The end of May brought with it huge rainfall most of which, it seemed, gathered at Inland Small, where the Glenmore Taverners were kicking off their 2013 season. Most arrived at the ground thinking there wasn't any possibility to play but reality never stands in Captain Smith's way! And with cricket being precarious at the best of times, if the chance to play offers itself one takes it regardless the ground conditions.
Smithy decided to field first, opening the bowling with Nabeel and Shahid. The opening over Nabeel was a good one, only giving up a few runs. Shahid's first over was a forgettable one. He couldn't find the line and gave up a few wides. He also struggled with the wet ball, which twice slipped out of his hand and turned into well directed beamers! Alas, repeated head high deliveries are frowned upon in the modern era and Shahid had to be removed from the attack. But, before he was he grabbed the wicket of the opening batsman, nicely caught by Norm behind the stumps. Poor old Shahid couldn't quite recover the form he had last year and Capt Smith finished his over. Wasim Naqshbandi took over from the Landfill End and produced an excellent spell, conceding just 14 runs from his four overs.
Adeel Siddiqui, one of three debutants, bowled a couple of overs and managed to pick up two wickets, both of which were jubilantly celebrated by Adeel! Dave Hope-Johnstone bowled four excellent overs and finished off with two wickets with his last two balls, cursing himself for not bowling a wide earlier so as to give him an opportunity for a hat trick!
Nabeel finished up getting two wickets, one caught and one bowled. Hope-Johnstone, also on his club debut, was a bowling machine that Friday. He racked up three wickets, each one bowled. The final NW Warrior’s wicket to fall was that of Glenmore’s own Ammar Maqsud, clean bowled by the delighted Jon ‘Smudger’ Smith.
The inevitable Tavs run chase was on. Anand and BJ opened up and stayed in there, doing their jobs by seeing off the opening bowlers. Anand was unfortunate to go only for nine after getting himself in. Shea Pletz, on for his first appearance for the club came in at number 3 and batted extremely well, and showed the President he can play a bit too. Shea had spent the first half of the game sopping wet having slipped and sploshed and slid around the enormous pools of water at long on while the cackling President had looked on.
BJ and Shea put together a fantastic partnership and each retired with 31 and 33 respectively. BJ looked in excellent form, flicking away anything that strayed onto his pads, and driving the ball crisply through cover. Shea was aggressive throughout his innings, and was particularly brutal to anything short outside off stump. Theirs was a fantastic partnership and put the Taverners’ right in the hunt.
Arthur Affonso, looking resplendent in his natural blue and red colours went to bat fourth and stayed in as best he could only to be bowled for 5. He was followed by Norm who likewise went for 5. The pressure was on. Glenmore had built a good score but were wobbling. The captain's innings was next and with the game in the balance if Smith could smack the ball around a bit then a Tavs victory was there to be had! Sadly, he went down swinging and was bowled by the senior Zain.
Wasim came in and looked in good touch, making a quickfire 18. Shahid made a brief appearance but his unhappy day was topped off when he was run out for 2. This brought DHJ to the middle. He smacked a four over mid-on’s head to give the Tavs a chance in the final over. But, in the end, the Taverners fell an agonizing 3 runs short. Try as they might Wasim and Dave weren’t quite able to find the big shot to get them over the line.
However, it was an excellent performance from all the lads, in genuinely awful conditions!