Glenmore Indoor Season sees another closely contested match.
Still coming to terms with the lighter and more sprightly indoor ball seemed the order of the day for the Glenmore crew that turned up for one of the last few Indoor matches before the 2013 Outdoor season kick-off.
Team Smith led belatedly by Jonathan himself arriving freshly stuffed with Easter turkey and looking like he might need a nap or as he confessed a bucket, batted first as the game needed to start at 7 and Team Nadeem were all in attendance.
Waseem and George started the proceedings for Team Smith – Waseem making a quick team change to bolster the batting. Nathan and Ryan opened the bowling and had Waseem and George in trouble early. Nathan picked up three wickets, Waseem hitting the ceiling and adding a thick edge to Bray at Gully. George batted well but was runout by a direct hit from Ruwan to leave Team Smith on minus 13 for the partnership. George 2, Waseem -15.
Hardeep and Reinhardt came to the crease looking to erase the deficit and get some runs on the board. The bowling partnership of Ruwan and Nadeem had other plans. Ruwan bowled a lifting ball outside off getting the edge of Hardeep’s bat first ball of his over with Ajay taking the catch putting Smithy’s men firmly on the back foot. Nadeem also picked up a wicket first ball however Hardeep and Reinhardt put their heads down looking determined to get some runs on the board. Reinhardt kept the scoring going with two boundaries plus the extra runs to help post a positive score for the partnership of 8 bringing the total to -5. Reinhardt 14 and Hardeep -6.
The duo of the consistent David partnering the big swinging Martin was next in line. Wasim and Nathan shared the bowling against this pair and Wasim had Martin out twice in the first over, a big hit into the roof and a sharp runout. David and Martin both really showed some grit in the next three overs adding 33 runs without conceding a wicket. David 16 and Martin 1 completed a partnership of 17 bringing the total to 12.
Finally turkey stuffed Jonno and reverse sweeping Richy came to the crease. Ryan and Ruwan finished out the innings having Jonno in all sorts of trouble getting out twice to each of them. Richy batted well right up until the last ball of the innings finding himself just short of the crease. Richy 13 and Jonno -24 making -11 for the pair meant that the target of 1 run was set. Unfortunately due to some difficult to understand scoring the target was thought to be -5 and then -15. It is only in the calm of the writer’s office that full sense of this scoring sheet has been made.
Starting out the innings for team Nadeem was Nathan and Wasim. Knowing that they didn’t need to chase a big target application and concentration were the order of the day. Apparently no one mentioned that to Nathan who, perhaps still suffering from his painful blow the previous game decided to go big. Potentially breaking Smithy’s record for a negative score Nathan proceeded to hit the roof on no less than 4 occasions also finding himself cleaned up by a beautiful yorker by Hardeep and run out by a direct hit from Richy. All in all a somewhat woeful partnership of -45, with Wasim making 6 and Nathan a record breaking -51. Fantastic bowling by Hardeep and David effectively turned their low scoring total into something quite defendable.
Jonno Bray and Ryan were next to the crease. Running hard and working at keeping the ball on the deck facing first David then Richy, Reinhardt and Martin as Smithy rotated the bowling to try to keep the pair from settling in. Richy picked up the wicket of Bray with a lovely ball drawing a false stroke which found the leading edge which popped to Wasim. Ryan batted beautifully hitting a clean straight 6 and picking the gaps. Martin winkled one wicket with a straight drive that he gathered and sent back crashing into middle stump to run out Ryan who was not able to respond to Bray’s call of no in time. Bray 13 and Ryan 18 added 31 as a partnership and dragged the tally back to only -14.
Still with lots of work to do Ajay and Iqbal took their turn facing the assorted bowling of Reinhardt, Hardeep, Martin and Richy. Ajay and Iqbal seemed to have their heads in the right place initially playing straight and not attempting anything flashy. Reinhardt bowled a beautiful over only conceding 3 runs and then Hardeep followed up with a wicket as Ajay was just shy of a run. Martin picked up another wicket as Ajay top edged a rising ball into the roof. The pair was -5 at this stage and in dire need of a good over. Richy bowled tightly but Ajay and Iqbal were equal to the task including finding a desperately needed boundary off the last ball to drag their partnership into the positives. 6 runs for the partnership, Ajay 2 and Iqbal 4 to take Team Nadeem to a total of -8.
Plenty of pressure then on the last batting pair of Nadeem and Ruwan who needed at least 4 runs in the positive to potentially win and more to avoid controversy over the somewhat dodgy score sheet.
Bowling out the last overs were David, Hardeep, Martin and Reinhardt making it a daunting challenge for Nadeem and Ruwan. The first over by David was a beauty enticing Ruwan to find the roof and pegging back Team Nadeem to -9. The next over was telling however with Ruwan and Nadeem playing Hardeep extremely well adding 13 runs without losing a wicket taking the total to 4 and getting the team out of the minus column for the first time in the match. This was not without controversy however as Hardeep appeared to take the outside edge of Nadeem’s bat as half team Smith went up in unison only to be turned down. Again this time with Martin bowling a sharp ball that moved in off the seam and hit Nadeem on the thigh flying to gully which brought about an appeal for the catch then for LBW both of which were turned down by Bray. As happens a lot in cricket those two decisions going against Team Smith seemed to open the floodgates for Team Nadeem as Ruwan took Martin on, finding the back wall for a 6 that was tantalizingly close to hitting the roof. 15 runs coming from the over put Team Nadeem at 19 runs only needing to negotiate Reinhardt to finish ahead. Reinhardt bowled superbly giving nothing away and forcing Ruwan to only defend. Only 2 runs came from the last over putting Team Nadeem on a closing total of 21 runs with a partnership of 29, Ruwan 14 and Nadeem 15. So chasing 1 Team Nadeem were victorious by 20 runs.
The real winner was the roof claiming a record number of ball strikes as both teams had difficulty keeping the ball on the AstroTurf. Some excellent bowling was on display by both teams which added to the batting woes. It appears that a few more games will need to be played before Glenmore players come to terms with the bouncy Indoor ball and the restrictive rules of the Absolute Indoor facility.
Great indoor season so far with the overall bragging rights going to Team Smith who despite his habitual ball to ceiling batting style has managed to guide his various teams to victory in a majority of games.