LONGFORD 2: 247 for 9 off 40 overs

L2 Batting: A.Saqib 68 I Shaikh 47 R.Udeshi 45 W.Khan 26

H2 Bowling: Chaitanya 3-13-2 S.Conroy 2-16-2 M.Hodgson 5-53-2

                    B.Langford 2-23-1 A.Singh 4-25-1 D.Drumm 4-48-1

                    Avanish 5-29-0 P.Sharma 3-20-0 B.McAllister 3-25-0

HALVERSTOWN 2: 80 All Out off 22 overs.

H2 Batting: Avanish 34 B.Langford 6 Chaitanya 6 M.Hodgson 5

L2 Bowling: Ghazi 6-3-16-3 Saqib 1.1-6-2 Shahid 1-4-1 Rafi 2-12-1

                    Adil 4-16-1 Safraz 6-1-19-1 W.Khan 2-1-1-0

Since this was my final game as a captain after over 20 years of captaincy, I wanted to continue my habit of writing reports on games, even if I didn't really feel like it. Why did I not feel like it? Well it was a long, tough day in the field playing a game we didn't expect or get anything out of. A rather dispiriting finish to a season where we should have been celebrating promotion as runners up. We really lost a great opportunity away to Merrion 7, who finished runners-up, in a game that still haunts me! We threw away this very winnable game in Bird Avenue by some puzzlingly poor batting (except for Mohsin) and unnecessary runouts. It left us having to beat a rampant Longford in our final game, who were still smarting from having had our last encounter awarded to us because of their ineligible players. Despite the importance of this last league game, putting a team together was again a struggle, though I did think we were not without a chance. Turns out we were.

Longford won the toss and batted first, unfortunately. It became obvious from early on that they were going to put up a big score, as they usually did this season to be fair. In the end, being the last game of the season and one we struggling in, I gave everyone a bowl, bar Jim who declined the offer. Chaitanya and Sean Conroy, bowling near the end, produced easily the best figures while most of the rest of us struggled against a strong batting line-up. Pushn did well and Brandon took a good wicket thanks to another excellent catch from Pushn. Indeed there were some very good catches, including Avtar's caught & bowled and a superb boundary catch by Chaitanya. 24 extras helped them to a big score of 247. Their openers set the tone with Saquib's 68 and Shaikh's 47with another near half century from Udeshi underpinning the middle order.

Longford's bowling was as impressive as their batting. After 6 overs we were 13 for 3 and though father and son Hodgson dug in, only Avanish took on the bowling and, with a 34 that included 5 boundaries, was the only player to get even close to double figures. He scored over half the runs hit by our batsmen. Worthy of note, though, was that Brandon scored his 6 runs of just one hit his first 6 ever!

The effort in the field was, as in most instances this season decent enough despite their strong batting and we took some good catches and 9 wickets in all. Bowling has been our strength- but not against the power of Longford who, if they get their wish and what they merit by their ability, will be playing very many divisions higher next season. It would have been nice to finish the season with promotion but truth to tell we hardly deserved it, relying on too few batsmen to score the runs during the season indeed often just one in an innings.

Thank you to everyone who turned out for H2 this season and in particular my regulars, who often played because I needed them even when it was not wholly convenient. They were the mainstay of the team and I appreciate their support. I hope that all the players enjoyed their cricket even if it ended a little flat, so very, very close to having earned promotion.

Des Drumm 22/9/24