HALVERSTOWN 2: 55 All out off 27.2 overs

Batting: J.Khan 24 A.Syed 16*

 Bowling: A.Syed 2-0-2 -1 Ajesh 0.5-0-6-0 B.McAllister 2-0-13-0

                   A.Barber 2-0-16-0 J.Khan 2-0-21-0

  DUNDALK 2: 56 for 1 off 8.5 overs

Batting: Manoj 21 Uthaman 19 Anjot 13*

Bowling: Zubair 5-1-6-3 Shakeel 5-0-9-2 Moazzam 0.2-0-1-1 Jithin 5-3-3-1

                Regin 4-1-12-1

Writing this report is a bit of a rush: I am off to Villa Park tomorrow night. That would not be normal for a Wolverhampton Wanderers fan, but Bruce Springsteen happens to be playing there. Luckily there is not a lot to write about, though Bruce Springsteen fans might have some fun reading it.

We have taken some beatings lately, but this was one to beat them all. Dundalk won the toss and after much discussion decided to field. That was a saving grace, sparing us a long day in the field. We were certainly not on fire and lost wickets early. Junaid and Ahsan proved that they were tougher than the rest by scoring 40 runs between them: the rest of us were dancing in the dark I am afraid, with 3 being the next highest score to Ahsan’s 16 not out. Terry Gayle was unfortunate, being run out in a mix up with Ahsan: perhaps not born to run together, unfortunately. Unusually our tail failed to wag, with the last 3 wickets falling for just 4 runs. Zubair’s 3 for 6 in 5 overs was outstanding, but all of Dundalk’s bowlers performed well as illustrated by just 3 wides in 27 overs.

Dundalk is a lucky town, having such a strong batting line-up as well as a powerful bowling unit. They lost just the one wicket, to Ahsan who bowled an exemplary couple of overs. Other than that there was nothing to stop them coasting to a most comfortable win. It was not one of our glory days but we are still a young league team and perhaps it is all part of growing up.

Des Drumm 15/6/23