Scorecard

Glenmore Cricket Club Glenmore Braves v Crown II on Sat 21 May 2016 at 12pm
Glenmore Cricket Club Won by 47 runs

Match report Man of the Match at a freezing cold Riley Park on Saturday...extras! Extras had a great day, top scoring in both innings. This says a lot about the conditions, and the difficulty in getting runs off the bat. But, despite the cold and the wet and the shaggy grass, Glenmore produced an excellent team display to run out comfortable winners by 47 runs.

Crown II won the toss and had no hesitation in asking Glenmore to bat first on the wet, slippery pitch. Aniket and Taha navigated the expected swing and seam of the early overs in relative comfort, although Taha was afforded the luxury of being dropped at point first ball of the match. Aniket looked in particularly good touch, and would have been rewarded with a number of sumptuous boundaries on a more traditional cricket field. Their opening stand ended when Taha was smartly caught and bowled by Shahi for 5. They may have only put on 18 for the first wicket, but in Riley Park terms that was a good start and a decent foundation.

It was interesting to watch the Crown bowlers in action. Shahi bowled with some good pace and movement, while the former first class cricketer Tahir Mughal was extremely accurate and did a little bit with the ball both ways. However, both enjoyed banging in a number of short balls, which were accurate but unsuccessful. The zip and skid in the pitch made the bouncers difficult to play, but on a wicket that's swinging, seaming and has inconsistent bounce, a steady spell of line and length would have been a better ploy. Glenmore's bowlers certainly took note of this later in the day.

Martyn found life tricky during his stay, and when he was bowled for 6 and the score was on 34, so began a mini collapse. The score stayed on 34 as Iqbal was run out (loitering outside his ground) and then Aniket (10) was sensationally caught at cover by Shahi. 34-4 in the 15th over, and work to be done. But from here on, all the remaining batsman showed some grit and determination to stick around. Jaideep and Anjan were the first to consolidate, taking the sting out of proceedings with some cautious batting. As he got his eye in Jaideep was able to unfurl some powerful strokes, even finding the cover boundary with a powerful smack on the up. Together Jai and Anjan got the score past 50 before Jai (11) was caught in the covers.

The new test for Anjan and new batsman Alex Storey was the spin of Basim Khan and Mohammad Mansoor. With the pitch so wet there was very little turn, but the bounce was not to be trusted and the ball consistently seemed to gather pace off the pitch. They were coping well, rotating the strike consistently, until Anjan (5) fell victim of the dodgy bounce. Khan bowled a short ball, Anjan rocked back to pull and the ball scuttled along the deck to hit his boot in front of middle stump. Despite a few early scares, Storey was playing nicely and was looking to take the attack to the spinners. A few lofted shots over the off side sent the field back as Crown looked to attack Tejas Chitre. Shahi and Mughal returned to the attack, again dishing out plenty of bouncers, but Tejas and Storey were able to keep them at bay and kept the scoreboard ticking over. Together the pair added 22 and took the score to 99 before Storey (24) was knocked over by the left armer Ali Qamar.

With 10 overs remaining it was hoped the lower order could take the score up to 125, which would be a challenging total. Sadly it wasn't to be quite that. Manjinder was bowled first ball by the impressive Mughal. And then Tejas was run out for a very valuable, composed 13. Farid and Kunal played well and added some handy runs for the last wicket, and took the score to 111. Given the conditions and some handy bowling from Crown, not a bad total at all.

As always at Riley Park when defending a lowish score, early wickets are key. And so is trying to limit the number of wides conceded. Manjinder had both in his first over. A couple of wides to start off with, and a play & miss, and then a beautiful away swinger to the left handed Qamar that found the edge and was safely taken by Aniket at first slip. It was a lovely piece of bowling from Manji, and he kept it up for the entirely of his 6 over spell. He got the ball to swing back at the right handers throughout, and had the skill to cut the ball away as well. Every delivery looked like it could have got a wicket. As it was, his second scalp came thanks to a rare short ball. Manji missed his length, Saad Khan tried to pull it, but could only spoon a catch back to the bowler. Manji's opening spell of 6-2-12-2 was top class and set the tone for the innings.

At the other end Farid Iqbal got the new ball. He too struggled a little with a few wides, but when he got his line right he was a handful. He certainly got it in the right place to pick up Qureshi. Just outside off, a good length and a little nip away from the bat was enough to find the edge and giving Storey a low catch behind the stumps. Kunal then replaced Farid and despite a wobbly start (four wides to kick things off), he then hit a perfect length to remove Siddiqui. The ball fizzed off a length to take the edge and the ball flew through to Aniket at slip who made a tough catch look very easy indeed.

Crown were four down for 26, and the impressive bowling from Glenmore simply continued to make life hard for the batsmen. All the bowlers looked to hit a probing line and length, and just let the pitch do the work. Jaideep joined the attack and had immediate success, picking up Chaudhry in his first over, strangled down the leg side. Two overs later he was celebrating his second wicket when Wadhwani was comfortably caught by Taha at cover. The excellent catching went to a new level when Shahi drove Iqbal with some power to mid-off. The ball was still going up as it reached Martyn Challoner. The former goalkeeper took off (perhaps unnecessarily) to his left and clung onto a screamer. "The Flying Horse" had landed with a hefty bump but was quickly back up, a big smile on his dial.

By now things were looking bleak for Crown and all their hopes rested in the hands of Tahir Mughal, who was defending with ease and also beginning to find the boundary. A towering six over extra cover off Jaideep was a particularly memorable blow. It was the introduction of Taha Lodhi that ended both Mughal's stay and Crown's hopes. The sharp, skiddly leg spinner needed just three balls to clean bowl Mughal (24) via an inside edge, and then three balls later he trapped Mansoor plumb in front of middle stump.

It was then left to Manjinder to return and close the innings. Manji deservedly picked up his third wicket, and it was Aniket once again doing the business at first slip. His third catch the best of the lot, snaffled just millimeters off the turf. The catching has been the most encouraging part of Glenmore's first two games. No drops in either game and barely a misfield to mention. Catches do indeed win matches, and if we can continue this level in the field we will win more than we lose.

Despite the number of wides (25 in 22.3 overs!), all the Glenmore bowlers did an excellent job and made life hard for the Crown batters. It may have been a helpful pitch to bowl on (the sort of pitch bowlers would buy lingerie for and whisk away to Paris for the weekend), but they still needed to find the right areas, which they did more often than not. Handy contributions with the bat from Aniket, Jaideep, Alex and Tejas were also extremely valuable

So, a good all round display. Now we just hope the rain stops by Monday so we can take on Crown Canasia.

Glenmore Cricket Club Glenmore Braves Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
28w 3b  
for 10 wickets
31
111		        
Taha Lodhi ct & b Shahi 5 30 16.67 1
Aniket Desai ct cover point b B.Khan 10 40 1 25.00 3
Martyn Challoner b Shahi 6 14 42.86 1
Ikbal Sandhu Run out  0 2 0
Jaideep Singh ct cover b Mansoor 11 25 1 44.00
Anjandeep Singh lbw b B.Khan 5 34 14.71
Alex Storey b Qamar 24 48 50.0 2
Tejas Chitre Run out  13 48 27.08
Manjinder Sandhu b Mughal 0 1 0 1
Farid Iqbal Not Out  4 12 33.33
Kunal Makkar b Qamar 2

Crown II Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
F.Siddiqui5.001200.002.40
A.Qamar10.0227213.502.70
T.Mughal10.0214114.001.40
A.Shahi10.0123211.502.30
B.Khan4.011125.502.75
M.Mansoor6.0121121.003.50

Crown II Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 10 wickets
0
64 (22.3 overs)		     
A.Qamar ct Desai b M.Sandhu 0
F.Siddiqui ct Desai b Makkar 5
M.Qureshi ct Storey b F.Iqbal 3
S.Khan ct & b M.Sandhu 1
T.Mughal b Lodhi 24
K.Choudhry ct Storey b J.Singh 2
R.Wadhwani ct Lodhi b J.Singh 3
A.Shahi ct Challoner b I.Sandhu 0
B.Khan ct Desai b M.Sandhu 1
M.Mansoor lbw b Lodhi 0
A.Gilani Not Out  0

Glenmore Cricket Club Glenmore Braves Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Manjinder Sandhu6.321334.332.00
Farid Iqbal4.0010110.002.50
Kunal Makkar4.0012112.003.00
Jaideep Singh5.0024212.004.80
Ikbal Sandhu2.00414.002.00
Taha Lodhi1.00120.501.00

  • Umpire :
    Neutral
  • Scorer :