest of batting
tracks.
The game featured a complete role reversal for
Jakaria Ahmed, our leading run scorer this season. On this occasion
he was in test match mode and held our innings together as we faced
a fierce bowling attack on the extremely uncompromising wicket.
He survived countless deliveries and dug out a fair amount of
decent yorkers! He made a solid 50 including six fours and survived
till the 32nd of our 40 overs. He shared a 3rd wicket partnership
with Umair Shahzad of 137.
Shahzad is now beginning to shine
as our season progresses and was the clearly the dominant batsman in
this collaboration. He played another enthralling knock, full of
flair and panache which included eight fours and four sixes in a
sensational innings of 81.
Talal Ali and Syed Shah also made
useful contributions to our total with cameos towards the end of our
innings, scoring 20 and 17 respectively to give us a competitive
total of 217.
Defending our tally, our opening bowlers did
not take long to get through the openers.
First Umair took
the wicket of Salsbury for four. The batter hit the ball straight to
cover, where Asad Saleemi took a great catch above his head.
Then Syed took two wickets in three balls, first clean bowling
Pohl for two and then removing captain Niz for a duck. Syed
delivered the ball across the batter’s body, getting a thin edge
that raced towards Adnan Walayat, our specialist slip catcher.
Walayat is one of those guys that makes catching look easier than it
actually is!
Back came Umair with another unplayable delivery
that bamboozled Fatnani, who edged it straight into the
ever-reliable hands of our keeper Mo Junaid.
Next, our other
leftie pace-bowler Talal tore through the middle order batsmen in
devastating fashion and clearly ended the hopes of the Nomads!
Talal’s wickets were all cleaned-bowled. First was Ansar for two,
then Logan for 14 and finally Desai for four, leaving the opposition
despairing on 45 for 7 off 16 overs.
This was Subhan Aftab's
second game and he has started to grow in confidence. He was
rewarded with the wicket of McGinnis for six in his first over. The
batsman hit the ball straight over the bowler’s head towards long
on, where Walayat took his second catch of the day.
Asad
Saleemi, playing his third game for the Fallopians, has a mixture of
random balls in his repertoire. He outwitted and removed the
dangerous Jackson for 18 with a beautifully delivered flighted ball.
The delivery floated above the batsman’s eyeline and tempted him to
try smash the ball out the park. But he failed miserably and was
clean bowled.
I took the final wicket, removing their top
scorer Bhardwaj for 29 with my usual full ball deliveries which
normally pitch around fourth or fifth stump. The batter tried to
take me to Chinatown but was outgunned by a wily old fox. He
mistimed his shot completely and skied it to cover, where Talal took
the catch effortlessly and therefore ended the game.
We had
healed our wounds and had won by a comfortable margin of 97 runs.
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