Scorecard

Glenmore Cricket Club Glenmore Braves v Semi-Final Knight Riders on Sat 01 Oct 2016 at 11am
Glenmore Cricket Club Lost by 4 wickets

Match report Glenmore's season came to a dramatic end at their unofficial home (Riley Park) on a damp, cool October day. Their semi-final showdown against Knight Riders could have gone either way, and the boys in blue certainly had their opportunity to snatch a victory. However, Knight Riders were able to hold their nerve to make it to the Div 1 final, and secure promotion to the Elite division.

When the teams arrived at Riley Park a thick blanket of cloud enveloped the ground and a steady drizzle was coming down. The start was delayed by an hour, but at 12pm the game was under way. Credit must go to the Knight Riders team for being so willing to play in the damp conditions considering they would reach the final if there was no play. KR won the toss and had no hesitation in bowling first. With the pitch being wet it was always going to be tough to bat. Glenmore skipper Alex Storey soon succumbed to the vagaries of the Riley pitch, going back to pull a short ball only to be hit on the shin plumb in front of middle stump.

The Knight Riders bowlers, led by the ever impressive Khurram Tahir, were extremely disciplined in their lines and lengths, bowling to their packed off-side field. Scoring was tricky but Amardeep Singh and Aniket Desai were looking pretty solid, and were good enough to capitalise on anything straight or on their pads, working the ball for 1s and 2s on the on-side. Aniket had yet again looked like a class player, as he has done all season, but he eventually fell to an excellent delivery from Malik that jagged back through bat and pad, and kept a fraction low. Jaideep Singh fell lbw shortly afterwards, and Glenmore's innings was in need of some stability.

The next four batsman to come to the middle all did their bit to take the score onwards and upwards, each getting to double figures. The impressive effort from the middle order made the Glenmore innings one of their best of the season at Riley Park. And for a long time it appeared as though they would go onto post a very sizeable total. Amar had looked excellent at the top of the order, and had got himself into the 20s, but then fell just as he tried to up the tempo a little. Amar has been a fantastic addition to the club this Summer, and has certainly been impressive with the bat, finishing the season as the 1st XI's top scorer.

Earlier in the season Martyn Challoner occupied the crease for almost a hundred balls to make 9 runs. There was no such pedestrian batting in the semi-final though as Martyn produced his most fluent knock of the Summer at Riley. He worked the ball around with ease, and unfurled a number of super shots, including a big slog-sweep six into the flower beds. He and Ikbal Sandhu were working particularly well together and threatening to put a big partnership together. Ikbal also cleared the ropes, walloping the ball over long-on with his signature shot. But, their partnership ended when Ikbal chased a wide one and edged off. Sadly that started another mini-collapse as Martyn also soon fell (for an excellent 29). This time the ball popped, hit the splice and offered an easy catch on the off-side. A similar delivery, finding unexpected bounce, did for Anjan Singh (10).

Taha, as he has all season, looked in good touch and was busy at the crease. But, 2016 hasn't been Taha's year with the bat, and once again he was unfortunate to be out just as he was getting into his stride, this time out caught and bowled for 14. Tejas, the hero from the previous week, turned his ankle whilst running. This somewhat slowed the charge toward the end of the innings. He and Shariq Akhlaq added a few extra runs but the innings was wrapped up in the 43rd (and final) over, with Glenmore's total finishing on 137. It had been a decent effort to make such a good score in tricky conditions and against a strong attack. However, Glenmore were a little disappointed not to have scored a few more given the strong position they were in with 10 overs to go.

One of the reasons for Glenmore's success this season has been the top quality from their opening bowlers. Manjinder and Shariq have been sensational week in, week out. And they once again did the business to put their team in pole position against Knight Riders. Manji has been the big wicket taker this season, and he chipped in early to remove Bajwa with yet another clean bowled. Massive congratulations to Manji for his incredible performance this Summer. The Glenmore left armer finished the season as the leading wicket taker in the league with 38 scalps. He has been in fantastic form and has always heaped the pressure on the opposition batsmen. It's been great to see Manji improve and develop, both in terms of his abilities and his confidence.

However, on this occasion it was Manji's new ball partner who did the major damage. Shariq has been fantastic all season but hasn't always got the big hauls his performances have deserved. On the big occasion here he was at his very best once again, and he knocked over three top order wickets to put his team firmly in the driving seat. He got things started by drawing Hussain into a loose drive, the ball slicing off the blade to Tejas in the gully. He then produced an absolute snorter to get rid of Yasin. Shariq bent his back, the ball flew off a length to take the shoulder of the bat and Storey took a sharp chance above his head. Shariq's third wicket was the big one, removing the dangerous Tahir lbw for a duck. It was a great opening burst from Shariq, and with Knight Riders reeling on 26-4 Glenmore were buzzing in the field.

From here on Knight Riders decided to dig in and grind it out. Their rearguard was led by Badesha, who looked to stay at the crease with solid defense. The run rate was never going to be an issue so he just needed to stay in and pick up two or three an over. He found a willing partner in Arif (16) to take the score to 59 before Taha struck, with Ikbal taking a good running catch at mid-on. Taha was bowling beautifully but Badesha and new batsman Haider were happy to take few chances against him. Instead they just looked to pick up some quick singles, and wait for the very occasional bad balls to attack. They had some good fortune along the way as on four occasions they chipped the ball up only to fall agonizingly short of the Glenmore fielders. One golden opportunity was presented to the fielder at midwicket but the chance was put down. Badesha and Haider made the most of their luck and continued to bat with great maturity and calmness. Theirs was a truly game changing partnership as they took the score to 129 before Badesha was knocked over by Manjinder. Storey tried his best to rotate his bowlers and conjure up some more breakthroughs, but it wasn't to be. Khayyam came in and was aggressive in his approach to finish the game in the 40th over.

Glenmore had given their all, and ran Knight Riders incredibly close, but in the end it was the tremendous partnership between Badesha (45 from 95 balls) and Haider (38 from 65) that won the game. Glenmore's bowlers couldn't have done any more so huge credit must go to Knight Riders for having the ability to bat themselves out of a huge hole. Congratulations to them for going onto to win the Final and making it to the Elite division.

Glenmore can look back on a great season in which they have consistently performed fantastically well. To have finished in joint second place in the league is a tremendous achievement and is testament to the togetherness and team spirit within the squad. If the team can build on their 2016 efforts and maybe score a few more runs, next year could be an even more successful campaign. But for now it's time to pack up the cricket gear for another season.

Glenmore Cricket Club Glenmore Braves Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
13w 4b 4lb 
for 10 wickets
21
137		        
Alex Storey lbw b K.Tahir 4 12 33.33 1
Amardeep Singh ct N.Nasin b R.Badesha 25 60 1 41.67
Aniket Desai b H.Malik 6 37 16.22
Jaideep Singh lbw b K.Tahir 2 16 12.50
Martyn Challoner ct U.Arif b H.Malik 29 56 1 51.79
Ikbal Sandhu ct N.Yasin b N.Haider 19 33 1 57.58
Anjandeep Singh ct N.Yasin b K.Tahir 10 7 142.86
Taha Lodhi ct c & b N.Haider 14 18 77.78
Manjinder Sandhu ct keeper b N.Haider 0 3 0
Tejas Chitre Not Out  3 5 60.0 1
Shariq Akhlaq ct H.Malik b R.Kiani 4 5 80.0

Semi-Final Knight Riders Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
K.Tahir9.011936.332.11
R.Kiani4.21919.002.08
N.Haider9.011836.002.00
H.Malik9.0026213.002.89
G.Alagh6.003500.005.83
R.Badesha5.0022122.004.40

Semi-Final Knight Riders Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
2nb 12w 2b 4lb 
for 6 wickets
20
141 (39.1 overs)		     
Z.Hussain ct Chitre b Akhlaq 5 4 125.00
J.Bajwa b M.Sandhu 8 26 30.77
N.Yasin ct Storey b Akhlaq 0 2 0
K.Tahir lbw b Akhlaq 0 2 0
R.Badesha b M.Sandhu 45 95 47.37
U.Arif ct I.Sandhu b Lodhi 16 36 44.44
N.Haider Not Out  38 65 58.46
U.Khayyam Not Out  9 6 150.0
H.Malik  
R.Kiani  
G.Alagh  

Glenmore Cricket Club Glenmore Braves Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Manjinder Sandhu9.0033216.503.67
Shariq Akhlaq9.002739.003.00
Taha Lodhi9.0314114.001.56
Jaideep Singh7.103500.004.88
Ikbal Sandhu5.002600.005.20