ONGAR 2: 152 all out off 38.3 overs
Batting: Muddhu 36 Senthil 27 Rajkiran 23 Parimala 16
Bowling: Arun 8-1-20-4 Annam 4-0-13-2 Tarun 8-5-4-1 Rajkira 6-0-14-1
Anis 8-0-20-1 Rohit 5-2-0-10 Senthil 1-0-4-0
HALVERSTOWN 2: 92 for 9 off 40 overs
Batting: J.Khan 25 D.Drumm 24* S.Conroy 6
Bowling: B.McAllister 7-0-20-5 D.Drumm 4.3-0-13-2 J.Hodgson 4-0-10-1
J.Khan 5-0-20-1 T.Thomas 3-0-7-0 K.Hodson 7-0-34-0 A.Syed 5-0-25-0
M.Hodgson 3-0-16-0
You just never know with cricket. Playing against top of the league Ongar 2 we expected a tough game. Winning the toss they batted first and their openers quickly confirmed our fears, cantering along at 4 an over and not losing a wicket until after 60 runs were on the board. Parimala at No.3 looked like continuing the torture until Ahsan caught him off my bowling. Then the wickets started tumbling, mostly to Brian who has made the Honours Board again with another “Fifer”. His superbly accurate bowling galvanised us. Suddenly even 100 looked a tough ask for them. Until Muddu came in at No.8. We just could not shift him until I bowled him in the 39th over, by which time serious damage was done and we faced a major uphill task. This despite good work in the field with Tojo taking two really superb catches, Mathew one also and Sean and Cecil combining for a very good run out.
Then It was the same old story of our batting not making the grade, though to be fair their bowling was excellent and most teams would have struggled against it. Tarun for instance, bowler no.2, had 5 maidens in his 8 overs, conceding just 4 runs. Until the 10th over we were averaging a run an over and by the 15th just 2, with the loss of 3 wickets. Only Junaid treated the bowling with indifference, scoring 25 quickly, including 5 boundaries, until he was bowled. The rest of the order collapsed and in the 25th over we were 54 for 9. It was looking a bit embarrassing. However we managed to put a gloss on it, with numbers 10 and 11 batting out all 40 overs and pushing the final score to a respectable 92 for 9. My 24 not out, scored off 50 balls, was easily my highest ever league score, but it could not have been possible without Cecil’s brave blocking at the other end and the quick running to steal singles near the end of overs. The latter part of the innings , especially Cecil’s 3 not out, was a master class in patience- as acknowledged by their players at the end of the game; from the reaction we got from both teams as we left the pitch you would have thought we had just won the game! However we had not, not by a very long way and it does point out the need for us to continue to work on our batting, especially in the middle order. See you all at nets on Thursday.
Des Drumm 24/5/22