Scorecard

Cavaliers I v Glenmore Cricket Club Glenmore Braves on Sun 27 Apr 2014 at 12pm
Glenmore Cricket Club Won by 83 runs

Match report Glenmore 1st XI got their 2014 campaign off to a winning start with a comfortable and encouraging victory over old rivals Cavaliers at Westwinds on Sunday.

Anyone looking out their window on Saturday evening would have thought cricket was out of the question for the following day. Dark clouds enveloped the city and snow came down hard all night. Thankfully, sunshine and slightly warmer temperatures came to town just in time to ensure the game went ahead and only three or four layers were required to keep the cold out!

Glenmore, freshly promoted to Division 1 and coming off the back of a long indoor season, were asked to bat first when stand-in skipper Alex Storey called incorrectly at the toss. Any hopes of a strong opening stand between Storey and Adam Knox were dashed when Storey was run out in the second over in diabolical circumstances. A 'free hit' delivery was sent down to Knoxy, who crunched the low full toss hard into the covers. Knoxy stood motionless at the strikers' end, only to look up to see his partner horsing toward him. Storey came three quarters of the way down, turned, gave up and trudged off, head in hands.

The worst possible start, but the lowlight of the innings was out of the way and far better was to come in the remaining 48 overs. The recovery started with a measured 54 run partnership for the second wicket between Knox and Dave Sherjan. The left hand, right hand combination worked a treat, with the bowlers struggling to find any consistency and the wicketkeeper struggling to take anything cleanly. Both batters were patient, content to defend the good ones while picking up ones and twos when on offer. Knoxy, struggling with an injured ankle and dodgy hamstring, wasn't his usual quick self between the wickets, but was quickly onto anything dropped short at him, three times pulling the ball behind square.

Adam was eventually caught behind for a solid 22, which brought to the middle Martyn Challoner, making his first appearance for the club. There were perhaps some debut nerves early on as Martyn flirted at a few balls outside his off stump, but he was soon to settle down and show his class. 00-Sherj was also offering a reminder of his undisputed class with the bat. Rock solid in defense and crisp in attack, Sherjan was looking in decent touch. A few punches through cover off the back foot were particularly eye catching. Between them Challoner and Sherjan were looking very comfortable and they had taken the score past 100 when the partnership was broken. Sherjan was the man to go, adjudged lbw for 42.

When Marcus Levermore came and went for 4 the Glenmore innings was in the balance. 117-4 and still plenty of overs remaining. But, with Martyn looking better with every passing over there was a sense of optimism among the Glenmore players and their group of supporters (thanks to Alex Robertson, Anil Joshi, Wayne Lingard, Joubert Malan, Francois du Toit Tony Pasternak and Anjan Singh, all of whom came to watch at different stages). Martyn just continued to play patiently and efficiently, his bat always straight and looking wider than Deerfoot Trail! His new partner was Ruwan Thushantha and together they proved to be an excellent foil for one another. While Martyn maneuvered the ball into spaces and rotated the strike, Ruwan looked to be aggressive whenever the opportunity arose. First ball he was greeted with an ugly full toss from Rohan, which Ruby whacked high over mid-wicket for six.

This was one of Ruwan's best innings for the club. He's made bigger scores than his 38, but this was a smart, controlled knock. Careful in defense when required but always looking to take the attack to Cavaliers when their bowlers strayed. He was eventually caught down at long on with the score at 176-5.

With overs running out Martyn started to inject some extra impetus to his innings. He and fellow debutant Regan Black basically played 'hit and run' for the time they were together, although both also freed their arms on occasion. Martyn went to 48 with a beautiful slog-sweep for six and was soon went past fifty. A few overs later he tried the big shot again, but was given out lbw to the right-arm around bowler for an excellent 57. A superb knock, full of patience and perfect technique. Regan (13 not out) smashed a four straight down the ground, and Reinhardt (9 not out) hit the sweetest six of the day over long off, to finish the innings in style and take the total to an impressive 233-6.

Glenmore knew that the match was in their hands having made a good score, but would need to bowl well to complete the victory. Ruwan's first over went for nine runs, but really from that moment on Cavaliers had little to smile about as the Glenmore bowlers and fielders put the squeeze on. Bobby Gajendra was at his metronomic best with the new ball. He repeatedly found a good line and length, giving Khawja and Kamal nothing to hit at all. When he did finally offer a little more width Kamal's eyes lit up and his attempted drive flew straight into the safe hands of Sherjan in the gully. Bobby was celebrating again soon after when Marcus made up for an earlier drop by taking a catch at cover. 23-2 soon became 29-3 when Ruwan got a well deserved wicket. Khawja had hit Ruwan for six in his first over, but had subsequently been given nothing to attack. Whereas Glenmore's top order had shown great discipline and restraint, Khawja couldn't resist any longer. He attempted an ugly hoik off Ruby and the ball was safely pouched by Reinhardt, making good ground to his left.

Three early wickets had fallen and the Glenmore boys were buzzing. The energy in the field was great, the bowlers were on the money, and the boys in blue were right on top. Ruby and Bobby G had both produced excellent opening spells, and their accuracy was repeated by the change bowlers, Challoner and Bijju. Martyn found plenty of swing, both in and out, and caused a number of problems. Bijju, who had bowled beautifully all Winter indoors, found an excellent rhythm and was extremely unlucky not to pick up a few wickets. Twice his slower ball almost did the business, but he was to go wicketless from 6 very good, tight overs. Martyn, on the hand, continued his outstanding performance by picking up two wickets during a miserly 10 over spell. He had Cavs captain Rohan trapped plumb in front, and then got Meheran caught by Sherj at mid-on.

At this stage the game felt all but over. Glenmore's mean bowling meant the run rate was crawling along, and the Cavaliers' batsmen were showing no signs of a comeback. The third Glenmore debutant of the day was Arnab Biswas, and he too bowled well when introduced into the attack. Arnie consistently found some good away movement, beat the bat on numerous occasions, and thoroughly deserved his first wicket for the club when Reinhardt took his second catch of the day, this time a sharp chance at extra cover.

The slow-left arm of Regan Black was enough to knock over number 8 Harvinder. Regan struggled a little to find a probing length, but when he did pitch it up he always looked dangerous. Harvinder was completely undone by a beautifully flighted delivery which knocked over the middle peg. Regan picked up his second wicket shortly after, taking a high catch off his own bowling to end Mukal's stay at the crease.

The only Cavs batsman to show any determination was Muzaffar Mian, who ended up making 52. Never particularly fluent or easy on the eye, he did at least hang around and capitalised on the rare scoring opportunities. Muzaffar's vigil was brought to an end by Dave Sherjan who found the outside edge, and Storey took an acrobatic one-handed catch behind the stumps.

It was left to Arnie to wrap up the inevitable win for Glenmore. His short ball hit Zeashan on the glove and the ball lobbed to Storey to complete a comprehensive 83 run victory.

It had been a really strong all-round performance from Glenmore. Martyn proved to be the bedrock with both bat and ball, but many others contributed well. Knox, Sherjan, Ruwan and Regan all helped build significant partnerships, while all the bowlers did what was asked. There remain areas to improve, notably the catching and the number of wides bowled, but this was an encouraging display from start to finish. The teams' attitude was first class, and if the same effort remains throughout the Summer it should be a fun, successful season.

Glenmore Cricket Club Glenmore Braves Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
2nb 38w 7lb 
for 6 wickets
47
233		        
Alex Storey Run out  1 2
Adam Knox ct keeper b Zeashan 22
David Sherjan lbw b Harvinder 42 2
Martyn Challoner lbw b Kamal 57
Marcus Levermore ct cover b Rohan 4 1
Ruwan Thushantha ct long on b Irfan 38
Regan Black Not Out  13 1
Reinhardt Malan Not Out  9 2
Arnab Biswas  
Bobby Gajendra  
Brijesh (Bijju) Mohankumar  

Cavaliers I Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Zeashan7.0042142.006.00
Nouman10.013600.003.60
Meheran9.004400.004.89
Irfan8.0129129.003.63
Rohan5.0027127.005.40
Harvinder5.001900.003.80
Kamran2.00800.004.00
Kamal4.0021121.005.25

Cavaliers I Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 35w 1b  
for 10 wickets
37
150 (43.1 overs)		     
Khawja ct R.Malan b Thushantha 10
Kamal ct Sherjan b Gajendra 2
Kamran ct Levermore b Gajendra 6
Muzaffar ct Storey b Sherjan 52
Rohan lbw b Challoner 2
Meheran ct Sherjan b Challoner 16
Nouman ct R.Malan b Biswas 4
Harvinder b Black 6
Mukal ct c & b Black 12
Irfan Not Out  4
Zeashan ct Storey b Biswas 0

Glenmore Cricket Club Glenmore Braves Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Ruwan Thushantha8.0142142.005.25
Bobby Gajendra6.02522.500.83
Martyn Challoner10.0124212.002.40
Reinhardt Malan1.00100.001.00
Brijesh (Bijju) Mohankumar6.002600.004.33
Arnab Biswas5.101628.003.10
Regan Black5.0026213.005.20
David Sherjan2.00919.004.50

  • Umpire :
    Chinar Patriots I
  • Scorer :