Glenmore Cricket Club News story


Match Report: 1sts vs United Warriors June 8th

08 Jun 2013

The Glenmore 1st XI don't make life easy for themselves. How nice it would be to see a huge total posted so the boys could then take to the field with a feeling of relative calm. Instead, time and again, the batting collapses and the bowlers have retrieve the situation. And so it proved once again at Inland Small as the Glenmore opening bowlers, Nathan Parr and Bobby Gajendra, saved the day.

The planned pre-match training session didn't happen for Glenmore due to some uncommon lateness. But, Jon Bray (having spent some practicing his tossing technique) won the toss and elected to bat first. The first over was profitable, with nine runs coming from it, but the second over was chaotic as Ruwan (5) was run out. The ball had gone to a short fine leg, there were screams of "Yes" followed by screams of "No", and we all know how that ends up.

Mr Consistent, David Sherjan (fresh from a big night out with Nathan) was next to go, feathering a catch to the keeper from a well bowled out-swinger. 13-2 became 13-3 the very next ball. Harshvir dug one in at George Williams, who attempted a pull shot only to glove it to the keeper. Glenmore were in trouble and the two United Warriors bowlers were right on top. Neither Harshvir nor Shahab were giving anything away. Skipper Bray was playing in his typically dogged, stoical way and once again proved to be the standout batsman of the innings. At the other end his vice-captain Storey did his best to right the ship. Together these two put on 32 (the biggest partnership of the match) before Storey was trapped lbw just before drinks to the loopy leg-spin of Indy.

Following the drinks break Jon played an uncharacteristically bombastic stroke to the spin of Malik, smashing him down the ground for a straight six. Never one to curb his naturally aggressive style, Waseem Altaf (11), playing his first game of the season, played a couple of big shots himself before he fell on his sword, out stumped trying to bosh one over long on.

Wickets continued to fall regularly as the score only crept along, thanks mostly to an obscene amount of wides. Jon was eventually caught at cow-corner for a patient 28. Bobby Gajendra had batted extremely sensibly (despite some questionable running) before he was knocked over for 8. Bijju was also skittled, cleaned up for a duck by Shahab. Nathan continued his series of frustrating dismissals when he hit a long hop straight to cover for another duck.

All that left Ali Memon and Rich Harvey out in the middle trying to get the Glenmore total above three figures. Rich is a classic number 11, blocking the ball with the full face of the bat, or leaving it with rare panache. He did this admirably, and also threw in a few attacking shots to the leg side. His partner, Memon, also did a fantastic job with the bat. Ali has always showed some promise with the blade and today he picked up his best score for the club…a gritty, sensible 11. He blocked the good ones and looked to get after the loose ones. In the end he was last man out but together the final pair had put on a valuable 21 runs and had got the total up to 116.

Due to Glenmore's early demise the teams were back out in the middle ten minutes later. Far too often Glenmore have had to defend a small total and so they knew exactly what they had to do. The bowlers had to be on the money, the fielders had to be sharp and everyone had to keep their fingers crossed for some early wickets.

Well, as it transpired, it couldn't have gone more to plan. Nathan, now over his hangover, charged in and started with a maiden. At the other end Bobby was equally accurate and also started with six dot balls. The early pressure was just what the doctor ordered, and it wasn't long before the Glenmore boys were celebrating their first wicket. Nathan, who was bowling some beautiful away swingers, then produced a perfectly pitched off-cutter which beat the forward defence of United's best batsman, Indy, and smashed into middle. It was a peach of a delivery and well deserved for a great start in the field.

With United's captain Waqas backing away to square leg against Parr, and no batsman being able to score off Bobby, the sense was that wicket number 2 was not far away. It was no surprise that Bobby picked it up, tempting the frustrated Faisal into an ill-advised flick to leg which flew to George at square leg. George has not had the best time of it at square leg so far this season but he clung on well to this chance to give Bobby his first wicket of the day.

United managed to cling on until the lunch break and were 20-2 at the interval. It had been a great start from Glenmore and the game was certainly in the balance. However, within four overs of the restart the game was pretty much in Glenmore's hands. Cricket is a funny old game and can change very quickly, but rarely has a game swung so dramatically in such a short space of time. After lunch five wickets fell in just three and a half overs. It was a total capitulation from United in the face of some expert bowling. The astonishing collapse started in Nathan's first over after the break. He tore in and produced a quick short one. United's most talkative fielder, Bilal, played a wild cut stroke and the top edge flew to Storey behind the stumps who took a one handed grab high above his head. In the next over Bobby was into the action, picking up two wickets in the over, both of which were caught by Waseem at long on. Bobby was super tight and the batsman had no scoring options so attempted to go over the top. It was poorly thought out batting against some top quality in-swing bowling, and some good, solid catching from Waseem.

Bobby completed his five wicket haul in his next over, once again picking up two wickets! Munawar was the first to go, clean bowled by the perfect in-swinger. Bobby normally gets a few like this every season, when he gets it absolutely spot on…the line, the length and the amount of swing. This one came back at Munawar viciously from outside off and knocked back the middle peg. Bobby's extravagant mid-picth celebration was perfectly apt. The five-fer was completed thanks to a very sharp catch by Bijju at mid-wicket. Harshvir continued the all out attack method of batting and whacked his second ball straight at Bijju who made no mistake.

With seven wickets down and just 31 on the board, it was only a matter of time before Glenmore wrapped the game up. Nathan had served up some sensational swing bowling but in his 10th and last over he opted to send down some short stuff. Parvema was the poor batsman on strike. Three consecutive bouncers had him swaying, jumping and blocking. With just one ball left in the over, and the spell, everyone surely predicted Parr would aim straight and full at the stumps. But, with one final burst of energy he bowled yet another short one. Parvema attempted a pull but could only glove the ball to Storey down the leg-side. Parr, exhausted and perhaps regretting that last Jaigermeister, was pleased as punch!

Massive credit must go to Nathan and Bobby, who really won the match for Glenmore. The two openers each produced some top class swing bowling and hardly bowled a bad ball between them.

The final two wickets to fall went to Ruwan and Ali. 'Ruby' had Malik caught at first slip by Jon, while 'Lulu' knocked over Shahab's middle stump to finish the game.

United were eventually all out for 61. It was an incredible game of cricket really. Neither team batted well and the game was won by Glenmore's superior bowling, fight and desire. All the fielders were lively, energetic and switched on, and of course the bowling was superb.

Next up for Glenmore is Cavaliers. Let's all hope for a better batting display.