Match reports by team captains.
1st team.
Fixture – away at Halesowen CC
Result – Win
This weeks opposition were Halesowen who had begun the season with 2 defeats. Big news before the game was the return of Macca’s speaker much to Tomos joy.
We lost the toss and were invited to bowl on what looked like it could be tricky wicket later in the day – especially against spin. Guesty and Haroon opened up with Haroon striking early removing Halesowen’s angry opener. Kash replaced Guesty and picked up an LBW to leave them 2 down early. Enter the African spin duo. TC and Powlesy bowled beautifully in tandem with Jem excellent behind the stumps on a tricky wicket. Powlesy finished with 5fer of which he let a couple of the batsmen know the quality of their shots after dismissing them. TC finished with 3 including an excellent caught and bowled diving effort. 105 all out on a good deck was a fantastic bowling and fielding display.
We had to go out to bat before tea and with Niall and Shoaib again starting excellently. Niall fell to the leg spinner playing a rubbish shot. Maz promoted to 3 looked set to take advantage of some friendly bowling at times before he departed for a hard fought 0. Macca and Shoaib took us almost to the finish line before Shoaib got out, the opposition congratulating him on a fantastic knock when he departed. Macca and DP took us over the line without further concern.
The speaker played some good tunes after the game and we enjoyed a pint in the sun celebrating a 3rd successive victory. Next week sees Harbourne visit Wobaston Road with a tough challenge set to be posed.
2nd team
Fixture – at home to Bridgnorth CC
Result – Loss
Having won the toss we decided to field against a youthful looking Bridgnorth outfit. Up to the 12th over we were restricting the opposition to just over 1 an over with tight bowling from K Patel & K Ahmed when we had to come off for rain.
On our return of play we struggled to get to grips with our bowling & fielding allowing Bridgnorth to amass a total of 230 for 9 off their 45 overs.
Our batting performance then left very little to be desired as we were then bowled out for 115, causing us to suffer a humiliating defeat by 115 runs. The only highlights worth mentioning were: bowling figures of K Patel & K Ahmed off their 9 overs each 2 for 17 and 2 for 21 respectively. Our highest run score Rees were L French 29 and K Whyle 19.
As we put this defeat behind us and go on to face Wellington away this Saturday we must ensure our individual & collective preparation leaves no stone unturned.
3rd team
Fixture – at home to Coseley CC
Result – Win
Having won the toss against Coseley CC we elected to bowl first which turned out to be the correct decision.
Scott and Rohit opening the bowling and kept things very tight. If not for a dropped catch off Scott’s bowling, it would have been an even better start.
Rain decided to show, which resulted in 4 lost overs.
We came back on and it was difficult to find rhythm again with the ball.
A change of bowling from the one end and keeping Rohit on brought us a wicket,
Rohit taking their opener and number 2 batsmen being run out by Raj Ahir.
It was pretty much plain sailing from there. Wickets kept tumbling as Mundy and Jainesh bowled in tandem taking 4 wickets each. In the end we bowled them out for 166 in 44 overs.
Onto our batting display. Early boundaries from Bellamy and Charlotte put us in a strong position.
Bellamy was out cheaply to a gully catch for 13 and Charlotte was out for 33. Our next 4 batsmen all scored in the 20’s leaving us with a target of 30. We knocked off the winning runs in 36 overs.
A great 20 points. Well done boys and girls.
4th team
Fixture – away at Codsall
Result – Loss
We won the toss and decided to bowl. Harry and Cameran opened up and were the pick of the bowlers taking 3 a piece. Lovepreet was excellent in the field taking 3 good catches
Lovepreet and Derek were the pick of the batsmen but sadly we gave 6 needless wickets away. All in all it was a good bowling and fielding performance but we let ourselves down with the bat and suffered our first loss of the season.