St. James CC v Shalford 2^nd XI

16th June 2007

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Shalford 246 - 5 St James 186 - 8

Match Drawn

E Dack 45

O Ehsan 22

F Karim 9

D Smith 21 6-0-33-0

N Shiraz 16 8-0-61-0

A Nazir 41* 6-0-28-0

J Smith 8 13-2-61-3

D Owen 4 8-1-27-2

A Khan 0 2-0-21-0

A Wooley dnb

S Smith dnb

Grey cloudy skies and a near gale force gusting wind cast themselves around Norbury, heavy rain forecasted and a match against Shalford – beginning to sound familiar I know. Shalford with only 9 men and a St James team bolstered by the return of Jack and Dave Owen, the coin tossed, the call won and Shalford bunged in to bat.

Nabeel briefly dallied with line and length getting edges that were not held before being hauled to all parts of the ground. Jack toiled all afternoon into the wind with great vigour and control getting the openers and number 5 – all bowled. Dave Owen bowled similarly well getting the other two wickets with minor damage, his unique run up unsettling the batsmen as much as his persistant line and length. Adil didn’t fire into the wind and didn’t fancy it behind him, Amir was good enough without any luck and David was patchy. Shalford took the loose balls to the cleaners and batted too long, well past 5o’clock, playing safe although this could have been a very different matter if St James had caught the 4 dollies presented and had the umpire a clearer view of an obvious run out then ………………..

So to a tea provided by the good folk of St James CC, and a very fine affair it was easily beating anything offered so far this season. Some confusion ensued over our presence in the bar from a young lady who thought she had booked it for a private party but diplomacy ruled and we were left to feed and water to our hearts content.

The skies clearing and the sun appearing as the St James openers strode to the wicket scored well with 30 off the first 5 overs but Ousman mis judged the pace and up it popped to mid on, Faisal in and 5 overs later and with a wild swing he’s out with 51 on the board. David in to accompany a confident looking Ed and so it stayed for almost an hour, both batsmen pushing the ball around nicely although dolly David did present a couple of sitters that were not taken. David fell in the 27^th over and the score on to 110 but with 15 overs left at ten an over the draw looked likely if only we could stay in. Nabeel found the middle of the bat hitting 4-6-4-2-top edge skier to mid off twelve minutes after taking his guard.

Amir took up the challenge valiantly flailing the ball to all corners of the ground accompanying Ed till the 34^th over when Ed mistimed a drive to be caught at mid off – a handsome and timely innings of 104 minutes. Young Jack showed great character at the crease and after an enormous 6 over the bowlers head tried to leave a bouncy one but only succeeded in lobbing to slip bringing Dave Owen to the action but with 75 to win in 4 overs the game was up and occupation became the name of the game but he succumbed with 2 overs left and Adil thrashed off the last ball edging to the keeper. Handshakes and grinning faces all round ensued along with another battle with the party girl in gaining access to the bar, access was denied but twenty pints of lager, three cokes and a bottle of Newcastle Brown Ale were secured and were enjoyed on the pavilion steps below a setting sun.