St. James CC v Old Whitgiftians 4^th IX

2^nd June 2007

Old Whitgiftians 161-9 St James CC 99

Match Lost

R Singh 32

O Ehsan 17

R Pierson 7 7-0-19-1

F Karim 0 5-0-23-1 2 catches

S Yousaf 1 9-1-27-3

A Khan 13 5-0-21-1

A Nazir 6 6-2-15-1

S Smith 0 3-0-15-0

R Bush 4 6-5-2-1 1 catch

D Smith 6

J Yousaf 0* 4-0-30-0

Blue skies and a gentle breeze greeted us at Turle Road for the first home game of the season against our old foes Old Whitgiftians and they looked a tad strengthened from our meetings last year bagging some support from higher elevens. The toss was lost and they chose to bat on an interesting looking pitch, the recent rain apparently missing this square acre. Dusty, dry and lifeless was the pre match verdict and it proved to be the case.

Robin and Simon opened the bowling attack with plenty of vim and vigour dispatching the openers early on, accurate lines kept the run rate down and things tightened further with Richards miserly spell, with another smart catch behind from Ali, supported admirably by Amir at the other end who dismissed the skipper clean bowled. So far so good and so it continued with Adil and Faisal taking one end and the youngsters Stan and Jessie the other, but Old Whits middle order dug in and proved difficult to dislodge, Robinson batted through for a half century and it took the return of Simon to clean things up with a confidently held skier by Richard off Faisal. So with 45 overs bowled again, 161 on the board, few byes and competent fielding, all bowlers involved – including the youngsters who both received praise from the oppo – we went to tea feeling that the game was there to be taken as indeed it was.

Suitably refreshed, Rehal and Ousman strode to the wicket under clouding skies and set to the task at hand with a determined air, the slow pace of the pitch, emphasized by the gentle arcing deliveries of Clark, made scoring difficult but we glided along at 3 an over keeping us in the game. Disaster struck in the 10^th over with a silly run out on a easy run of two leaving Rehal nursing his sore ankle and Ousman dejectedly trooping back to the hutch. Vice Captain Robin, confident at the crease with Jonno’s old timber in hand, pushed about nicely before mis-reading the pace and chipped to mid wicket. Faisal in and flashing followed him back minutes later and Simon even fewer minutes after that. In form Adil next up and paired well with a set Rehal ticking along nicely and with 20 overs called and 100 to win the game, which would have been more positively balanced for us had we not given our wickets so cheaply with poor shot selection, was still on. Alas a difficult bump ball decision went against Adil who departed, to his credit, with typically philosophical air. Amir flourished briefly and Stan battled with the spin for ten minutes before succumbing. Top scoring Rehal, now flashing, top edged a skier to square leg bringing Richard out to hang around with David for another fifteen minutes before falling to a smart catch at silly mid-off, Jessie at the wicket showed great determination and technique against an encroaching field before David brought the innings to an end after attempting to curtail the fathering skills of silly mid-off only to be expertly caught.

Dressing room post mortems squared fully, and quite rightly, on another poor batting performance from the middle order, occupation of the crease is the lacking constituent and this is something that has to be rectified if we are to win matches. Some recalcitrant fielding and positional wandering were another negative aspect of the game but there were plenty of positives too. Young players playing well, a healthy attendance of spouses and offspring, well organised drinks and tea plus all members mixing with the opposition in the bar afterwards leaving them well watered and looking forward to the return fixture.