Cricket is a frustrating game.
The Glenmore 1st XI has won most of their games this season on one or two decent innings with the bat and some exceptional bowling. Finally on a day when Glenmore had a solid 50 overs of combined batting strength to post its highest run tally this season of 242 we failed with the ball to an excellent batting display by Cavaliers.
Cavaliers narrowly avoided outright defeat with their 7th player literally arriving at the ground on the stroke of noon. Glenmore of course was handed the toss again for the second time in 3 games and decided to bat.
The Cavaliers bowlers were unusually consistent in line and length and gave nothing away to Storey and Bray who weathered some swing, bounce and movement especially from Deep whose left arm action was either bringing the ball back late or moving it across to cause both openers some stressful moments. Bray was dropped at first slip by an excellent ball from Deep and Alex played a little early on a ball from Phani popping it to close midwicket where it was lazily grassed much to the relief of the Glenmore gallery. Despite these anxious moments Bray and Storey batted conservatively and with purpose getting through the first 10 overs unscathed. With 61 runs on the board and drinks taken for no loss Alex was unfortunately out first ball into the new session trying to Drive Umar but only succeeding in dragging the ball off the inside edge back onto the stumps. Sherjan joined Bray and another partnership began with both picking off singles and the odd boundary to keep the scoreboard ticking over without taking any risks.
Vikram getting unbelievable bounce on the dodgy inland small Stoney Trail end kept both Sherjan and Bray quiet with only 22 runs coming from his first 6 overs. It was after being switched to the landfill end that Vikram struck as Bray tried to guide one down to third man but managed only in hitting it to a diving first slip who took a good low catch. 1 run shy of the 50 Bray was not happy as he left the ground. 2/89 however was still a great platform to build the innings. Jenkinson joined Sherjan but the pair was broken up immediately when Sherjan uncharacteristically lofted a drive to mid-on off the spinner Jimmy. 3/91 and the all too often potential collapse beckoned. A plumb LBW given by Richie the fill in umpire had Phani finally picking up a wicket for his good work with the ball trapping Waseem right in front. 4/100 and Glenmore desperately needed a partnership. Enter Joubert who has had a tough time of it this season and was aching for time in the middle. Together Joubert and Ryan really worked hard to build a partnership. Hitting the bad ball to the boundary and taking the singles on offer the pair built one of the best middle order partnerships this year of 92 runs taking the score up to 192 before Joubert was caught on the boundary off the bowling of Deep for a fantastic 42 including a punishing over off Jimmy in which he hit 20 runs including 2 big sixes. The in-form Ryan was the next to go caught off the bowling of Umar for his second 50 this year making 53 sensational runs also including 2 6’s and plenty of boundaries as he looked to up the run rate.
By this stage Glenmore had the pleasing position of being able to go for it with plenty of batsmen in the bank. Ruwan called for the cameras to be ready and briefly delivered with a towering 6 before Umar had him caught and bowled for 7. Reinhardt and Nathan both fell on their swords trying to keep smashing the ball to all parts for 3 and a globe which left Ali and Richie to finish out the last over and a half.
Richie was finally out on the last ball of the innings caught off Phani for 5 leaving the total a healthy 242 with the bonus 6 run penalty. Ali was not out on 3 boosting his average nicely. Deep and Umar were the pick of the bowlers finishing with 3/46 and 3/38.
The mood in the side was decidedly confident given the strength of the bowling attack and the capitulation that has all too often proven to be Cavaliers hallmark with the bat this year.
Ishant and Kamal looked to change all that and were straight away taking on the Glenmore openers Nathan and Ali. Kamal looked streaky at best initially as advancing slog sweeps found the inside edge and narrowly missed the leg stump off Ali. Nathan was not finding his usual punishing line and Ishant was taking advantage hitting to leg with effect on a consistent basis. Ali finished his opening burst with 0/48 from his 6 overs.
Ruwan tried a quick spurt but couldn’t find the breakthrough when Bray unfortunately found his left foot sliding out from under him as he pushed off to try and reach an edge looping between second and third slip. What could have been a chance was gone. It seemed like one of those games where in the field nothing seems to come together. Ruwan finished with 0/15 from 2 overs.
Richie bowled the last over before drinks and Cavaliers went in without loss for 82. A great start for them and some soul searching for Glenmore to get back in the game.
Reinhardt bowling in tandem with Richie finally picked up the first wicket of Ishant for 49 who edged behind to Storey. Cavaliers were 1/116. Richie then got his first wicket picking up Kamal caught at cow corner by Waseem who stood motionless by the boundary so that the umpire could check he was not over the line. Some contention from the batsman as it appeared Waseem raised both arms to signal a 6. Confusion resolved Kamal was gone for his best score of the season of 58.
Back in the game Glenmore looked to press on with the advantage and put pressure on the new pair.
Reinhardt picked up Vikram with a ball that squeezed through bat to pad then trickled onto the stumps, Reinhardt finished with 2/25 from his 6 overs. The ball was then thrown to Jenkinson who bowled with purpose at training the week before and impressed the skipper enough to get the nod. Immediately the feisty left hander got into the action bowling Phani with a lovely in-swinger. Jimmy came and went the same way and Jenko was on fire. With 2 wickets in 2 overs Cavaliers were under all sorts of pressure. Through this Sanjay showed his years of experience and patiently started built what would be a match winning innings. He picked off the loose balls, rotated the strike and worked to calm the remaining Cavaliers batsmen. A big moment came off the bowling of Richie with Sanjay mistiming a drive and sending it high in between Ruwan and Waseem. With no calling Ruwan seemed to get there first and had the ball in his hand but the collision sent it to the deck for what turned out to be the vital wicket of the innings.
Umar and Deep did not seem to take this lucky turn as a sign to knuckle down as firstly Umar was cleaned up swinging at yet another Jenko in-swinger and Deep tried to hoik Richie out of the ground only to find his leg stump bail missing. Sanjay was visibly dismayed losing two quick partners and when the young keeper Ankur came to the crease Sanjay was down talking to him almost every second ball.
Ankur seemed to heed Sanjay’s advice and batted extremely well. Together they weathered everything Glenmore could throw at them, consistently finding the boundary and bringing their target to within sight. Richie finished his spell with 2 for 60 after a 15 run final over at the hands of Sanjay who was well set and playing with authority. Jenko finished his best spell for the club with 3/34.
Nathan came back for a last burst to try and get a breakthrough but couldn’t get past the dogged defense of Sanjay and Ankur. Nathan finished with an uncharacteristic 0/52 from 9 overs.
Finally Sherjan had a go with only 2 runs needed for victory and bowled 5 great dot balls before Ankur backed himself and banged him back over his head for the winning runs.
So finished a valuable day’s cricket for Glenmore even in defeat. Cavaliers simply outplayed with both bat and ball and deserved their 3 wicket victory. For Glenmore batting through 50 and putting up close to 250 is always going to make them competitive. Bray and Storey put on another 50+ opening stand with good support from Sherjan for a follow up partnership. Jenkinson and Joubert however were the standout pair, putting on an extremely mature and valuable 92 run partnership.
With the ball Jenkinson showed that he can be a dangerous customer when full of confidence and had his best game as an all-rounder for the club. Richie also started to get into some rhythm having been blocked by the opening bowlers this year from seeing much of the ball as he at times bowled extremely tightly only suffering one bad over at the hands of an attacking Sanjay.
3 games left in the season and two wins needed to secure a spot in Division 1 is the task before us. With the batting showing some real improvement Glenmore looks to be coming together and will be a strong favorite to make that happen.