MERRION 7 : 109 ALL OUT off 30.2 overs
M7 Batting: D.Ali 26 O. Vishnoi 23 K.Boucher 21 S.Roets 18
H2 Bowling: J.Khan 7.2-4-11-6 D.Drumm 5-17-2 B.Langford 3-17-1
K.Hodson 5-30-1 P. Sharma 6-15-0 B.McAllister 3-18-1
HALVERSTOWN 2: 67 ALL OUT off 23.1 overs
H2 Batting: M.Bukhari 32 A.Williamson 5 B.Langford 3
M7 Bowling: Walsh 4-7-3 N. Vishnoi 4-8-2 O.Vishnoi 8-3-12-2 Tuari 1-6-1 Ali 5.1-1-8-1
Before the game the big issue seemed to be about getting back home in time for the Euros Final. There was no need to worry, at least about getting home in time. The worry is just how our batting collapsed so spectacularly. I feel sorry for Junaid who took 6 wickets and was still on the losing side. For Hubert also who kept superbly and claimed 3 wickets (I get credit for two of them, which is some comfort) and Mohsin, who was the only player to take on Merrion with the bat. No one came remotely close to him. Andrew was noteworthy, though, keeping him company and facing 30 balls for his 5 runs. I will excuse my own 0, since I was in for just one ball which I didn’t even face. For the rest…. We may need to bring back Kevin O’Brien!
We lost the toss and Merrion opted to bat. We bowled well and the fielding was fine, if lacking crispness. No catches were missed: Brian and myself took a catch apiece in the field (Brian’s was very impressive) and Hubert took two behind the stumps, plus an ultra fast stumping. We conceded an amazingly low total of 6 extras, just two of them being byes or leg-byes. Junaid’s extraordinary feat of 6 wickets was the highlight; Merrion were terrified of his ability to ring the changes- as his 4 maidens illustrated. Brandon and Pushn both got a first taste of league bowling and did well. Brandon took his first league wicket and Pushn put in a really excellent shift of 6 overs for just15 runs. Super stuff! Merrion rallied from 9 for 3, but their final score did not look high. 40 overs,110 runs to get. Under 2.5 an over. Easy! Or was it?
Our 3rd wicket fell for 11 runs, 2 ahead of their comparative score. Our 4th fell at 45 versus their 34, but after that we lost ground- rapidly. I stressed to each batsman that we were in no hurry, just staying in was the vital thing. Indeed we had 24 extras in our meagre total- more than one an over, so we actually needed to score under 2 runs per over ourselves. But we just could not do it. Our first 4 batters scored 8, our last 6 scored 3. Not good enough. Om and Nikhil Vishnoi bowled well for Merrion, very well. But the supporting line-up was not anything to fear and quite how Jim Walsh took 3 for 7 is a mystery. Was it over confidence by us? Indiscipline? Impatience? Bad luck? Opposition too good? Probably a bit of each, other than the opposition being too good: our team was good enough to win but a more patient approach to tackling an achievable target was sadly lacking.
Des Drumm 17/7/24