Actonians Cricket Club

Scorecard

Bessborough IV v Actonians Cricket Club 4th XI on Sat 26 May 2012 at 1.00pm
Actonians Cricket Club Won by 1 run

Match report Cricket – bloody hell.

Alex Ferguson has said many things in his career, but few have been adapted so lazily to open a hastily written match report as the one that stands above this paragraph.

After winning the toss, Vithushan Ehantharajah (otherwise known as ‘me’), decided to bat on a day that vice-captain Roheet Gupta aptly described as “hot”. Openers Bilal Hussain and Jon Hawkins set about combating Bessborough’s renowned ‘Double-w’ attack – wiley & wayward – to a modicum of avail. However a Caramel McFlurryTM of wickets left Ehantharajah’s band of Merry Men reeling on not-very-many for too-many.

Thankfully, the innings was resurrected by a splendid partnership between Ethan and Sami, who put on quite a bit. A Chisti knock from Sami was matched by a Hart-ful display from Ethan, who displayed all the strokes of a self-gratifying Badger, eventually finishing unbeaten (steady) on 56, as Ehantharajah’s white and white army concluded on 173 for all-but-one.

After making some in-roads into the Bessborough top-order, thanks to Kevin Mo Mahoney Mo Problems, batsman M. Emanuel – who had taken four wickets in the first innings of the match – set about dismantling the bowling like a man exhibiting a flagrant disregard for the rules of Jenga, as he raced to 42 by virtue of shots to mid-wicket Rebecca Brooks would have been proud of.

Just as it looked like Emanuel was taking the game away from Old Actonians – who by now were looking as disgruntled as Steve Smith at a “Try not to talk about that time you took five wickets” convention – up stepped Roheet Gupta with one of the best run outs you are ever likely to see. With the ball pushed into the covers, Gupta ran around from point to execute a glorious one-handed pick up and throw to the striker’s end, disrupting the furniture with Emanuel short of the crease.

However, more rebuilding from Bessborough left them only 40 runs behind, with five wickets in hand. Sensing just how important the next five overs were, Old Actonians rallied thanks to some nifty bowling changes by ‘me’ and some nifty bowling from ‘them’ (including maiden Old Actonians wickets for Mandar Kharker and Bob Coutt).

A last wicket fight-back from messrs 10 and 11 reduced Bessborough’s arrears from 20 to two for victory. As the game entered the final over of the game, ‘me’ took it upon himself to bowl the last over. After setting the field for what must have seemed like a little over a minute, ‘me’ came into bowl the first ball of the over. We hand over to Rob Smyth on The Guardian’s award-winning ball-by-ball coverage to describe the events that followed…

“WICKET – Ehantharajah clean bowls the Bessborough number 10. Old Actonians win by 1 run!”

A glorious win, made all the more glorious by the fact the game was held up by two ne’er-do-wells who insisted on walking across the field while glugging White Lightning (cheap cider, for those who never experienced that rite of passage).

A valiant team performance, as Club Atlético de Ehantharajah’s race for promotion from Division 5 of the 1987 League gets off to a flying start.

Weather: Glorious.
Teas: Satisfying.
Coutts: Chuntering.
Tipple: Crabbies

Actonians Cricket Club 4th XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
3nb 27w  
for 10 wickets
30
173		        
Bilal Hussain Bowled  16
Jon Hawkins Bowled  0
Mandar Kharkar Caught  1
Vithushan Ehantharajah Bowled  9
Tim Maynard Caught  19
Steve Cox Bowled  4
Ethan Hart-Badger Not Out  52
Sami Chishti Bowled  25
Roheet Gupta Run out  6 1
Bob Coutts Caught  6
Kevin Mahoney Stumped  0 1

Bessborough IV Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
No records to display.

Bessborough IV Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
7nb 9w 4b  
for 10 wickets
20
172 (0.0 overs)		     
D.Popat b Mahoney 7
S.Heaney b Mahoney 0
M.Emanuel run out Gupta 42
S.Hawes b Coutts 6
R.Ward ct & Bowled Mahoney 0
R.Maloney b Kharkar 56
S.Hovell b Mahoney 24
N.Danordan lbw Ehantharajah 2
P.Vyas lbw Ehantharajah 0
D.Baxter Not Out  5
B.Vyas b Ehantharajah 10

Actonians Cricket Club 4th XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Kevin Mahoney13.0250412.503.85
Vithushan Ehantharajah11.1237312.333.31
Ethan Hart-Badger5.002200.004.40
Bob Coutts9.0134134.003.78
Roheet Gupta3.001100.003.67
Mandar Kharkar5.0213113.002.60