Glenmore Cricket Club News story


Taverners Defeat The Royals To Claim The Pasternak Trophy

29 May 2018

The Pasternak Trophy was up for grabs at Riley Park as the Taverners and Royals got their seasons started on a beautiful Summer's evening.

PJ won the toss and decided to have a bat. He and Nix opened up and produced a superb partnership. Despite some accurate new ball bowling from Keith Baldock and Rajeev Sharma, PJ and Nix scored freely and got the Royals off to an excellent start. Nix was particularly strong off his pads, while PJ flayed effectively down to third man. Both batsmen had some good fortune as the Taverners' fielders struggled to hold their catches. Quinton and Bijju shelled a couple of chances each, and when Lord Smudgington put one down too it was beginning to look as though nobody would hold onto a catch. However, having taken the score to a very respectable 46-0 the Royals batting began to slow. PJ retired for an excellent 18, and shortly after Nix was neatly caught and bowled by Riekert Panther. 

The second half of the innings saw some good shots from Hetarth Kamdar, Ali Memon and Lovepreet Dhillon, but for the most part the Taverners bowlers were well in control and kept a lid on the run rate. Rikki 'The Big Cat' Panther claimed two more wickets thanks to the safe hands of Challoner and Rajeev to end with 3 wickets for 17 runs. Colin Nieuwenhuizen bowled a beautiful spell of off spin, in which he twice knocked back middle stump. And our Bruno Mars lookalike, Bijju Mohankumar, delivered a fantastically tight four overs at the death to keep the Royals total to 91.

The Tavs run chase got off to an inauspicious start as Jonathan Smith departed for 3 in just the second over, out to a smart caught and bowled by Lovepreet. That brought together Martyn Challoner and Terry McGrath. The experienced duo put on a match winning 43 to ease any nerves among the Taverners batting order. Martyn wasn't unduly restricted by his new knee brace, and played with his usual flair to reach an unbeaten 31. Captain McGrath (18) wasn't quite timing it as well as he can, but he still produced a fine knock with some eye catching shots over mid off. 

Tavs debutant Dan Freier struggled to find his rhythm and was given the Geoff Boycott Award at the post-match Fines meeting. His dismissal for 5 left the Tavs with a little work to do, but Storey (8) and Quinton (6*) meant there were no issues getting to the target with plenty of overs to spare. 

Credit to both teams on a fine game of cricket. The Tavs will be pleased with a solid display, despite a few catches going down. And the Royals can take plenty of positives from the game, particularly the batting of the opening pair and the bowling of Hetarth, Ali, Waqar and and Lovepreet. Here's hoping both teams enjoy a fun, successful season ahead.