Faisal secures tight win
Highgate Wood, 12/8/2017
Strongroom won by 2 wickets
Bloomsbury Royals: 89
Strongroom: 92-7 [Shakhil 4-12]
View the Scorecard
We just managed to get to 10 players, thanks to Faisal intervening at the last minute, and bringing in Zulfiqar and Asim. There was heavy rain midweek, so I wasn’t sure whether to bat or bowl, but decided to bowl first given our batting-light team.
As it was, BRs openers were very cautious, unusually so for our level of cricket, and after 20 overs they were just 43-3. Faisal and Zulfiqar were both tidy, if unthreatening, and overall I rotated our bowlers, giving eight of our bowlers four-over spells. Of note was Grant’s first spin bowling performance. It was tidy. Dave Gower delivered another nippy spell of away swing and was rewarded with two wickets. Dave also took a steepling catch at deep midwicket. Hem wasn’t quite on it, due to being out til’ 5am the previous evening, but still managed to take a smart caught and bowled. Grant also took a great diving catch at mid on. Riaz finished their innings with two wickets in two balls, and displayed his usual crafty guile. None of the BR batsmen really got going, and apart from Din at no.10, all were very tentative. 89 was a very low total, but we had yet to see what their bowlers were like. The surface had performed very well by Highgate Wood standards, suggesting that it is more consistent in bounce and carry after midweek rain.
Jimmy produced a solid DIY tea, featuring a range of sandwiches, baps, fillings and condiments.
BR bowled very well throughout, and built their attack around four very good pace bowlers, including two left-armers and two who achieved very late inswing which was difficult to contend with. Shakhil in particular proved problematic, attacking the stumps with low and skiddy deliveries, and bending them in late. Most of us who were dismissed had our stumps shattered, and it was a struggle to score runs throughout. Wickets fell with regularity, and basically it looked like we were losing. However, at seven wickets down and still requiring 30+ to win, Faisal rejected caution and slammed 23 off one over, including two beefy 6s, and the game was ours. Riaz completed our victory with a straight twonk for four. We had effectively burgled the game from BR, and that one over to Faisal had proved the match-turner. What a game!
Written By: J.Gower
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