Actonians Cricket Club

Scorecard

Actonians Cricket Club 3rd XI v Perivale/Phoenicians III on Sat 31 Jul 2010 at 1.30pm
Actonians Cricket Club Won by 1 wicket

Match report After 4 losses in a row it needed to be a win for Old As to keep alive the hopes of successive promotions. The game started badly with Tom winning the toss (having lost all previous matches when winning the toss). However with a strong bowling line up, a wicket on the greener side of green and overcast conditions Tom elected to bowl and set about restricting Perivale Phoenicians to a reachable target.

Things started slowly with some tight bowling from Shaun and Sammy but at 50-0 there had been no breakthrough despite a very good appeal for caught behind being rejected off Sammy’s bowling. It didn’t prove costly as the next over another appeal went up and this time there was no denying it, one down 9 to go. The other opener was then dispatched with a good caught and bowled by Sammy off the first ball of his next over leaving him on a hat-trick which unfortunately did not complete.

However, both openers had gone just as they were beginning to open their shoulders and Old As were well on their way. A change of bowling with Squires coming up the hill proved inspired as he took the third wicket with an inside edge onto the stumps in his second over having not yet conceded a run. Soon after an LBW shout was upheld and Sammy had his 3rd wicket much to the consternation of the batsman who was claiming he hit it.

With no Anton in the side Squires decided to rough up the new young batsmen with a vicious bouncer rising off a length that struck him in the grille, but the lad held strong for a solid knock of 11 before Squires finally had his man with a good catch by Tim at short cover. This left Perivale 96-5 and Old As were looking to keep the target as low as possible. Saf was brought on for Sammy and started with some aggressive bowling, himself striking the no.3 solidly on the chin who instantly regretted not wearing a helmet. This seemed to rough him up and his wicket was claimed soon after, bowled by Squires to leave them 6 down.

Saf got in on the action with a wicket full, straight and quick to knock over the next batsman and runs were proving hard to come by for Perivale through some excellent work in the field. A catch by Sean at mid off gave Squires his fourth and a few overs later a sharp catch at gully by Duncan gave Squires his first 5 for the 3rds. Nice reward for some accurate and Wasim Akram-esk swing bowling. As the 10th wicket proved a bit elusive the captain brought himself on to finish things off. He was nearly robbed of the chance but fortunately un-safe hands Josh dropped the catch at mid wicket off Squires to deny him another 6 for.

But the next over it was all over as Tom cleaned up the no.11, after Tim had dropped the no.10 and Perivale were all out leaving Old As to chase down 145. On a pitch as green as this it would not be easy but with plenty of overs and the sun brightening up we were looking good for the win.

The innings started brightly with 11 runs coming off the first over, although none were off the bat, as there was a wayward start from the Perivale bowlers. This was followed by another loose over from the other end yielding a further 11 runs and the chase was looking to be a bit of a formality. A spinner came into the attack for the 6th over, which looked like desperation on a wicket that was perfect for seam bowling, or so we thought.

Old As reach 40 without loss with both Josh and Tim looking comfortable. However, a rash shot to a rising delivery and we lost Josh for 13 and after a 4 ball 12 run cameo from Malik we were 64-2 with both wickets falling to the spinner. After some lovely strokes from Tim he also fell to the spinner for a good knock of 24 leaving us 71-3 and looking on course to reach the target comfortably. At this stage wides were our top scorer with 26! This left Saf and Duncan at the crease. After some good shots from both players there was an ill timed quick single called by Saf and Duncan was run out at the bowlers end leaving us 93-4.

Then came what can only be described as an England style middle order collapse as within the space of 3 overs we moved from 93-4 to 93-7 as Saf was out LBW for 10, Sameer went LBW first ball and Squires was caught on the boundary with all three falling to the spinner, maybe not such an act of desperation after all. And so it was left to Captain Tom, only recently arrived at the crease, to play a Captain’s innings and attempt to bring the game home with the tail. With wickets at a premium the run rate slowed as we chased their score one run at a time with Shaun playing a solid innings keeping everything out and Tom pushing the score along. We reached 128 and finally Shaun too fell to the spinner clean bowled.

18 runs required and only 2 wickets left, it was going to be a close one. A couple of boundaries in one over from Tom with some lovely strokeplay eased the pressure but then disaster. With men in close around the bat Sean was caught at short leg with the spinner taking his 8th wicket!

8 runs to go, one wicket left, you could cut the tension with a knife. Runs were taken in singles as Tom tried to farm the strike but grew in confidence as Sammy kept out everything that was thrown at him with some resolute defence and excellent use of the pads. At this point nearly every delivery was greeted with howls from the bowlers trying to con that final wicket for victory but to no avail as the umpires held strong.

The runs ticked over until finally with a lovely on drive Tom brought the scores level, leaving Sammy to score the winning run in the next over. This sealed the victory for Old Actonians, with Tom leaving the field having delivered a glorious innings of 32 not out to bring the team home. (Just missing out on top scorer to wides who produced an even better knock of 36)

This leaves the 3rds still in the hunt for promotion just 14 points off the top with 5 games to go. Another game won, but as usual not done the easy way.

By Dave “bowling is easy” Squires

Perivale/Phoenicians III Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 10 wickets
0
145 (0.0 overs)		     
Imran ct  Butt b Kumar 27
Tej ct  & b Kumar 20
Kashif b  Squires 26
Omrajan b  Squires 0
Vic lbw  Kumar 9
Manraj ct  Buchanan b Squires 11
Syed ct  Lester b Squires 10
Lee John b  Siddique 7
Roger ct  Slaughter b Squires 9
Sanraj Not Out  8
Jagpal b  Gilmour 4

Actonians Cricket Club 3rd XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Shaiq Qamar7.032000.002.86
Sammy Kumar9.0155318.336.11
David Squires12.022555.002.08
Safinllah Sadique8.0033133.004.13
Tom Gilmour1.40616.003.60

Actonians Cricket Club 3rd XI Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 9 wickets
0
146		        
Tim Buchanan b  Imran 24 1
Josh Jayakar ct  Imran 13
Khalid Malik b  Imran 12
Safinllah Sadique lbw  Imran 10
Duncan Slaughter Run out  5 1
Tom Gilmour Not Out  32
Sameer Butt lbw  Imran 0 1
David Squires ct  Imran 0
Shaiq Qamar b  Imran 5
Sean Lester ct  Imran 1 1
Sammy Kumar Not Out  2 1

Perivale/Phoenicians III Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Roger8.004900.006.12
Sanraj2.001400.007.00
Imran16.053684.502.25
Tej10.423000.002.81
Manraj1.00400.004.00
Syed1.001000.0010.00