Played at Theydon Bois
Report by Steve Hamilton
For this match we returned to the luxury setting of Theydon Bois
after a three-year absence, but were not blessed with the best of
weather conditions. We agreed to cut the overs down because of the
expected stop-start showers which would force us to leave the field.
We lost the toss and the opposition chose to bat. Even though we
were without our usual opening pair of strike bowlers, Umair and
Syed, we still had enough quality in reserve to cause our hosts
problems.
We mixed up the bowling and used eight bowlers.
Asad Mushtaq and Talal Ali bowled a flawless spell and put the
breaks on early, restricting the opposition to 30 for 1 off eight
overs. Talal took the wicket of the dangerous-looking Sweetniny for
21 after he got a top edge down to fine leg, where Mohammed Rashid
took a first-rate catch.
Next to strike was Rashid himself
with a plum lbw to remove the talented colt Treveet for eight.
Rashid and finished with remarkable figures of 4-1-6-1.
Debutant Jayasankar Uthaman also caused mayhem, taking two wickets
with his subtle variations of finger spin. First he removed Noblett
caught behind for nine by this season’s regular keeper Mo Junaid.
(He can do no wrong with the bat or ball either!) His second wicket
was A Tariq for 17. This was a much quicker ball outside off stump
which Tariq cut fearlessly straight to gully at a rate of knots.
Yet, without the blink of an eye, it was safely taken by Asad
Mushtaq.
After some acrobatics and superman dives in the
field - and also taking a blow under his chin - Ilyas Mansha was
rewarded with the wicket of M Tariq. Mansha had softened up Tariq
earlier with his trademark hypnotic high-floating deliveries. The
batsman was probably still bewildered ahead of the next ball, going
over a selection of the shots he should have played previously. But
for this delivery Tariq was swindled by a skiddy flatter ball which
Mansha delivered straight onto his pad - bang in front of middle
stump - and the umpire had no choice but to give him out leg before!
Asad Saleemi, going from strength to strength this season, took
the big wicket of young gun Gilley for 53. Gilley attempted a leg
glance and mistimed his shot completely and the ball struck middle
stump.
After 29 overs the Theydon Bois innings closed on
144-6.
The threating weather meant there was no break for
tea, as we just wanted to get on with the game in case of any
further rain interruptions. We needed 145 off 29 overs at a rate of
five an over for our 16th consecutive victory.
Disaster
struck early when we lost the wicket of Mushtaq and found ourselves
at 0-1 off two overs! However, that was the only low point of our
innings, as our big guns Junaid and Jakaria both delivered once
again. The pair put on 54 for our 2nd wicket and have now
accumulated a combined total of 1019 runs this season!
Jakaria scored a rapid 40 which included five fours and two sixes,
Junaid played solidly for his score of 30 including five fours.
Talal remained unbeaten on 31 and Jayasankar was the dominant
batsman in the partnership. He was also undefeated in his blistering
knock of 35 including seven fours. The duo shared an unbeaten
4th-wicket stand of 52 and comfortably sealed our victory.
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