|
CCC kicked off their 2009 season in the best possible way with a hard-fought win over GEM.
The game took place at hitherto unknown Wardley CC, tucked away behind a housing estate on South Tyneside. CCC fielded two debutants, John and Hash; they were plunged into the deep end, having not played cricket for some years.
In blustery conditions the home side won the toss and chose to bat. CCC fielded a largely slow attack with Derek, Matty, Nick, Khalid and Mudassar all performing well to restrict GEM to 124-3 from 14 overs.
The CCC reply got off to a poor start with Nick and Simon Woodman dismissed in consecutive deliveries by Kamran Khan, who had played a game for CCC in 2007. Kamran later picked up the wicket of Chris, but Simon E (42 not out) and Khalid (43 not out) saw CCC home with five balls to spare.
CCC 7 GEM 2
CCC: Nick*, Chris, Simon W+, Simon E, Khalid, Peter, Mudassar, John E, Hash, Matty, Derek
CCC would like to pass on their condolences to GEM following the sad loss of their club secretary Nasar Ahmed Hussain, and to thank them for playing this game in such difficult circumstances.
And from the skippers' perspective:
In my first game as captain 'proper' I predictably lost the toss at a rather chilly Wardley CC, as we began the game with 9 men. After setting a rather un-orthodox 4-3 field, Derek and Matty took the "new" (about 80 overs old actually) ball, and eventually Mudasser and Khalid strolled onto the field after taking around 45 minutes to get changed. Matty took our first wicket and both openers kept it tight, save for a few lusty blows to a tiny leg-side boundary that tested out the 4-3 field. I opted to bowl myself as 4th bowler as the wicket was turning, and to everyone's surprise I didn't bowl too badly. Utilising the captain's privilege I had the tiny boundary on the off-side and let Khalid bowl with it on the leg-side and he did a creditable job taking two wickets. Derek finished his spell well and Mudasser's last over only went for 8 and he nearly took a wicket with a ball that bounced 4 times. Sharp fielding in the deep from notably Chris S, Skinx and John kept the total down as we restricted them to mostly singles and we were quite happy chasing 124.
After losing a three early wickets to a good spell from ex-CCC seamer Kamran, the chase was never in doubt once Simon E had got off the mark. After taking 20 balls to trouble the scorers he then hit 24 in 5 strokes, including a couple of towering sixes (to the short boundary). With the best bowler having bowled out, Khalid and Si ticked off the runs in ones and twos, with a 6 in the penultimate over giving us breathing space. We sealed it with 6 balls to spare to notch a 7 wicket win.
After the untimely death of GEMS fixture secretary last week they were very committed, and played a big part in what was a good game of cricket that could have gone either way. The return fixture should be another good game, with both sides hopefully challenging for promotion.
|
