Glenmore Cricket Club News story


Glenmore Win Indoor Tournament In Style!

26 Dec 2012


Glenmore received an early Christmas present when they won the Calgary Corporate Indoor Tournament on Saturday 23rd December. As well as picking up a handsome trophy Glenmore also won $500 for their efforts!

The Genesis Centre in the north east of the city was the venue for Glenmore's first ever indoor competition. The squad was made up of Alex Storey, Waseem Altaf, Jonathan Bray, David Sherjan, Wasim Naqshbandi, Bijju Mohankumar, Hardeep Dhaliwal, Reinhardt Malan and Ryan Jenkinson. The boys gathered early on the saturday and took to the field for the first game of the tournament, against Scotia Bank. 

Scotia Bank 47-3 (7 overs)
Glenmore 48-0 (6.2 overs) GLENMORE WON BY 7 WICKETS

Skipper Storey won the toss and elected to field first. Scotia Bank proved to be a useful side but could never really break the shackles. Glenmore's bowlers (everyone had to bowl one over each) all performed with great skill and discipline. Before the game we'd been told the secret to success was to concede as few wides and no-balls as possible, and the lads certainly kept the extras to a minimum. Ryan Jenkinson, unveiling his slow left arm, was particularly tight, only conceding two runs from his over. Bijju, having been hit for a straight six early in his over, came back wonderfully well and had great success with his new slower ball. Hardeep bowled the last over of the innings and struggled a little with his length but still kept a lid on the scoring. In the end Scotia Bank had to settle for 47-3. The three wickets that fell were all to run outs as they scrambled for runs.
Glenmore opened their innings with the mystery man Dave Sherjan and the highly experienced Jon Bray. Popping menthol sweets like an addict, Jon Bray battled through his cold to produce a superb knock. Back in Australia Jon had played plenty of indoor cricket and showed his experience by nudging and nurdling the ball into the corners. Dave was his usual stylish, fluent self. Always looking to play straight, Dave also hit the gaps and never looked in any danger. Together they kept things simple and always stayed ahead of the required run rate. Finally they knocked off the winning run with four balls remaining and with all wickets in hand. It had been a great partnership from Jon (10 not out) and Dave (17 not out), and with only two wins needed to secure a place in the final it was a great start.  

Glenmore 76-0 (7 overs)
SNC Lavalin 34-6 (7 overs) GLENMORE WON BY 42 RUNS

Glenmore's second game saw them come up against club members Adit Ganpat and Mike Lazelle who were playing for SNC Lavalin. Adit, captain of SNC, won the toss and stuck Glenmore into bat. Bray, following his fine work in the first game was rested and Storey partnered Sherjan at the top of the order. Incredibly, Glenmore once again managed to bat through their 7 overs without losing a wicket. Dave (28 not out) continued his excellent form, constantly finding the gaps as well as unleashing some powerful straight drives. Storey (27 not out) did likewise, manoeuvring the ball around nicely and finding the occasional boundary. Glenmore were helped by some wayward bowling and a large number of extras, but even so, it was another excellent batting display from Glennmore's Englishmen. 
A target of 77 was always going to be difficult for SNC to chase down and they were never really in the hunt. Waseem got things off to a tight start with the ball, sending down an excellent over of his medium pace. One wonders if we'll ever see Waseem bowling his leg spin again? Hardeep bowled a good over, rectifying his earlier problem of no-balling. Glenmore's big South African Reinhardt then produced a great over, three times beating the batsman with his late out swing. 
By now SNC were way behind the rate and had to take some chances. Wasim Naqshbandi was introduced to the attack in order to lure the batsmen into a big shot or two, and it worked like a charm when Wasim had the opener caught at long off by Sherjan. Bijju produced another extremely accurate over, which resulted in a run out, before Ryan put the final nails in the coffin. The hirsute Australian picked up three wickets in his over including two from the final two balls, caught behind and clean bowled. Dave wrapped things up and SNC were left way adrift on 34-6. It had been a near perfect display from Glenmore who were now safely in the tournament final.

Following the second win Glenmore had to endure a long period of waiting and watching as the other teams played. Lunch was taken at Jugo Juice, the boys chatted merrily and everyone had a good chuckle at some of the very poor cricket being played.

Finally Glenmore took to the field once again to take on Sabal in the tournament final, which was reduced to five overs per side.

Glenmore 36-2 (5 overs)
Sabal 32-4 (5 overs) GLENMORE WON BY 4 RUNS

Sabal had looked a powerful team throughout the tournament and they entered the final having played just 20 minutes earlier. Glenmore meanwhile had been sat around for nearly three hours and many of the team had stiffened up. Jon was rapidly running out of cough sweets, Dave was looking at the watch to see if he'd make it home in time for his family dinner (he didn't) and Bijju had been killing time playing games on his iPhone! Because of some event mismanagement the final was reduced to five overs per side and it was Glenmore who batted first. Unlike the first two games things did not start well. The first over only produced five runs and the second over only three runs and two wickets! Storey was first to go, run out at the non-striker's end and then Jon Bray was clean bowled.
With Glenmore in some trouble it was left to Dave and Waseem Altaf to get the innings back on track. They took their time initially, but went all out in the final over. Indoor cricket doesn't normally see many twos being run, but the first three balls of the last over had doubles run on them. Waseem was the man putting his foot down, each time running to the danger end. It was an incredible effort and made a massive difference in the end. Also vital to the end result was the last ball of the innings, which Dave timed the pants off and hit for six back over the bowler's head. 14 runs were scored off that last over and it dragged Glenmore to a total of 36-2. Dave finished the tournament unbeaten. A remarkable achievement to have batted through all three matches…19 overs without dismissal for a combined total of 69 runs!
However, the job was not done and Glenmore knew they'd need to bowl well to restrict Sabal. Ryan opened the bowling, taking pace off the ball, and once again produced a superb over, conceding only 5 runs. With Sabal needing 7 an over this was an excellent start. The pendulum swung in Glenmore's favour in the second over. Hardeep produced his best spell of the day and two wickets fell in the over. The first was a run out and the second was thanks to a great one handed catch by Storey behind the stumps. Reinhardt was again unlucky not to pick up a wicket…he bowled beautifully all day and certainly deserved more success.
Bijju finally had some well deserved success of his own during his over. His consistent full length brought about a violent straight drive from the batsman. Bijju put out his left hand and palmed the ball up to Ryan who completed the catch. 
However, the game was not yet won. The penultimate ball of Bijju's over was hit for 6 which left Sabal needing 12 from the final over.
By this time the clock had gone past 4pm and there was a growing contingent of staff members and lacrosse players waiting to get us out of the playing area. For a while it looked as though the game would be brought to a premature end as one particularly rotund Genesis employee became extremely aggravated by our poor timekeeping. Thankfully common sense prevailed and the game continued.
Glenmore's batting hero Dave Sherjan was entrusted to close out the game, but a couple of extras and some good running meant the result was still undecided with one ball remaining. Sabal required 5 to win and four to tie. Dave, always cool as a cucumber, rolled his fingers over the ball and the batsman mistimed his straight drive. A single was taken but Glenmore were left to celebrate a great win. 

At the presentation ceremony Dave Sherjan rightly won the best batsman award for his exceptional display. Alex Storey won the tournament MVP award for his runs (29), catches (4) and run outs (2).

This was a fantastically fun day for all concerned and rounded off a great year for Glenmore CC. It also pointed to a bright future for the club. The winning squad was a wonderful mix of experienced Glenmore players and some new additions to the club. Five nationalities were represented. The cricket was played seriously but everyone had a fun time in the process. And the skills produced by the team showed an understanding of the importance of cricketing basics…disciplined bowling, good fielding, sensible batting, backing up at the non-striker's end, running well between the wickets, etc, etc.

Thanks to everyone who took part and congratulations to the club on picking up some silverware!