TYRRELSTOWN 4: 121 All Out off 38 overs
Batting: Ashwin 62 Elton 6
Bowling: Ashwin 8-29-2 Praveen 7-1-14-1 Dibdutta 7-2-16-0 Dineshraj 6-22-0
Dheeraj 4-21-0 Joseph 3-16-0
HALVERSTOWN 2: 122 for 4 off 34 overs
Batting: S.Conroy 29 J.Khan 28* J.Hodgson 25 B. McAllister 4 *
Bowling: B.McAllister 4-8-2 D.Drumm 4-12-2 J.Hodgson 7-16-2
J.Khan 8-1-21-2 A.Syed 7-24-2 M.Hodgson 4-1-6-0 S.Hayes 3-11-0
S.Conroy 1-17-0
The season started well: I won the toss. A more positive stance was called for, I felt, and so elected to field. We had a good (and lengthy) bowling line up and it looked a good decision for a while as their wickets tumbled quickly to Ahsan, Junaid, Jim and Brian. Someone (I won’t embarrass him by naming him) said that we would be home by 4 o’clock. I warned him that cricket is just not like that. Nor was it. Ashwin took the crease and proceeded to hit a beautifully judged 64. He kept the strike, cleverly manipulating the field.
As the overs ticked by and the scoreboard clicked up we started to wilt. We took wickets, but just not Ashwin’s. A notable wicket was Cecil’s flash stumping off an otherwise wide ball from me, with Sean Conroy taking a good catch to give me a barely deserved brace. Brian bowled immaculately, as usual, and thoroughly deserved his brace, as did Ahsan and Jim. But it was Junaid, on his debut, who took the plaudits for a fine performance which included the wicket of Ashwin. Their second highest score was from 41 extras and captain Elton second highest batsman with just 6. We bowled well, yet paradoxically were profligate with wides, conceding – embarrassingly 34. Rusty, perhaps.
The target was fair, but achievable we felt. Until our first two wickets quickly. It was then about digging in to hold the line and Sean Conroy and Jim Hodgson did that admirably. With great patience and not a little skill they set up our win, grinding out the runs. For a while it looked as if we might just fall short, but when Jim was run out Junaid Khan came in and made short work of Ashwin’s bowling that had so troubled us. His 28 off 14 balls sealed what looks a comfortable win, but was certainly not that. A mention to bowlers Mathew and Stuart Hayes who may not have taken wickets but bowled well and economically. A good start to the season all round!
Des Drumm 2/5/23