(We have two reports of this game. This is penned by an actual eye witness)
The Taverners won the toss by default with only 3 Fluor players at the ground at 6pm, no umpires turned up.. pretty standard day for Calgary cricket! The Taverners elected to bat and Shea and BJ started us off. Solid start once again, and by the 10th over we were 80 for no loss.
Our June Player of the Month Shea regained his form after a brief one game hiatus to score 33 not out off 21 balls including 4 fours and 1 six!
Vice Captain BJ after his solid start was given a direct order to speed up the run rate by the skipper, and produced a well intended slog across the line but alas was beaten LBW to finish up on 23 off 27 balls.
Next to the square Wasim "the bandit" Naqshbandi made a seemingly quick 33 off 26 balls, it seemed lightning fast that he was in and out, but what a contribution!
Following the three openers our distinguished journeyman batsmen Arthur Affonso and Ken Beaumont added 17 off 16 and 13 off 6 respectively before both being bowled.
Our out of form captain Jonathan “Lord Smudgington IV” Smith put up a quick fire 31 off 12 balls with not a single dot ball in sight!
Nabeel added 3 off 6 to close out a 178 for 3 innings with 25 extras. A brilliant display of batting by the Taverners.
After a short break, our excited lads took to the field to defend an unusually large total. David Hope-Johnstone opened the bowling with a nervous 1 for 14 in the first over, David bowled Flour’s opening batsman with a beautiful fast ball.
Fluor came to the crease with every intention of chasing the total with an excellent and at times fast paced run rate, that had the Tavs concerned their total could be chased down. It was looking like it just might be when they were at 84 for 3 after 8 overs; although a couple of quick wickets were collected thanks to Nabeel’s caught and bowled and then bowled the very next ball, getting himself in line for a possible hat trick (which unfortunately didn’t eventuate) still saw them on 90 for 5 after 9 overs.
Once again Fluor capable with the willow accelerated their run rate even with 5 wickets down and 2 retirements so by the eleventh over they were scoring at a run rate of 11 per over. At the twelfth over a drive to mid-wicket was quickly picked up by the captain and returned to the stumps via a direct hit for a controversial run out, which was correctly sighted and given by the square leg umpire. It was all getting incredibly exciting!
Wasim came in to bowl the fifteenth over, and swiftly sent the last two batsmen on their bikes, with a magnificent 2 for 7.
What a game, what a night, well done lads!
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(Match report pieced together by a non-eye witness from Heather Smith's Twitter updates...thanks Lady Smudgington!)
Glenmore Taverners pulled off a thrilling win at Inland Small tonight against a Fluor team flirting with the top of the league. Another sensational batting performance put the Tavs in the box seat, but it took a late flurry of wickets to finish the job.
In what has been a significantly improved season for the Taverners thus far, it's the top order that's proved most consistent. And once again the top three set the tone. BJ made a run-a-ball 23 before being adjudged lbw. His opening partner and June's Player-of-the-Month, Shea Pletz has been a genuine hero this summer and for the fourth time in five innings ended up retiring once he got to 30. His record has been quite incredible since joining the club and this innings was one of his most fluent, coming off just 21 deliveries.
2nd XI captain Wasim Naqshbandi also found some form against the Fluor attack, taking them for 33 from 26 balls! The ball was flying around all over Inland Small, but with Shea, BJ and Wasim all back on the sidelines it was up to the middle order to maintain the quick scoring. And they did just that. The evergreen Arthur Affonso chipped in with 17 runs off 16 balls, while Ken Beaumont went berserk by smashing 13 from just 6 balls, including a big ol' six!
But, if it's quick runs you want at the end of an innings then there's only one man for the job...Jonathan 'Lord Smudgington' Smith. The skipper has had a rough few weeks and it was just a matter of time before he took his frustrations out on some poor, unsuspecting bowling attack. Smithy only faced 12 balls but in that time he butchered the Fluor bowlers and helped himself to a quickfire 31 not out! Five boundaries had the Glenmore team cheering and by the time the bewildered Fluor team came off the Taverners had scorched their way to a record score...178-3! A truly spectacular effort!
Dave Hope-Johnstone got his team an early breakthrough, clean bowling one of the openers. But, if the Tavs boys thought the game was won they were soon reassessing the situation as Fluor started walloping the ball to all parts. Dr Ron picked up wickets in his second and third overs, but five overs into the innings Fluor had raced to 59. The onslaught continued but Glenmore were able to chip away a few wickets. Nabeel took a sharp caught and bowled, and with the very next ball cleaned up the new batsman. The hat-trick didn't come but some more of the stuffing had been removed from the Fluor batting order.
Two of the most attacking batsmen passed 30 and it was smiles all round when they returned to the boundary edge. At the halfway stage Fluor were ahead of the rate but were running out of batsmen...103-5.
The score had advanced to 126 when Smudger impacted the game again, this time producing a vital run out from mid-wicket. But still Fluor would not lie down, and with 36 balls left in the match just 36 runs were required. The tension was almost unbearable, but cometh the hour, cometh the man. The man in question, Mr Wasim Naqshbandi! Brought onto bowl at a critical moment he first hit the stumps to take the Taverners to the brink, and then he completed a run out to seal the win!
Congratulations to all the Tavs boys tonight. Wins have been pretty rare in recent years and so this was a night to be savored. An awesome effort with the bat from everyone, and a great performance with the ball from Hope-Johnstone, Ron and Nabeel, all of whom picked up two wickets.
The Ashes has nothing in comparison to a Tavs win!