HALVERSTOWN 2: 121 off 20 overs
Batting: M.Ronaldson 33 S.Hayes 25 A.Pandey 15 K.Hodson 12
Bowling: M.Islam 4-0-42-2 D.Drumm 4-0-8-1 A.Pandey 4-1-11-1 A.Barber 4-1-20-0 K.Hodson 4-0-20-0
ADAMSTOWN 8: 107 for 4
Batting: P. Bable 33* M.Veha 17 retd A.Pathak 11 S.Baid 11
Bowling: S. Shazad 3-0-15-2 P.Varma 4-0-15-1 Y.Shah 2-0-9-1 M. Venanomna 3-0-18-1 M.Periyam 1-0-10-1
The juggernaut that was H2 nearly came to a complete halt in Harristown last Saturday: it was almost a car crash. This was very different game not just because of a different line-up from the opposition- they still had 5 juniors to whom they sportingly gave bowling and batting time- but there was, perhaps, a feeling of complacency about Halverstown; a sense that we would coast to another massive win. That was quickly shaken: Andrew Williamson was out in the first over and Ashley Jackson in the second. Our choosing to bat suddenly did not look very clever -until Stuart Hayes put together a fine innings of 25 at No 3 , partnered mainly by Abhi whose 15 was also welcome. Then came Mark Ronaldson whose excellent big hitting 33 included 5 boundaries and, with Kevin Hodson adding a solid 12 and extras playing a significant role (27!), we stuttered to a defendable- but hardly very secure- 121. Adamstown shared the bowling around 8 bowlers with Shah, Varma and Shahzad taking wickets with good economy and their other bowlers performing well too. We were now worried.
Andy Barber and Kevin Hodson, our strike bowlers, kept Adamstown to matching our 19 after 4 overs. Myself and Abhi then came on and were holding them in check, so I took the decision to bowl out our 4 overs apiece. Between us we took 2 for 19 in the 8 over spell, which we felt would put pressure on their batsmen. They were now just 36 after 12 overs, well behind our equivalent 69 and we looked set fair. 47 after 15 overs and the game looked well over. Bable had other ideas at the crease, however. Adamstown had 3 players score in double figures but they had taken their time to get there against our solid bowling. Bable, though, was in a hurry. Three fours, 2 6s and a disappointingly high number of extras (one more than Adamstown’s!), mostly in the last few overs, made for a nervy ending. Luckily they needed 36 off the last over to tie: they got 22, mostly in wides. Afterwards I congratulated Bable on his big hitting. He said he did it because he was so mad that they did not bring him on earlier. He said that he needed just one more over to have won the game. I don’t think he was wrong. We were lucky they didn’t.
Not a smooth ride, but H2 got over the line with 14 runs to spare to win three in a row thanks to a few excellent innings and, bar some nervous bowling at the death, a generally good performance in the field. Thanks to all, including umpire Jon Kirby, Covid Officer Hubert and scorer the indomitable John Brown. Written by Des Drumm.