Glenmore’s 1st XI kicked off their season with a fantastic team performance to win a thrilling encounter with Crown Eagles.
It was a new-look Glenmore side who fielded first at Westwinds, with four players making their debuts for the club – George Williams, Nathan Parr, Joubert Malan and Reinhardt Malan. Having had a long winter playing indoors, all the lads were keen to get into the game and there was a definite energy among the boys in blue as Nathan steamed in for the first over. He immediately set the tone for the remainder of the innings, finding a probing line and length, and asking lots of questions of the batsmen.
While Parr built up some good pace during his opening spell, Bobby Gajendra relied on his usual inswing and finding an attacking length. Crown’s opener Usman Khan managed to slog a few boundaries on the leg side but scoring shots were few and far between in the early overs.
Glenmore got their first breakthrough when David Sherjan was introduced to the attack. He quickly found a perfect line and length, and in his first over Khan (33) attempted to whack him over the top, only to skew the ball to Ryan Jenkinson at cover who took a smart catch over his shoulder.
Sherjan struck again soon afterwards, trapping the struggling Partysh Misra plumb in front for a painfully slow 9 runs. Dave was giving nothing away as he bowled into the wind and he found an equally tight, accurate partner at the other end in Reinhardt Malan. The bustling seamer hardly bowled a bad ball in a miserly seven over spell that went for just 13 runs. He was unfortunate not to pick up a wicket when he found an inside edge early in his spell. He certainly deserved his one wicket, which came thanks to a brilliant catch by Asad Gul at mid-on. Wasim Sadiq (0) tried to smash the ball down the ground but could only send it soaring into the cloudy skies. Asad had an age to get under it and safely took the catch.
Glenmore’s next scalp came once Ruwan was brought into the attack. The pacey Sri Lankan bowled as well as he has for the club, never giving the batsmen an easy scoring option. He really tied down Crown’s Elite batsman, Nasir Abbas (17), and in the end the number three attempted an optimistic flick to leg. The ball took a leading edge, went way up, and was expertly caught by Reinhardt at cover point. It was reward for sustained pressure built up by all the bowlers on Abbas, who simply could not get going.
Crown’s top scorer on the day was the useful Umar Farooq. He was quick between the wickets and played a few nice shots. But, with pressure building on him he tried to drive Ruwan through cover only to get inside edge onto his middle stump.
Asad and Ryan bowled five overs between them in the middle of the innings but with the top order all gone it was time for Nathan and Bobby to return. Nathan built up some good pace and had two rewards. The first was a violent bouncer which smashed into the helmet of Hari Sharma (23). The second was a fearsome yorker to the same batsman which took out middle stump.
Bobby bowled extremely well in his second spell, picking up the final four wickets. A perfectly pitched inswinger knocked over Khalil (6), Qureshi (14) edged behind to Storey and a well disguised slower ball did for Cheema (2), who offered an easy chance to Williams at cover. The last man fell to a contentious lbw decision, the first of four dodgy ones on the day.
Thanks to Bobby’s 4-fer Crown were all out for 164. A below par total on a good batting track.
With usual captain and opener Jon Bray away on his holidays it was left to George Williams to accompany Ruwan to start the Glenmore run chase. While George struggled to find his feet early on Ruwan was quickly into his stride. He hit consecutive sixes high over straight mid-wicket on his way to an eye catching 25 (from just 12 balls). His onslaught was brought to a close when he edged Farooq to the keeper. Having been 31-0 Glenmore were soon in trouble at 39-3. This was more to do with some controversial umpiring than any special bowling. First George (5) was shot out playing to leg and hitting him high. Next it was Joubert (3), who got probably the worst lbw of the day. Not only did he middle it but he middled it high into his thigh. The umpire’s finger shot up quick as a flash. Joubert lingered for a moment but had to go, frustrated at the injustice of it all.
This brought captain-for-the-day Alex Storey to the middle. Although Storey struggled to find any fluency he was able to ride his luck and stick around for a while. At the other end Sherjan was looking much better, cutting, driving and pulling with great effect. Together the two Englishmen put on a valuable 51 for the fourth wicket before Storey edged to the keeper. The score was now 90-4 and the game was in the balance.
The next ten overs brought Crown four more wickets to put them in the driving seat for the first time. Reinhardt was bowled by Nasir Abbas for 5. Abbas picked up two more wickets, both taken at long off as Asad (5) and Parr (0) tried to smash the ball down the ground. The big wicket was taken by Farooq when he picked up David Sherjan for 32. Sherjan never looked like getting out and it took another appalling decision to get rid of him.
This sudden flurry of wickets left Glenmore in trouble. 39 runs to win and just two wickets remaining. However, Glenmore are nothing if not a tough, resilient team and so it proved when Ryan Jenkinson was joined in the middle by Bobby G. These two produced a match winning partnership last summer and they were at it again to kick off the 2013 season. Despite a chorus of appeals every time the ball struck the pad or passed the bat these two dug in and gave nothing away. They sensibly left the ball outside off, defended solidly whenever necessary and took any scoring opportunities when they came along. Ryan did the lion’s share of the scoring with Bobby content to defend and take the occasional single. Jenko’s best shot was a wonderful straight six off Abbas, which put a big dent in the runs needed.
Crown did not help themselves during the final few overs, delivering plenty of wides. There was also a moment of controversy when Usman Khan delivered consecutive beamers to Bobby G. The thought was that Khan should be removed from the attack but following a large group discussion between nine of the Crown players and the umpires he continued to bowl.
In the end it came down to the excellent Ryan Jenkinson to drive Cheema though extra cover for the winning runs. He and Bobby embraced mid-pitch, their teammates rose from their seats to celebrate and Bijju, padded up for nine agonizing overs, breathed a sigh of relief!
It was a great effort from Jenko and Bobby to see the team home. They both played magnificently to give Glemore deserved victory. The team spirit, energy in the field, collective bowling and determination with the bat shown by Glenmore was all first class. If the same qualities are on show every week it should be a hugely successful season.
Congrats to the guys who made their debuts for the club. We wish the lads a happy, successful time with Glenmore CC.