Scorecard

Harlow Town v Epping Cricket Club Saturday 2nd on Sat 19 May 2012 at 1pm
Match was Drawn

Match report The 2nd XI's long-awaited first game of the season was what could be described as a 'slow burner' which built to a quite dramatic crescendo. Newly-elected captain Manni Bawa won the toss and stuck the league newcomers Harlow Town in to bat, which was a bold call given that we were still awaiting the arrival of 3 of our number, who shall remain nameless but upon arrival their driver assured me that 'eeeee's alright, yeah, no worries' despite arriving 15 minutes after the start of play. Despite our short-handed situation in the field the home team began their innings in serene fashion, and I think it's fair to say that not very much really happened in the first 26 overs; the home team calmly acquired 103 for the loss of a solitary wicket. While the game did ebb slightly more during the second half of the innings with the introduction of Epping's new leg-spin sensation Ian Simpson providing a different direction to the rest of the seam-heavy attach, claiming two near identical wickets off of two rare loose balls which were swallowed whole by Sam Rashid taking two great catches in the deep. A late clatter of wickets helped restrict the home team to what looked to be a fairly tame total of 208, and represented a good fight back from Epping as the game could have moved out of reach as the home team looked to adopt a more aggressive approach with the bat.

After a good tea and having watched a bit of the play-off final the Epping innings began in a similar fashion to the 1st innings, with the pace slow and effectively not much happening; probably the sort of thing that the uninitiated assume is essentially what cricket normally is; with such a number of those people playing nearby under the rickety rugby posts nearby and failing to notice the boundary markings and, sporadically exclaiming 'shuuup you dick 'ead', the image of cricket as an exciting sport was probably not massively improved with the local youths. However, the early wicket of Preston for a measly 10 triggered a mini-clatter of wickets for the 'Ping leaving Epping staring down the barrel of an opening day defeat on 35-4, and at which point a number of Epping's diehard spectators decided now was the time to depart the scene, possibly feeling sleepy after the sloth-like opening exchanges, or they could not bear to watch further aberrations of batting, including a cringeworthy run out resulting from vast underestimation of the fielders ability and an outstanding catch off of Charlie Barton's bat. However, at this point captain Manni Bawa gave a masterclass in vigilant batting; as a certain Yorkshireman would say 'he should have booked in for bed and breakfast on that pitch' and looked certain to be immovable, until he fell victim to cramp. This prompted Graham Preston into action as de facto club physio and administer some massage therapy to the offending calf muscle. Following Manni's premature retirement reputed big hitter Salim Mithani took a leaf out of Sir Geoffreys textbook and batted with a level head and great composure, amassing 46 until he was undone by an absolute grenade from a part-time bowler. This triggered the type of collapse that Epping specialise in, mainly to ensure that the finish of a match is always exciting, rather than allowing the game to meander towards a boring conclusion. No, that simply wouldn't do, with Epping being reduced from 102-6 to 124-9 in the space of 9 overs, with the 9th wicket falling at the start of the final over. Manni Bawa, having watched his team 'make it interesting' returned to the crease in order to show his players how to not bat like a total wally. As cool as usual, Manni was able to see off the final 5 balls, surviving off a couple of close calls for LBW and secure an honorable draw for the 'ping on the opening day of the season.

Harlow Town Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
26w 7b 2lb 
for 6 wickets
35
208 (48.3 overs)		     
P Yates b  Patel 74
M. Hurley ct  Patel b Mithani 29
B. Ali b  Mithani 12
S. Alderson ct  Rashid b Simpson 32
K. Seecharan b  Patel 18
A. Alderson ct  Rashid b Simpson 10
B. Lall Not Out  3
N. Teale Not Out  0
   
   
   

Epping Cricket Club Saturday 2nd Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Sam Rashid6.002400.004.00
Paresh Patel6.012100.003.50
Salim Mithani11.0146223.004.18
Yasin Vadasaria5.003200.006.40
Ian Simpson13.0152226.004.00
Tapan Patel7.3024212.003.20

Epping Cricket Club Saturday 2nd Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
5nb 12w 4b 1lb 
for 9 wickets
22
126		        
Manni Bawa Not Out  18
Graham Preston b  Seecharan 10
Charlie Barton ct  b Fussell 7
Tapan Patel b  b Rowell 0
Sam Rashid Run out  4
Salim Mithani lbw  b Yates 46
Yasin Vadasaria b  b Canning 7
Paresh Patel b  b Rowell 2
Dipesh Bidiwala b  Alderson 4
Attar Syed b  Yates 1
Ian Simpson Not Out  0

Harlow Town Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
No records to display.