Scorecard

Glenmore Cricket Club Glenmore Braves v Kanata Panthers II on Sat 23 Jul 2016 at 12pm
Glenmore Cricket Club Won by 15 runs

Match report Glenmore's 1st XI maintained their 100% record in 2016 thanks to a tough, backs-to-the-wall performance at Riley Park against Kanata Panthers II. It is testament to the team's desire and togetherness that they ended up winning the game without playing even close to their best.

It came as some surprise that Panthers decided to bowl first having won the toss. Saturday was a beautiful Summer's day and you'd have thought it perfect conditions to bat first. But, their decision to have a bowl looked good when they had Taha Lodhi trapped lbw for 0 in the first over. It was the first of eight lbw decisions on the day, and Taha can think himself unfortunate having got a good piece of the ball before it thudded into his pads.

Tejas Chitre has quietly gone about his batting so far this season, always doing the right thing and looking in very good order. And so, with Martyn Challoner missing, Tejas went in at 3. Once again he looked solid and in no trouble as he and Amardeep Singh set about building a partnership. The scoreboard ticked over with an unusually high frequency for Riley as Panthers sent down plenty of wides and were unable to maintain a consistent line. But, batsmen are never completely in at Riley with the pitch always liable to misbehave. This is what accounted for Tejas, with the ball popping off a length and causing him to drive straight to extra cover. 28 for 2 then became 28-3 as Ikbal Sandhu looked to take the attack to Rameez Razzaq but could only send the ball skyward and into the hands of long-off.

With Glenmore in some trouble Amar and Jaideep Singh stepped up and more than doubled the total. Both batsmen were looking extremely comfortable and kept the scoreboard ticking over. Amar has impressed since joining the club this season. His solid defense is coupled with a number of attractive, wristy shots all around the wicket and on a faster outfield his flicks through mid-wicket would have brought plenty more runs. Jaideep looked to be more aggressive, seizing on anything fractionally over pitched to smash the ball back down the ground. He was equally quick onto anything short, whipping the ball powerfully over square leg. He raced to 20 off 19 balls but then fell attempting one big shot too many, edging the ball to the keeper.

Ten runs later Amar was also back on the sidelines having been adjudged lbw going for a sweep shot. He had played the shot well throughout his innings of 23 but the umpire's finger was quick to go up on this occasion. 73 for 5 and once again the game was in the balance. Anjan Singh and Alex Storey, like some of the batsmen before them, handled the bowling without any real trouble. The two experienced campaigners left the ball well and happily knocked it around without taking any undue risks. The plan was to play sensible cricket and take the score up to 175 or more. It looked like things were going well until Storey (8) was caught by the keeper down the legside trying to glance another misdirected delivery.

Nix, promoted from the 2nd XI following an impressive string of scores, and Anjan worked hard together, edging the total past the 100 mark. With the drinks break just one delivery away Anjan was out lbw for a patient 15. The tail was unable to wag to any great effect as the final four wickets fell for just 21 runs. Nix made 5, Manjinder 4, Sandy 7 and Farid was left not out 0.

Glenmore were all out for 124, which was well below par considering a number of their batsmen had got in and looked good. In fact their total was mostly thanks to the huge number of wides bowled by Kanata Panthers...a whopping 36! However, there had been some impressive efforts from Amar, Jai and Anjan, and at least they had given the bowlers something to defend.

As is so often the case, particularly when playing at Riley Park, early wickets are key when bowling second. In recent years the Glenmore bowlers have frequently managed to claim quick wickets to put the pressure on the batting team. And thanks to a perfectly pitched off cutter from Farid Iqbal they were at it again to leave Panthers 3-1 after 2 overs. Farid has been in good form in recent weeks and the ball to remove Asim Razzaq was a gem; lifting and leaving the batsman from a good length. The fine edge went through to Storey at waist height and Glenmore were on their way.

Three balls later they were celebrating again as Manjinder produced one of his classic late inswingers to remove Arif for a duck. Every time Manji gets the ball tailing back in at the right handers he looks like getting a wicket. Three more times in the coming overs he hit the batsman's front pad but the umpire refused to raise the finger.

Earlier in the Summer Glenmore fell victim to the hard hitting of the Kanata Panthers opener Waqas in the T20 competition. On that day he smashed a match winning 92, and on Saturday he quickly showed his intentions to play in a similarly aggressive way. Early in his innings he smashed boundaries over square leg, over cover and over long on. Anything short or on his legs was banged away to the rope, meaning the bowlers had to keep the ball full and on off stump. In a bid to temper his aggressive intentions Taha Lodhi was introduced into the attack early, coming on for the 8th over of the innings. The hardness of the new ball may have contributed to the wicket Taha picked up in his first over. The ball bounced a fraction more than Mannan expected and he was unable to latch onto the attempted cut shot, edging into Storey's gloves.

Waqas was not going to change his method despite wickets falling at the other end. He took 12 off Manji's next over to take the score to 41-3. However, he was receiving no support from his teammates and within an over they were reeling at 41-5. The first of the two wickets to fall came from some calamitous running and a fantastic throw from Amar that beat the diving Imad Uddin as he pushed for a second run. It was a great piece of fielding from Amar who got to the ball quickly and unleashed a tremendous throw into Storey's gloves. Two balls later Taha was celebrating his second wicket as Maqsood lofted the ball straight into the bucket hands of Ikbal at mid-off. Glenmore were now well on top and they knew the wicket of Waqas would make them strong favourites to win the game. That particular breakthrough came a few overs later. Once again it was the skill of Manjinder that did the trick. He found the perfect line and length to draw Waqas forward, the ball swung away late and took a feather edge low through to the keeper. Waqas, who had made 40 out of the total of 50, was clearly disappointed but he had to go. It was the least Manji deserved for another magnificent spell, this time getting through his full 10 overs to finish with 2 for 31.

Manji and Taha (2 for 21) bowled in tandem for 13 overs, with the hope being that they would finish off Kanata Panthers and hand Glenmore a big win. However, following the loss of Waqas the Kanata panthers batsmen finally decided to knuckle down and stop the rot. Rameez Razzaq in particular was steadfast in his approach. His defense was rock solid, and his concentration was impenetrable. He found a willing partner in Kamal Uddin, and together they inched Panthers closer to their target one run at a time. With some smart running and just the very occasional lusty blow they put on a patient 31 to get their team back in the game. Uddin's excellent effort was ended when Ikbal, running in hard and bowling with plenty of pace and swing, struck him on the shin and had him lbw. Ikbal's big, loud celebration was a clear indication of how big a wicket it was.

But, if Glenmore thought they'd now rip through the tail they were sorely mistaken. Razzaq continued to dig in, flicking the ball to leg for some valuable runs. Nafees, batting at 9, never looked comfortable but he managed to stay in for 34 deliveries and helped put on 21 for the 8th wicket. That took Panthers to within 23 runs of their target, and with every run that came so the cheers from the sidelines got louder and more hopeful. Once again it was Ikbal who found the energy to pull the game back in Glenmore's favour, his searing inswinger hitting Nafees on the toe bang in front of off stump.

In Ikbal's next over he made the most important breakthrough, ending Razzaq's vigil with his third consecutive lbw. It was another full, fast delivery that would have knocked over middle stump. Razzaq, who had made 22 from 82 deliveries, was slow to leave the crease thinking he'd hit the ball, but his excellent innings was all over.

It was left to Jaideep, who had bowled a very good spell, to wrap things up. His yorker knocked over Junaid to send the Glenmore players into ecstatic celebrations. 109 all out to give Glenmore a 15 run victory.

Huge credit must once again go to all the Glenmore bowlers. Yet again they did a wonderful job. Manji and Taha led the line, as they have done all season, but they were very well supported by Farid, Ikbal (producing his most dynamic performance with the ball for a while), Jaideep and Sandeep who all did their jobs to make scoring difficult for the Panthers batters. It had been a really tough challenge for the Glenmore boys as they were put under severe pressure for the first time this season. It was hugely encouraging to see them stand up to the challenge, continue to work hard and execute their skills. With tougher games looming this experience could prove to be invaluable.

Special mention to Nix and Sandy who came up from the 2nd XI for the day. They slotted into the team beautifully, gave 100% on and off the field and had a positive impact on the result. It was great having them in the side and it bodes well for future encounters that we have so much strength in depth.


Glenmore Cricket Club Glenmore Braves Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
36w  
for 10 wickets
36
124		        
Taha Lodhi lbw b Junaid 0 2 0
Amardeep Singh lbw b Rameez 23 44 1 52.27 1
Tejas Chitre ct extra cover b Rameez 6 26 23.08
Ikbal Sandhu ct long off b Rameez 0 2 0
Jaideep Singh ct wicketkeeper Rameez 20 19 3 105.26
Anjandeep Singh lbw b Omerzai 15 50 30.0
Alex Storey ct wicketkeeper b Junaid 8 20 1 40.0 3
Nix Gunawardhana ct mid off b Omerzai 5 35 14.29
Manjinder Sandhu ct mid off b Omerzai 4 5 80.0
Sandeep Sahota lbw b Rameez 7 9 77.78
Farid Iqbal Not Out  0 2 0

Kanata Panthers II Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Junaid Arif8.0031215.503.87
E.Omerzai7.001635.332.29
Rameez Razzaq9.222655.202.79
Tasleem Arif3.002200.007.33
Qamar Maqsood4.01900.002.25
Imad Uddin2.001100.005.50
Asim Razzaq5.00900.001.80

Kanata Panthers II Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
17w 3lb 
for 10 wickets
20
109 (41.0 overs)		     
A.Razzaq ct Storey b Iqbal 1
M.Waqas ct Storey b M.Sandhu 40 3 3
T.Arif lbw b M.Sandhu 0
A.Mannan ct Storey b Lodhi 1
I.Uddin run out (Amardeep Singh) 1
Q.Maqsood ct I.Sandhu b Lodhi 0
R.Razzaq lbw b I.Sandhu 22
K.Uddin lbw b I.Sandhu 17 1
M.Nafees lbw b I.Sandhu 3
E.Omerzai Not Out  4
J.Arif b J.Singh 0

Glenmore Cricket Club Glenmore Braves Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Manjinder Sandhu10.0231215.503.10
Farid Iqbal3.0017117.005.67
Taha Lodhi10.0421210.502.10
Ikbal Sandhu7.011234.001.71
Sandeep Sahota5.01700.001.40
Jaideep Singh6.0018118.003.00

  • Umpire :
    Neutral
  • Scorer :