Glenmore Cricket Club News story


Match Report: Glenmore T20 vs St Johns, July 1st

03 Jul 2013

A determined performance in the field wasn't enough to save Glenmore in their opening T20 match of the season. A disappointing effort with the bat left the team about 25 runs short of where they needed to be. However, there were enough signs to think the team will have some success this summer.

With temperatures soaring in Calgary both Glenmore and St Johns were grateful to be playing at 10am on Canada Day. Glenmore skipper Muhammad Pasha won the toss and elected to bat first. Alex Storey and Anjan Singh kicked things off but couldn't replicate their excellent partnership of Saturday. The pair put on 16 before Anjan edged behind to the keeper for 7. 

The dangerous Iqbal Sandu was next to go, getting clean bowled by an absolute beauty from opening bowler Abid. The consistent St Johns performer was in the wickets again in his next over. Storey (7) had pulled the previous ball for four but managed to play around a straight one which left his middle stump flattened.

With Glenmore in some trouble, three wickets down in just four overs, the emphasis shifted onto the middle order. Hardeep Dhaliwal and Reinhardt Malan steadied the ship a little, but the bowling from St Johns was tight and scoring opportunities were few. Reinhardt eventually got caught at square leg (at the second attempt) trying to break the shackles.

With St Johns on top it was left to Hardeep and David Sherjan to build as big a total as possible. The pair did pretty well considering the ground is difficult to score quickly on at the best of times. Hardeep struck some lusty blows for four, one over long on and one to deep mid-wicket. Dave looked his unflappable self and manoeuvred the ball around nicely. With the two of them in the middle Glenmore still had hopes of making it to three figures. However, as the overs started to run out so the wickets again began to fall. Hardeep was bowled for a well made 22, Sherjan went for 24 and Asad (1) and Pasha (4) also came and went quickly. In the end Glenmore finished on 88-8 from their twenty overs, probably 20 or so runs short.

Following his late appearance to the game Nathan Parr had plenty to prove and he was straight into the action in his first over. He immediately found his usual high speed and away swing, and completely beat the St Johns opener for pace to trap him lbw! Glenmore were celebrating again in the next over as Pasha picked up the second wicket to leave St Johns reeling on 2-1. Glenmore's fielders were pumped up and the game was back in the balance. A few half chances went begging though and St Johns started to rebuild. The total had moved onto 25 before Parr struck again, cleaning up Anindah for 9.

Glenmore needed to find another wicket or two to really get a grip on the game, but a useful partnership between Ishant and Aninadh got St Johns back on track. Pasha rotated the bowlers in a quest to find a breakthrough, but a further 30 runs had been added by the time the next one came along. Asad Gul had Ishant caught at cover by Hardeep, and in the next over Reinhardt picked up Saad in the same way. Two quick wickets and the score was now 65-5. 

Fortunately for St Johns they now had their two most mature, level-headed batsmen at the crease  - Russell and Rohit. They played calmly and without any fuss to shut the door on Glenmore's hopes. Together they got St Johns over the line to leave Glenmore hot, sweaty and disappointed. 

The encouraging signs for Glenmore were the performances of the bowlers (Parr, Pasha, Iqbal and Reinhardt all performed well with the ball) and the effort put in by the fielders. If the batting unit can get going in future games then victories are guaranteed.