HALVERSTOWN 2: 55 All out off 20 overs
Batting: B.McAllister 12 J.Hodgson 9 D.Drumm 8 T.Gayle 5 Ajesh 5
Bowling: Ajesh 2-12-0 A.Barber 2-14-0 M.Hodgson 2-17-0 B.McAllister 1-9-0
D.Drumm 0.1-4-0
LUCAN 3: 57 for 0 off 7.1 overs
Batting: Honey 44* Anirudh 9*
Bowling: Jinu 2-5-2 Srikarth 4-6-2 Suresh 6-1-11-2 Veerender 3-6-1 Anuj 5-23-2
God bless our innocence in those days before the season started! Our opening game was against Lucan 3 and Kevin Hodson asked me to bat first if we won the toss. Our bowling firepower would “blow them away” and we wouldn’t get a chance to bat otherwise! Lucan won the toss, scored 263 and duly blew us away for 120. We learned how tough Division 19 can be- and it hasn’t got a whole lot easier just lately.
We thought we might just have a faint chance this time: they had 8 men to our 10. I won the toss and chose to bat, not wanting a long day in the field (having recognised some of their batsmen) and with the Hodgsons’ weekend away to worry about. It turned out to be a wise decision. We were out for 55 runs.
In fairness we started moderately, if slowly. Ajesh and me (yes, I opened!) put on 19, albeit off 8 overs. However, Manik’s brief stay was a disappointment and it didn’t get any better as wickets tumbled with regularity. Their firepower was blowing us away again and only Brian McAllister got into double figures. Extras, at 15, was comfortably our highest scorer. The 5 names noted in the summary above accounted for all but 1 of the runs scored off the bat. Their bowlers, none of them less than accurate, shared the wickets around but Srikanth was particularly impressive.
We only got to bowl a few overs so there was nothing much of note to say. No one bowled badly (though my one ball for 4 runs as Honey hit the winning runs does not look too good). They knocked off 57 in 7 overs and one ball (the 4). Honey, scorer of 58 last time, was 44 not out- and he kept wicket brilliantly also, taking two catches. His partner Anirudh kept his end up; he hit just 9, but it worked as a partnership with the runs coming at a steady pace. It was a mercifully brief game and the Hodgsons got away for their weekend earlier than expected but was also a very sporting encounter. They top the division and we could all see why.
Written by Des Drumm.