Glenmore Cricket Club News story


Match Report: Glenmore T20 vs Ahmadiyya, July 13th

16 Jul 2013

Sometimes you just need to hold you hands up and admit you've been beaten by a better side. This was the story for Glenmore against Ahmadiyya on Saturday morning. Glenmore posted a competitive total but excellent innings' from Shahid and Aziz meant Ahmadiyya cantered home with two overs remaining.

Glenmore's innings didn't start in great fashion, with Nathan Parr attempting to put his first ball into the flower-beds, missed completely and was bowled by Khalid. That brought Gurvinder to the middle for his first match of the summer. He took to batting like a duck to water though and appeared to be in good touch. With Storey maneuvering the ball around easily, the pair put on a valuable 38 for the second wicket. The introduction of spinner Bajwa eventually got the better of Gurv, gone lbw for 14 playing a reverse sweep.

Nabeel has been in decent form with the bat in recent weeks and he was quickly into his stride again. Twice he found the boundary in his first five balls faced, the first of which was a glorious strike over mid-on. However, Ahmadiyya's excellent skipper Aziz got the better of Nabeel, dismissing him lbw for 10.

With only six overs remaining it was time for Glenmore to up the ante. But, the need to run hard caused some confusion between Storey and Iqbal, and both batters ended up at the bowlers end. Storey had to go for a well made 39. Iqbal more than made up for it though, bashing an entertaining 34 not out from 27 balls. Waseem and Anjan came and went, but Hardeep (7 not out) knocked the ball around and helped put on 25 with Iqbal for the 7th wicket.

At Riley Park 125 is a useful total and Glenmore could be happy with their work. Storey was solid at the top, while Iqbal added some much needed impetus towards the end, whacking four boundaries along the way.

Glenmore got off to a good start with the ball, striking in the first over. Nathan Parr found some extra bounce outside off, Rashid edged it and the ball flew fast above Anjan's head. Cool as a cucumber he stretched skywards and took a fantastic catch.

This was the start of some impressive work in the field from Glenmore. Gurvinder took a good catch at mid-wicket off Iqbal's bowling, and shortly afterwards Nabeel swooped in from mid-on and threw down the stumps to run out Bajwa for a duck. It was a great piece of fielding from Nabeel and with three wickets down Glenmore were right in the game. But, hopes of a victory quickly faded as Shahid and Aziz put together a match winning partnership. Shahid smashed some big shots on his way to 42, while Aziz played nothing but smart cricket. He was always aware of where the gaps in the field were and repeatedly found them. He flicked, clipped and lofted his way to a superb, match winning 50 not out.

Shahid was eventually out with just 8 runs needed, falling to a good catch by Parr off Nabeel's bowling. Pasha had tried everything to find a breakthrough, using 8 bowlers, but none were able to stem the tide.

Ahmadiyya won with 12 balls left and thoroughly deserved their victory. Glenmore can take some heart from their performance against one of the stronger teams in the division and will look forward to some easier games in the coming week or so.