Late start, rain delay, sixes and an ambulance which came but left without a patient.
We elected to field first, with still some of the Castleknock team still to arrive and our 11th player arriving as we were just about to bowl the first ball.
The decision to field first seemed to immediately pay off with Kevin Hodson getting 2 wickets in his first over with 2 deliveries that nipped in off the seam. This was followed by Ahsan getting a wicket in his second over. This left Castleknock on 3 for 3 in the middle of the 3rd over. We would then have to toil in the field until the 23rd over before we got the next wicket which was their opening batter and captain Azgar Baig who was run out with a very good direct hit. At this stage their score was at 77 runs. Brian McAllister, Jim Hodgson and Ajesh Ananthakrishnan all bowled well without getting much reward. They are entitled to feel sightly aggrieved, as there was at least 2 decent appeals for LBW and an appeal for caught behind between them.
Wickets started to come at more frequent intervals with Mark Case getting 4 wickets. These included a fine catch by Terry Gale in the deep, a fine catch by Matthew Hodgson in slips and Kevin Hodson getting the final catch off Mark Case’s bowling. Matthew Hodgson then got a wicket with a fine delivery to bowl out their number 10. Their innings was brought to close when Sean Conroy then took the final wicket which was also well caught by Matthew Hodgson. This resulted in Castleknock being bowled out for 144 in 34 overs. The pick of their batting was Sheriar Irani on 81 not out, and Azgar Baig who 31.
Our bowling figures were as follows:
Ahsan Syed 1 wicket for 6 run off 4 overs, Kevin Hodson 2-20-6, Jim Hodgson 0-25-5, Ajesh Ananthkrishnan 0-12-4, Brian McAllister 0-17-5, Mark Case 4-37-6 Matthew Hodgson 1-13-3, Sean Conroy 1-13-1.
Our innings got off to an unfortunate start with Ahsan getting bowled on the first delivery of our innings. Sean and Jishnu then put on 47 for the fall of the 2nd wicket of Jishnu which was the result of a lack of calling. Terry Gale and Sean Conroy put on another 12 runs. Again another mix-up in the calling cost Sean’s wicket. Terry and Ajesh then put another 40 runs for us to reach 99 in the 27th over. We then had brief visits to the crease by Brian and Kevin.
During our innings we had a shorth rain delay and a delay due to ambulance being on the field. One of the opposition players was suffering back spasms and called 999. The ambulance crew were not too happy about being called for what they felt was a non-emergency. You would feel that they had a point. The player who called the ambulance was able to get up and go home with looking too discommoded.
Just as the scoring started to stagnate Ajesh hit a fine big 6 into the fiel,d scoring 10 in the over. Jim and Ajesh were then able to bring the team home to reach 146 in 31st over, thus Halverstown 2 won by 4 wickets.
The pick of the Halverstown batting was Ajesh Ananthakrishnan on 32 not out, Terry Gale 28, Jishnu Harikumar 16, Sean Conroy 14 and Jim Hodgson on 11 not out. It should be noted that the extras were 43 runs.
For Castleknock Abdur Shaikh 1 for 17 off 16 and Shan Haider 2-17-4 were the pick of their bowling.
Please note the next and last League fixture of this season for Halverstown 2nds is away to Sandyford on Sunday September 4th.
Written by Cecil Johnston