2007 Results Summary

Crow Road Results Summary 2007
WDCU Div 5

Date Opposition H/A Result Pts (Oppn Pts)

28/04 v Bees H Lost by 14 runs 9 (25)
06/05 v Hillend A Won by 2 wkts 25 (5)
12/05 v Alps H Lost by 52 runs 8 (25)
20/05 v Hillhead Wanderers A Cancelled - (-)
26/05 v Home Park H Won by 90 runs 25 (8)
02/06 v Marress H Lost by 7 wickets 3 (25)
09/06 v Scotindians A* Drawn 14 (18)
16/06 v Ardencaple A Cancelled - (-)
23/06 v Whiteinch A Abandoned - (-)
30/06 v Bees A Abandoned - (-)
14/07 v Alps A Lost by 5 wickets 4 (25)
22/07 v Hillhead Wanderers H Won by 34 runs 25 (8)
28/07 v Home Park A Lost by 7 wickets 2 (25)
04/08 v Marress A Drawn 8 (19)
11/08 v Scotindians H Cancelled - (-)
12/08 v Hillend H Won by 9 wickets 25 (1)
18/08 v Ardencaple H Cancelled - (-)
25/08 v Whiteinch H Lost by 108 runs 6 (25)

Pos Pl W L D Conc Can/Abd Pts Deduct %age
6. 12 4 6 2 0 6 154 0 51.33

* Scotindians’ home match v Crow Road played at Old Anniesland



WDCU Divison 5 – 2007 Final Table


Played Won Lost Drawn Can/Abd Conceded Points Deductions Points %
1. Scotindians 13 10 2 1 5 0 277 0 277 85.2
2. Home Park 12 8 3 1 6 0 237 10 227 75.7
3. Alps 11 6 4 1 7 0 185 0 185 67.3
4. Whiteinch 13 7 4 2 5 0 220 10 210 64.6
5. Ardencaple 10 4 2 4 8 0 159 10 149 59.6
6. Crow Road 12 4 6 2 6 0 154 0 154 51.3
7. Hillhead W 9 2 5 2 9 0 101 0 101 44.9
8. Marress 12 3 6 2 6 1 136 10 126 42
9. Bees 9 2 6 1 9 0 92 0 92 40.9
10. Hillend 13 3 8 0 5 2 121 30 91 28

Scotindians and Home Park promoted to WDCU Division 4

Ardrossan, Inverclyde and Rouken Glen relegated from WDCU Division 4

2007 season records

Crow Road 2007 Season Records

Scores of 50 or over
103 G Smillie v Scotindians (A*) 09/06
79 T Mehmood v Whiteinch (H) 25/08
73 M Hussain v Alps (H) 12/05
61 G Smillie v Home Park (H) 26/05
58* A Mishra v Hillend (H) 12/08

4 or more wickets in an innings
7-53 L Curtis v Hillend (A) 06/05
6-44 T Mehmood v Scotindians (A*) 09/06
5-67 A Christie v Alps (H) 12/05
4-7 A Hussain v Hillend (H) 12/08
4-10 Z Iqbal v Whiteinch (A) 23/06
4-20 W Hussain v Home Park (H) 26/05
4-45 G Reid v Hillhead Wands (H) 22/07
4-51 A Malik v Home Park (H) 26/05
4-54 D Allen v Bees (H) 28/04
4-60 S Alcock v Marress (A) 04/08

Hat-trick
Z Iqbal v Whiteinch (A) 23/06

50 partnerships
107 for 3rd G Smillie & A Rixon v Scotindians (A*) 09/06
95 for 6th I Thomson & G Stewart v Hillhead Wands (H) 22/07
94 for 5th G Smillie & A Rixon v Home Park (H) 26/05
64 for 8th T Mehmood & Z Iqbal v Whiteinch (H) 25/08
61 for 6th M Hussain & A Malik v Alps (H) 12/05
57 for 1st D Allen & A Rixon v Bees (H) 28/04
In total, 70 runs were added for this wicket. A Mishra retired hurt after adding 13 with Allen
56 for 1st A Mishra & I Thomson v Hillend (H) 12/08
55 for 7th A Malik & Blaal Hussain v Home Park (H) 26/05
53 for 1st S Alcock & A Rixon v Marress (A) 04/08
50 for 1st G Smillie & A Mishra v Scotindians (A*) 09/06
50 for 2nd G Smillie & T Mehmood v Scotindians (A*) 09/06

Team totals over 200
253-7 v Scotindians (A*) 09/06
229-8 v Hillhead Wands (H) 22/07
227 v Home Park (H) 26/05
Dismissing opposition for under 100
75 Hillend (H) 12/08


Lowest team total
92 v Home Park (A) 28/07

Highest total conceded
257 Scotindians (A*) 09/06

* Scotindians’ home match v Crow Road played at Old Anniesland

2007 final averages

Crow Road 2007 Averages

Batting & Fielding (Min: 3 completed innings)

Name M I NO Runs HS 100s 50s Ave Ct/St
G Smillie 11 9 1 279 103 1 1 34.88 7
A Mishra 5 5 2 94 58* 0 1 31.33 5/1
M Hussain 6 5 1 98 73 0 1 24.50 3
I Thomson 6 5 1 75 48 0 0 18.75 0
A Rixon 13 10 1 156 45 0 0 17.33 4
A Christie 5 4 0 59 35 0 0 14.75 3
G Stewart 4 4 0 56 43 0 0 14.00 3
U Ali 4 4 1 40 26 0 0 13.33 0
S Alcock 8 7 1 59 17 0 0 9.83 2
A Khan 5 4 1 25 11 0 0 8.33 1
Z Iqbal 9 6 2 32 21 0 0 8.00 0
I Hussain 3 3 0 23 17 0 0 7.67 0
Blaal Hussain 4 4 0 16 9 0 0 4.00 1
I Miller 7 4 1 12 10 0 0 4.00 2

Also batted: Played in 5 matches – G Reid 0, 2, 8* (1 ct); Bilal Hussain 13, 1 (2 ct); Played in 4 matches – A Fleming 8; Played in 3 matches – D Tate 1, 0*, 3; L McDermid 0, 0*; A Hussain 15; J Fleming 0, 17 (1 ct); E Allen 1, 0; Played in 2 matches – A Mustoe 7, 1 (1 ct); W Murray 0, 0; A Malik 14, 36*; G Semple 0, 3; H Livingston 0, 1*; T Mehmood 20, 79; U Afzal 9, 0; K Ali 21, 13; C Bilsland 7*, 2; I Roy 0, 11; R Allen 0, 0; Played in 1 match – D Allen 35; A Stewart 6 (1 ct); C Stewart 0; M Gibson 7* (1 ct); A Mansell 35 (1 ct); L Curtis 4; J Pulley 0*; D Hoffmann 8 (1 ct); W Hussain 2; J McGrath 5; A Kirk 5; C Dickson 28.


Bowling (Min: 5 wickets)

Name 0 M R W BB 5w/i Ave (Econ)
L Curtis 13 1 53 7 7-53 1 7.57 (4.08)
T Mehmood 27 5 70 8 6-44 1 8.75 (2.59)
A Rixon 18.2 3 85 7 3-32 0 12.14 (4.64)
A Fleming 20 5 66 5 2-16 0 13.20 (3.30)
G Reid 50.2 5 191 11 4-45 0 17.36 (3.79)
U Afzal 26.5 3 104 5 3-37 0 20.80 (3.88)
A Christie 41 4 178 8 5-67 1 22.25 (4.34)
Z Iqbal 45.5 7 225 10 4-10 0 22.50 (4.91)

Also bowled: D Allen 12.4-0-54-4; U Ali 4.4-0-33-1; A Khan 37-7-149-4; A Stewart 1-0-10-0; S Alcock 11-0-87-4; G Smillie 26-1-107-2; W Murray 7-0-45-2; A Hussain 20.1-4-81-4; I Hussain 18.2-0-73-2; A Malik 17-3-72-4; W Hussain 5.5-0-20-4; Blaal Hussain 4-0-27-3; J McGrath 4-0-36-0; K Ali 27-8-66-4; Bilal Hussain 28.5-4-108-2; C Bilsland 2-0-22-0; I Roy 9-1-28-2; E Allen 25-2-79-4.


45 players appeared for Crow Road in 14 matches in 2007.

Crow Road v Whiteinch, 25/08/2007

Crow Road v Whiteinch
WDCU Div 5, Old Anniesland, 25/08/2007

Whiteinch won toss and elected to bat

Whiteinch
McGinnis lbw b I Hussain 6
Salar b Christie 34
# Wasif c Stewart b Allen 75
Akhtar run out (Rixon) 68
Aamar c Blaal Hussain b Allen 4
Adnan b Allen 4
* Quddoos b Mehmood 3
Sohail b Mehmood 0
Hogg not out 1
Mahsood b Blaal Hussain 7
Zulfiqar not out 2
Extras 25
Total (9 wkts, 40 ovs) 229

Allen 11-1-44-3, Mehmood 12-2-26-2, I Hussain 4-0-29-1,
Christie 5-0-41-1, Iqbal 6-0-67-0, Bilal Hussain 1-0-6-0,
Blaal Hussain 1-0-5-1

Crow Road
# A Mishra b Sohail 2
G Smillie b Akhtar 1
T Mehmood b Quddoos 79
G Stewart b Akhtar 1
A Christie run out 0
* A Rixon b Akhtar 0
I Hussain b Akhtar 2
Bilal Hussain b Quddoos 1
Z Iqbal not out 9
Blaal Hussain st Wasif b Quddoos 0
E Allen b Mahsood 0
Extras 26
Total (all out, 25.4 ovs) 121

Sohail 4-0-19-1, Akhtar 8-3-10-4, Quddoos 9-0-54-3,
Mahsood 4.4-0-30-1

Whiteinch won by 108 runs
Crow Road 6 pts, Whiteinch 25 pts

Match Report

Crow Road’s 2007 season drew to a close in disappointing fashion at Old Anniesland as a strong Whiteinch side eased to victory in a match marred by some unsporting behaviour. Whiteinch, Victoria’s 2nd XI, fielded one player who wouldn’t be out of place in the SNCL, and he duly put in match-winning performances with both bat and ball to ensure Crow Road were never in contention. Despite this clear gulf in class, however, the visitors still felt compelled to produce a succession of scandalous umpiring decisions during their batting innings which set an unpleasant tone for the rest of the match. The nadir was reached when a succession of close shouts by Tariq were rejected by an umpire who claimed “I will never give an lbw, so don’t bother appealing for them”. The Whiteinch captain then ran on to the field to confront Tariq about his ‘excessive appealing’ – behaviour which may result in Crow Road following the lead of Home Park and lodging a formal complaint about the Victoria side with the WDCU committee.

The match itself was an 80-over affair, with the start delayed until 2pm due to a sodden outfield. Given the rooster-tail of spray that kicked up every time the ball rolled across the grass, it was a bad toss to lose, but lose it Rixon did and Crow Road were duly asked to bowl first. For a variety of reasons, only 7 of Crow Road’s XI actually made it on to the field for the first over, but Ewan Allen showed he didn’t need any fielders by keeping the ball full and straight and pinning the Whiteinch opener plumb in front, only to receive a shake of the head from the umpire.

Crow Road were soon up to a full eleven, but there wasn’t much to chase in the field as the ball kept hitting the pads. With the umpires turning down Ewan and Tariq’s every appeal, however, there was little option but to try other bowlers. Ijaz came on and somehow managed to win an lbw decision with his fifth ball, then Yoda replaced Tariq and picked up the second wicket in his third over. These successes brought Wasif and Akhtar together at the crease and they demonstrated the carnage that can be wreaked when aggressive players with a good eye take on the short boundaries around the Old Anniesland astro. Ijaz, Yoda and Zishaan all came in for heavy punishment as 6 after 4 after 6 was dispatched either straight or over the leg side and the score raced towards 200 at close to a run a ball.

Ewan came back on to stem the tide and made the crucial breakthrough when he had Wasif sky one over point, where the ever-reliable Gordi Stewart ran back to take a fine catch. This was the start of Ewan’s best spell yet for the club as he cleaned up the rest of the middle order to finish with 3-44. Meanwhile Akhtar ran himself out, Tariq came back on to take two wickets in two balls and Blaal inevitably took a wicket in his first over (as he has done every time he’s bowled for Crow Road this year). In spite of this late collapse, however, Whiteinch’s final score of 229-9 off 40 overs still represented a tough target for Crow Road.

Back in June, a top three of Smillie, Ashutosh and Tariq scored 152 between them to lay the foundations for the epic run-chase against Scotindians. Now, the same three players had to repeat the trick if Crow Road were to mount a victory charge. Unfortunately, just two balls into the innings, Ashutosh missed a straight one and was sent packing. This may have been a sensible move on his part, however, as the bowler who opened from the other end turned out to be surely one of the quickest ever seen in Division 5. Not content with his earlier 50, Akhtar destroyed the Crow Road middle order with bowling well in excess of 70mph, made all the more difficult to play because his run-up and arm action were relatively slow.

In his last game for GHK before moving to Bournemouth, Smillie was bowled by one he claimed not to have seen – an unfortunate end to his fantastic season for the 3s, in which he scored almost double the runs of the next best batsman despite missing several matches with a broken finger. Gordi Stewart replaced him and clung on grimly for 22 balls before he also had his stumps demolished by Akhtar. This brought Yoda to the wicket and he provided a bit of black comedy among all the carnage, being bowled first ball off what turned out to be an Akhtar no-ball, only to be run out having wandered from his crease. The procession continued as Rixon and Ijaz were also bowled by Akhtar, who was finally, mercifully brought off after completing 8 overs, 7 of which had seen no runs come off the bat.

Having managed to survive the collapse, Tariq was now well placed to cash in against the change bowlers and he unsurprisingly let rip with a thrilling barrage of boundaries. At one stage he hit consecutive balls for 46646614, moving from 29 to 79 in the space of 18 balls and adding 64 for the 8th wicket with Zishaan (who contributed 4). After Tariq was bowled by a full toss, Zishaan continued to work the ball around nicely, but received scant support from Billy, Blaal and Ewan and was left stranded as the innings closed on 121 (triggering a mass exodus to Kelburne to watch the conclusion of the 1s title-clinching victory)..

With nine home batsmen failing to pass two, the scorecard didn’t make for very pretty reading, but the overall haul of 6 bonus points was sufficient to confirm Crow Road in 6th place in the final Division 5 table for 2007, a fair reflection on a solid season. Given that we lost both of last year’s opening batsmen and one of the opening bowlers over the winter, this year could have been a real struggle. However, a number of squad players have upped their game and contributed the extra runs and wickets required, meaning that our results have stayed roughly the same as in 2006. Of course next year we won’t have Smillie, so each player will have to improve by 20% again to fill the gap, but we’re such a young team that I’m sure we can manage that and, with some luck, mount a promotion challenge.

Ultimately, though, the main key to success in Division 5 is simply to field a full team week-in, week-out. Thanks to the 45 players...yes, 45...who appeared for Crow Road this season, we managed to do it in pretty much every match. You can’t underestimate how important that is in securing a good league placing, so to all 45 of you, thanks very much and see you again next season.

Crow Road v Hillend, 12/08/2007

Crow Road v Hillend
WDCU Div 5, Old Anniesland, 12/08/2007

Crow Road won toss and elected to field

Hillend
* Robertson b Allen 17
Singh b B Hussain 5
# Baum lbw b Fleming 12
Cahn lbw b Christie 2
Keast c B Hussain b A Hussain 2
Sperling b Fleming 0
Farrell c Christie b A Hussain 0
Terrace b A Hussain 2
Jesus not out 8
McDougall c B Hussain b A Hussain 0
Extras 27
Total (all out, 33.1 ovs) 75

Allen 7-1-14-1, B Hussain 7-1-23-1, Fleming 7-3-16-2,
Christie 5-0-13-1, A Hussain 7.1-3-7-4

Crow Road
# A Mishra not out 58
I Thomson run out 7
G Smillie not out 3
Extras 8
Total (1 wkt, 10.4 ovs) 76
* A Rixon, A Christie, A Hussain, S Alcock, I Miller, A Fleming, B Hussain and E Allen did not bat

Farrell 4-0-12-0, Singh 4-0-44-0, Keast 1.4-1-4-0,
Cahn 1-0-16-0

Crow Road won by 9 wickets
Crow Road 25 pts, Hillend 1 pt

Match Report

After persistent rain put paid to Crow Road’s fixture against Scotindians on Saturday, it was a relief to get some play on a dreary Sunday as Hillend visited Old Anniesland. Showers disrupted play on more than one occasion, the astroturf was in pretty poor condition and the outfield resembled a meadow of wheat, but Crow Road made the best of a bad job and raced to victory over the Greenock side in less than 45 overs playing time.

The toss was all-important and, after tails failed for the Hillend captain, Rixon got the chance to unleash a potent Crow Road attack on the visitors, with Ewan Allen and Billy Hussain heading up a strong quintet of bowlers. The Hillend openers made solid early progress, but the damp astro wicket was causing a number of balls to stay low and before too long Singh was dismissed when a short ball from Billy skidded past his attempted pull and hit the stumps. Moments later a sharp shower forced the players from the field for 15 minutes and, with the first ball after the resumption, Ewan removed the other opener to claim his first senior wicket for GHK. This proved to be the key breakthrough as none of the remaining batsmen were able to get the ball through the damp, overgrown infield and the Hillend run rate dried up completely.

Wickets also continued to tumble – Yoda’s second ball trapped Cahn lbw to make it 42-3 and then Andy Fleming embarked on a spell of 3-3-0-2 which included a number of superb balls, although the two wicket taking deliveries weren’t among them, both under-pitched but keeping low. Adil joined in the carnage when he came on to bowl leg breaks, having Farrell well caught by Yoda in the deep, then turning one past the defences of the Hillend No. 8 to take the score to 55-7. In all, 4 wickets had gone down for 3 runs in 5 overs.

If anyone was going to save Hillend, it surely had to be the next batsman in, listed in the scorebook as ‘Jesus’. He did stick around for a while but was let down by his two remaining disciples, who both found Adil’s flight and accuracy too much to handle and popped up catches to Billy at short cover. With Hillend a player short, this brought the innings to a close at 75, easily the lowest total against Crow Road this season. The conditions were heavily in the favour of the fielding side, but the bowlers still had to maintain a good line to make the most of them, and by and large that’s what they did (Yoda’s exploratory over of spin being the notable exception!).

After the tea break was prolonged by a heavy shower, the ground was wetter than ever as Ashutosh and Stroppy walked out to open the Crow Road innings. The chances of hitting a boundary all along the ground were now nil, which didn’t suit Stroppy’s game at all and reduced him to working singles and the odd 2. At the other end, however, Ashutosh was going ballistic. Seemingly oblivious to the uneven bounce, he survived a couple of early scares to demolish the Hillend bowling attack, negating the problem of long grass by repeatedly launching the ball in the air for 6s or one-bounce 4s.

At one stage, he clouted 35 off just 9 balls as an over from Singh disappeared for 20 and another from Cahn went for 16. Somewhere in the middle of it all, Stroppy was run out when Ashutosh didn’t respond to a call for an easy single, but it didn’t particularly matter as Smillie came in at No. 3 and hit the winning runs soon after. This was his first innings since he broke his finger four weeks ago, and thankfully he came through it without any discomfort.

The star of the show, though, was Ashutosh, who had brought up his first GHK 50 with his fifth 6 and eventually walked off unbeaten on 58 (40 mins, 31 balls, 5x4, 5x6). He scored over 76% of the runs in the Crow Road innings, surely some kind of record, and made a mockery of conditions that had caused problems for every other batsman in the match.

Crow Road’s 4th and easiest win of the season leaves us sitting comfortably in mid-table around the 54% mark. Victory in the last two games of the season could just sneak us into the top four, but this result indicates how much more could be achieved if it we were able to field a decent-strength side every week. None of today’s bowling changes made life any easier for the Hillend batsmen and, had Crow Road lost early wickets, we had regular opening batsmen lined up to come in at Nos. 3, 4, 6 and 7! The only negative was the state of the astro and the outfield. Seeing as the 3s haven’t had a single chance to play on the Old Anniesland square this season, the least we can ask is for the astroturf and its surroundings to be kept in far better condition than what we put up with today.

Marress v Crow Road, 04/08/2007

Marress v Crow Road
WDCU Div 5, Irvine, 04/08/2007

Crow Road won toss and elected to field

Marress
Sharp b Roy 4
* M Ingram lbw b Smillie 106
Cooney b Roy 0
Conway c Rixon b Alcock 2
D Ingram b Rixon 4
Mudunuri b Alcock 0
Fernando c and b Alcock 0
Mitchell c Miller b Alcock 0
McMeeking lbw b Rixon 42
Taylor b Rixon 15
# Ram not out 0
Extras 45
Total (all out, 46.2 ovs) 218

Khan 11-3-39-0, Roy 9-1-28-2, Alcock 8-0-60-4,
Rixon 7.2-2-32-3, Smillie 9-1-30-1, Bilsland 2-0-22-0

Crow Road
S Alcock c Conway b D Ingram 17
* A Rixon b Mudunuri 29
C Bilsland b Mudunuri 2
# G Semple b D Ingram 3
I Roy c Ram b D Ingram 11
A Khan b Sharp 4
C Dickson b Mudunuri 28
I Miller not out 2
R Allen c Conway b Mudunuri 0
L McDermid not out 0
Extras 32
Total (8 wkts, 53 ovs) 128
G Smillie did not bat

M Ingram 15-6-32-0, Conway 9-3-19-0, Mudunuri 12-6-10-4,
D Ingram 7-3-19-3, Sharp 5-0-20-1, Taylor 2-0-10-0,
Cooney 3-1-6-0

Match drawn
Marress 19 pts, Crow Road 8 pts

Match Report

For the second week running a host of absences left Crow Road seriously weakened, but unlike last week’s capitulation to table-topping Home Park, Saturday’s visit to wooden spoon candidates Marress resulted in a gutsy draw. With a bowling attack significantly depleted even compared to last week, it was a superb early effort from Crow Road to have the home side at 95-7. Unfortunately the bowlers then lost their way and allowed Marress to reach 218, but the inexperienced batting line-up responded admirably and stuck it out for 53 overs to escape with a draw.

Rixon won an important toss and sent Marress in to bat on Irvine’s famously uneven pitch, choosing to open the bowling with Ali Khan and Iain “Jo” Roy. Both made tidy starts, keeping the run rate down to 2, and the pressure soon told as Jo made a double breakthrough, bowling Sharp and Cooney in consecutive overs. When he reached his 7 over limit as a U18, Steve-o came on and offered the batsmen no respite, with his left-arm line extracting some particularly unusual bounce from the pitch. Rixon responded by positioning himself at short square leg and this plan paid off almost straight away as Conway could only fend a rising delivery into his hands.

Ali took a break after 10 economical overs and was replaced by Rixon, who soon got among the wickets when the Marress No. 5 played around the line of one and was bowled. Steve-o then charged through the rest of the middle order, bowling Chatanya with a jaffer, plucking a sharp caught and bowled chance out of the air and finally inducing their No. 8 to pick out Iain at mid off. At the other end, however, the Marress captain Ingram was now well set and had started to punish Steve-o’s bowling as his team-mates fell around him, although he was extremely lucky to survive an lbw shout when hit on the full on off stump.

Ingram was joined by McMeeking at No. 9, and although he only had one shot – the one you usually associate with golf – it immediately proved effective as he smeared a couple of loose balls to the boundary to get off the mark. It was at this point that a number of things started to go wrong for Crow Road. The fielding got slacker, the field placement got a bit confused and most of all, the bowlers, who had all been performing well up to this point, lost their accuracy completely. Rixon bowled too short, Jo too wide, Ali somewhat spoiled his figures with a 12-ball, 16-run comeback over and only Smillie, brought on to bowl cutters despite his broken finger, maintained any kind of control.

Ingram’s scoring slowed up as he neared his century, but after he reached the landmark with a lofted drive for 3, some more free hitting by McMeeking took their 8th wicket partnership past 100. Then, 70-odd runs after he could have been given out, Ingram was finally adjudged lbw to Smillie and after brief resistance from the Marress No. 10, Rixon wound up the innings soon after. The final score of 218 was well above par considering the state of the wicket, and the fact that only three Marress batsmen scored more than 4 emphasised how difficult it was to get settled in. This was exactly what Crow Road’s top order would have to do, however, to stand any chance of chasing the target or batting out the 53 overs that remained.

Steve-o and Rixon made a solid start but in between every ball were on the receiving end of chat that could best be described as odd. Apparently Steve-o was a “flower” who the Marress bowlers needed to “sprinkle some seed on”, and if this wasn’t homo-erotic enough, there was also some indecent exposure in one of the overs when Steve-o found himself facing two balls more than he would have expected. It might have helped Marress if they’d concentrated more on their bowling and less on their banter as the opening partnership moved past 50 without too much trouble, the highlight being a glorious cut for 4 by Steve-o and the lowlight a costly drop by their keeper after Rixon edged one straight up in the air.

The first wicket fell in the 20th over when Chatanya, who routed Crow Road back in June, bowled Rixon with one that stayed lower than he’d expected. Vidal came in at No. 3 to keep things steady and did his job well, seeing off 6 tricky overs before he too was bowled. Meanwhile, Craig Dickson and Ross Purdon had showed up to spectate and, as Crow Road had only arrived with 10 players, there seemed no reason why one of them couldn’t bat. The idea was for Dickson to come in at No. 4 but the Marress captain asked for the rulebook to be consulted first and while this was done, Semple was sent out to the middle instead.

Fresh from a highly impressive wicket-keeping debut, Semple provided more solid support for Steve-o who by this stage had stopped scoring altogether – at one point managing just 2 runs off 47 balls. It was clear by now that winning the game was out of the question, but when Semple was unluckily bowled when the ball rolled back off his bat onto the stumps, Jo, Ali and Dickson (whose appearance didn’t seem to break any rules) were sent in at 5, 6 and 7 to try and up the scoring rate and collect some extra bonus points. Jo hit some lusty blows in his innings of 11, but soon became part of a middle order collapse triggered when Steve-o’s epic 130 minute, 109 ball 17 ended with an edge to slip. Jo then top edged a pull to a ball that bounced extravagantly and finally Ali, who had just smashed a superb off drive for 4, was bowled by a full toss. 81-3 had become 87-6 and, with 13 overs remaining, Crow Road were staring down the barrel.

Thankfully the 7th wicket pair had other ideas and put together a crucial partnership of 40. The two innings could hardly have been more different – Iain playing stonewall defence while Dickson flayed the bowling all over the park. Mixing hugely powerful shots with some sensible blocks, Dickson carried the score to 127 (and 2 extra bonus points) before he was bowled with 14 balls remaining. It was edge-of-the-seat stuff now and got even tenser when young Robert Allen became Chatanya’s 4th victim two balls later (giving Chatanya bowling figures of 26.2-10-31-11 against Crow Road this season). Two overs and two wickets remained though it was still unclear if Smillie would risk his broken finger to bat if required. Iain escaped one catchable chance to survive the 99th over, at which point Smillie returned from his umpiring stint in the middle to pad up, probably prudent given that it was Liam McDermid now on strike to the last six deliveries. Liam had been calm as he walked to the crease but his team-mates certainly weren’t after he popped the first ball straight to a close fielder who crucially put it down. After dead-batting the next ball away, he ran a leg-bye to bring Iain on strike, and Iain coolly saw out the rest of the over to confirm the draw.

Considering the 9.5 players that we travelled to Irvine with today, this represented a fine result. Apart from the 15-over spell late in their innings where everything seemed to go wrong, all our players performed near the top of their game, which was the only way we were ever going to avoid defeat. Special mentions must go to Steve-o for a strong all-round performance and to Dickson for a very timely, match-saving arrival, but everyone contributed something positive towards the result. Next week, things should be back to normality as a number of regulars return for the Scotindians/Hillend double header, but to all the not-so-regulars who’ve turned out for the team in either or both of the last two matches, I have to say a big thank you. Just fulfilling the fixtures was a big achievement, but the performance today was a particular credit to all involved.

Home Park v Crow Road, 28/07/2007

Home Park v Crow Road
WDCU Div 5, Dalziel Park, 28/07/2007

Home Park won toss and elected to field

Crow Road
I Thomson lbw b Praveen 0
* A Rixon b Zahid 9
# A Christie c Raheel b Adeel 35
A Kirk c McGlashan b Zahid 5
B Hussain c Adeel b Zahid 13
I Roy b Zahid 0
A Khan b Praveen 11
E Allen b Zahid 1
R Allen c Zahid b Praveen 0
H Livingston not out 1
L McDermid lbw b Praveen 0
Extras 17
Total (all out, 29.3 ovs) 92

Praveen 9.3-3-29-4, Adeel 9-1-25-1, Zahid 11-3-24-5

Home Park
# Juga lbw b Khan 35
Adeel retired not out 15
Cunningham c and b Christie 1
McGlashan not out 5
Hameed c Christie b Rixon 1
Raheel not out 4
Extras 34
Total (3 wkts, 24.5 ovs) 95
Praveen, * Zahid, Dougan, Walid and Baird did not bat

E Allen 7-0-21-0, Hussain 4.5-0-27-0, Christie 8-2-20-1,
Khan 4-1-10-1, Rixon 1-0-2-1

Home Park won by 7 wickets
Home Park 25 pts, Crow Road 2 pts

Match Report

A makeshift Crow Road side travelled to table-topping Home Park more in hope than expectation of victory on Saturday, and duly emerged with a heavy beating. Much of the damage was self-inflicted however, as any hope of defending a paltry total of 92 disappeared amid a smorgasbord of dropped catches, each seemingly more embarrassing than the last. By the time Yoda had demonstrated how it should be done by comfortably pouching two skiers late on, Crow Road had already grassed 8 chances and denied themselves any shot at what would have been a most unlikely triumph.

A midsummer exodus left Rixon struggling to find eleven players for the trip to Motherwell, with regular selection candidates Alcock, Semple, J Fleming, A Fleming, R Mackay, M Hussain, Miller, Tate, G Stewart, Mishra, Colville, Smillie, Bilsland, Reid, Afzal and Iqbal all unavailable for one reason or another (though the latter two did somehow become available after last-minute call-ups to the 2s). Thankfully, after some much-appreciated assistance from Ewan Allen, and after Stroppy and Sausage finally mastered the art of mobile telephony late on Friday night, Crow Road did manage to turn up with a full team and at least avoid a 10-point deduction for conceding the match.

The pitch was mostly hard and grassy with some damp patches and, after Crow Road lost the toss and were put in to bat, it soon became clear that variable bounce would be the main threat. The odd ball was looping up to chest height off a length, but the bounce couldn’t be blamed for Stroppy’s early dismissal as he was caught on the crease and given lbw. Yoda then came in all guns blazing and moved the score past 50 with some carefree blows, including two huge sixes over the leg side. At the other end, Rixon was content to stick around and take the singles, but shortly before the partnership reached 50, he was sent packing as an inswinger beat his attempted drive.

Yoda was soon to follow, miscuing to square leg, and with only 14 overs on the board, Crow Road had already reached the stage where the remaining batting order was looking decidedly fragile. Coming it at No. 4, Sausage looked in decent touch before edging to slip, then Jo played a brief cameo consisting of a textbook forward defensive followed by an ugly swipe to depart for a duck. Billy and Ali applied themselves somewhat better, however, punishing the bad ball to add 25 and take the score to a not-disastrous 89-5 at drinks.

Maybe Home Park slipped something in the batsmens’ Cherryade, or maybe the near-on 15 minute break affected their concentration – either way, the post-drinks session turned into a horror show for Crow Road. The next 21 balls saw 5 wickets go down for the addition of just 3 runs as the scorecard took on a distinctly binary appearance and Crow Road crumbled to 92 all out. First Billy holed out with a straight drive, then Ali succumbed to some variable bounce. Debutant Robert Allen (only recently having turned 13) popped a catch to midwicket and his brother was bowled after a swing-and-a-miss, bringing the unlikely last wicket pair of Hamish Livingston and the multi-sportsman (sadly cricket not being one of them) Liam McDermid together in the middle. While Hamish played a couple of good-looking shots, Liam treated everyone to an innings that rivalled Martin’s football-inspired 7* against Bees for funniest moment of the season. Under instruction not to play at anything missing the stumps, Liam did better than that and didn’t even move a muscle. Standing completely statuesque as the bowler ran up, bowled, and the ball went past him, he also took several seconds to set off for a bye when the ball had in fact almost reached the boundary. He’ll never make an athlete, that boy.

Once Liam had fallen lbw to end the innings, Crow Road headed out into the field with a plan to bowl straight and full and see how the pitch would react. By and large, the bowlers stuck to the plan, though before long their efforts were being hampered by the first of the dropped catches. Ewan was a particularly bad culprit, contributing 3 drops, but he went a long way to making up for it with a fine spell of bowling that improved with every over. At the other end, Billy also produced some good moments, but he made way after 3 overs to give Yoda a shot. This meant that Stroppy donned the keeper attire for the first time ever, and he did a very respectable job, ending the match as one of the few fielders without a drop against his name.

The Home Park openers were making the most of their extra lives and had taken their team more than half way to the target when Ewan reached his 7-over limit as a U18 and was replaced by Ali Khan. Ali quickly settled onto his line and length and was rewarded with the first breakthrough when Juga was trapped lbw. This brought Cunningham to the crease but he was swiftly dispatched after skying a Yoda delivery straight back to the bowler (the second actual wicket which, on another day, could have been the 10th and winning one given the 8 earlier drops). With Adeel and Extras keeping Home Park comfortably on course for victory, however, the only question remaining was whether Crow Road could take a third wicket (hence a second bonus point) before the end of the match. As it turned out they could, courtesy of another skier to Yoda, this time off the occasional round-the-wicket bowling of Rixon, but one over later an emphatic pull to midwicket for 4 confirmed Crow Road’s heaviest defeat of the season.

With only 2 points taken from the match, this loss probably signals the end of any promotion hopes for Crow Road. On the positive side, it was a terrific effort to get a full eleven for this game, and particular thanks must go to Robert, Hamish and Liam for turning up, and to Ewan for his help in recruiting. On the negative side, we had a glimmer of a chance to beat the league leaders today, despite the weakened team, and let it quite literally slip through our fingers. The catching today was a complete embarrassment and there simply can’t be a repetition in any of the five matches we have left. This late in the season, there’s probably a limited amount that can be worked on in training but in the pre-season next spring, it’s essential that we focus more on this side of the game so everyone has the confidence and technique to take more catches and consequently, as the saying tells us, win more matches.

Mid-Season Averages

Crow Road 2007 Mid-Season Averages

Covers all games up to and including Whiteinch (A) on 23/06/2007

Batting & Fielding (Min: 2 completed innings)

Name M I NO Runs HS 100s 50s Ave Ct/St
G Smillie 6 6 0 250 103 1 1 41.67 5
M Hussain 4 4 1 81 73 0 1 27.00 2
A Rixon 7 6 1 118 45 0 0 23.60 3
U Ali 4 4 1 40 26 0 0 13.33 0
S Alcock 4 4 1 36 13 0 0 12.00 1
I Hussain 2 2 0 21 17 0 0 10.50 0
Blaal Hussain 3 3 0 16 9 0 0 5.33 0
A Mustoe 2 2 0 8 7 0 0 4.00 1
I Miller 4 3 0 10 10 0 0 3.33 1
D Tate 3 3 1 4 3 0 0 2.00 0
Z Iqbal 5 3 0 1 1 0 0 0.33 0
W Murray 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 0

Also batted: Played in 3 matches – A Khan 9, 1* (1 ct); Played in 2 matches – A Mishra 5*, 29 (2 ct, 1 st); A Malik 14, 36*; G Reid 0; Played in 1 match – D Allen 35; G Stewart 6; A Stewart 6 (1 ct); C Stewart 0; M Gibson 7* (1 ct); A Mansell 35 (1 ct); L Curtis 4; J Pulley 0*; A Hussain 15; A Christie 4; G Semple 0; D Hoffmann 8 (1 ct); W Hussain 2; H Livingston 0; I Thomson 18*; J McGrath 5; T Mehmood 20; U Afzal 9; K Ali 21.

Did not bat: L McDermid; A Fleming; Bilal Hussain (all played 1 match)


Bowling (Min: 3 wickets)

Name 0 M R W BB 5w/i Ave (Econ)
W Hussain 5.5 0 20 4 4-20 0 5.00 (3.43)
T Mehmood 15 3 44 6 6-44 1 7.33 (2.93)
L Curtis 13 1 53 7 7-53 1 7.57 (4.08)
A Christie 16 1 67 5 5-67 1 13.40 (4.19)
D Allen 12.4 0 54 4 4-54 0 13.50 (4.26)
A Rixon 10 1 51 3 2-31 0 17.00 (5.10)
Z Iqbal 19.1 3 104 6 4-10 0 17.33 (5.43)
A Malik 17 3 72 4 4-51 0 18.00 (4.24)
G Reid 20.3 2 83 4 2-38 0 20.75 (4.05)
A Khan 22 3 100 3 2-50 0 33.33 (4.55)

Also bowled: U Ali 4.4-0-33-1; A Stewart 1-0-10-0; G Smillie 17-0-77-1; W Murray 7-0-45-2; A Hussain 13-1-74-0; I Hussain 14.2-0-44-1; Blaal Hussain 3-0-22-2; J McGrath 4-0-36-0; U Afzal 15-1-67-2; K Ali 12-1-38-2; A Fleming 6-0-30-1; Bilal Hussain 7-0-19-0.

Mid-Season Records

Crow Road 2007 Season Records

Scores of 50 or over

103 G Smillie v Scotindians (A*) 09/06
73 M Hussain v Alps (H) 12/05
61 G Smillie v Home Park (H) 26/05

4 or more wickets in an innings

7-53 L Curtis v Hillend (A) 06/05
6-44 T Mehmood v Scotindians (A*) 09/06
5-67 A Christie v Alps (H) 12/05
4-10 Z Iqbal v Whiteinch (A) 23/06
4-20 W Hussain v Home Park (H) 26/05
4-51 A Malik v Home Park (H) 26/05
4-54 D Allen v Bees (H) 28/04

Hat-trick

Z Iqbal v Whiteinch (A) 23/06

50 partnerships

107 for 3rd G Smillie & A Rixon v Scotindians (A*) 09/06
94 for 5th G Smillie & A Rixon v Home Park (H) 26/05
61 for 6th M Hussain & A Malik v Alps (H) 12/05
57 for 1st D Allen & A Rixon v Bees (H) 28/04
In total, 70 runs were added for this wicket. A Mishra retired hurt after adding 13 with Allen
55 for 7th A Malik & Blaal Hussain v Home Park (H) 26/05
50 for 1st G Smillie & A Mishra v Scotindians (A*) 09/06
50 for 2nd G Smillie & T Mehmood v Scotindians (A*) 09/06

Team totals over 200

253-7 v Scotindians (A) 09/06
227 v Home Park (H) 26/05

Dismissing opposition for under 100

None so far








* Scotindians’ home match v Crow Road played at Old Anniesland

Whiteinch v Crow Road, 23/06/2007

Whiteinch v Crow Road
WDCU Div 5, Glasgow Green, 23/06/2007

Whiteinch won toss and elected to bat

Whiteinch
Sabir c Khan b Reid 46
Hogg b K Ali 0
Quddoos c and b K Ali 4
* Ullah c M Hussain b Reid 3
Butt c Smillie b Fleming 12
Abbas c Smillie b Khan 3
Shafiq not out 11
Sohail c M Hussain b Iqbal 33
Shabir b Iqbal 0
Imran c Alcock b Iqbal 0
# Drummond b Iqbal 0
Extras 48
Total (all out, 43.1 ovs) 160

K Ali 12-1-38-2, Reid 10-0-38-2, Fleming 6-0-30-1,
B Hussain 7-0-19-0, Khan 4-1-18-1, Iqbal 4.1-2-10-4

Crow Road
* G Smillie c Quddoos b Sohail 13
S Alcock not out 7
K Ali c and b Shafiq 21
U Ali b Imran 5
# M Hussain not out 3
Extras 24
Total (3 wkts, 26 ovs) 73
A Rixon, A Fleming, A Khan, Z Iqbal, B Hussain and G Reid did not bat

Sohail 9-1-17-1, Quddoos 9-0-38-0, Imran 4-0-10-1,
Shafiq 4-1-7-1

Match abandoned
Whiteinch 0 pts, Crow Road 0 pts



Match Report

Crow Road travelled to Glasgow Green to face Whiteinch, hoping to continue the excellent form shown in the previous game against Scotindians. Conditions were questionable at 1pm with a big puddle on one of the straight boundaries; this was partially solved by strategic placement of kit on the boundary edge. Stand in captain Smillie lost the toss and took to the field. Khizar and Gordi opened up, generally bowling a tight, probing line outside the off stump. Sadly for both however Whiteinch’s umpire failed to appreciate the quality of the Crow Road attack, with some dubious wide calling.

The standard of umpiring did eventually improve and Crow Road’s opening pair was able to tighten up the scoring rate and claim three Whiteinch scalps within the first 10 overs. Crow Road were then boosted by the arrival of the delayed Rixon, who was like a lion let out of a cage, chasing everything down out on the boundary and diving for anything that fell within 10 feet of his grasp when close in.

Whiteinch’s fourth wicket pairing were however more stubborn and were beginning to build a meaningful partnership when Reid managed to lure the dangerous Sabir into a mis-timed drive which was clutched into his chest by Ali Khan. Debutants Fleming and Billy were soon brought on as first change bowlers. Fleming bowled a good line but was at times guilty of dragging it down too short. However in his 2nd over he picked up a maiden senior wicket when the stand in skipper clung on to a skier when he had dropped a similarly easier one earlier in the over. Billy meanwhile bowled with both excellent pace and control, particularly troubling the batsmen with his short pitched bowling.

After drinks, Ali Khan entered the attack, initially keeping a tight line and length and being rewarded with a smart catch by Smillie. Ali however soon lost control and Billy tired after an excellent spell, allowing Whiteinch to gain the ascendancy. Captain Smillie responded with what turned out to be an inspired double change, bringing back opener Khizar and introducing Zishaan Iqbal into the attack. Khizar continued on from his excellent first spell, but the real start of the show proved to be Zishaan. After an unsuccessful first over, Zishaan bowled a much tighter second over, frustrating the big hitting Sohail who was caught in the fifth ball of the over, before clean bowling Shabir for a golden duck the following ball. The hat-trick ball however had to wait until another Khizar over was bowled. Next over in came Zishaan, hat-trick ball, using every ounce of his 6½ frame to launch himself at the crease, releasing a fast and full delivery outside off stump which the batsman flashed at, and edged into the safe hands of Stevo at gully. Carnage!

Boosted by his achievement, Zishaan cleaned up the last man in the following over, leaving Crow Road to chase 166 in 56 overs.

Crow Road opened with Smillie and Stevo, confident of picking up a third win of the season. Smillie picked up from his century in the previous match, knocking the ball into the gaps and keeping the scoreboard ticking along until he was dismissed with a careless shot to mid on. At the other end, Stevo played the anchor role, determined to preserve his wicket at all costs. Khizar joined Stevo after the fall of Smillie, combining some lusty bowls with some good placements into the gaps. Similarly to Smillie though, Khizar had played himself in when he played back to the bowler for 21. Wee Umar didn’t last long batting at four, giving Whiteinch hope as Mobeen strode to the crease. By this time however, the weather had closed in and spots of rain began falling. Conditions quickly deteriorated, with the players leaving the field of play to monsoon conditions a couple of overs later and the game being abandoned, 10 overs short of being declared a game.

A disappointing end to what would have been an exiting conclusion had the rain not intervened. Perhaps without the silly wide calling from the opposition, a result may have been possible in the time available; nonetheless well done to the team for putting in an excellent effort, in particularly Zishaan for his memorable hat-trick.

Scotindians v Crow Road, 09/06/2007

Scotindians v Crow Road
WDCU Div 5, Old Anniesland*, 09/06/2007
*Scotindians conceded home venue

Crow Road won toss and elected to field

Scotindians
Uday lbw b Afzal 3
Anil b Mehmood 9
# Shiva b Afzal 6
* Raj b Mehmood 24
Rajshekhar lbw b Mehmood 0
Albin b Mehmood 0
Kishan c Mishra b B Hussain 39
Avinash lbw b Mehmood 90
Balaji lbw b Mehmood 0
Krandhi not out 20
Sundel b I Hussain 16
Extras 50
Total (all out, 49.2 ovs) 257

Afzal 15-1-67-2, Mehmood 15-3-44-6, Khan 3-0-32-0,
Iqbal 6-0-46-0, I Hussain 8.2-0-28-1, B Hussain 2-0-21-1

Crow Road
G Smillie c Albin b Raj 103
# A Mishra run out 29
T Mehmood b Kishan 20
* A Rixon c Kishan b Raj 45
B Hussain b Raj 0
U Afzal b Kishan 9
I Hussain run out 17
U Ali not out 5
A Khan not out 1
Extras 24
Total (7 wkts, 50 ovs) 253
I Miller and Z Iqbal did not bat

Raj 15-0-80-3, Kishan 13-0-55-2, Avinash 15-1-68-0,
Krandhi 4-0-26-0, Balaji 3-0-23-0

Match drawn
Scotindians 18 pts, Crow Road 14 pts

Match Report

Crow Road came within one shot of beating table-topping Scotindians after an unforgettable run chase at Old Anniesland on Saturday. In what must surely be a contender for Division 5 game of the season, the balance of power shifted one way then the other right to the death, with Crow Road eventually needing six to win from the last ball of the 100th over. Although young Umar Ali could only manage a single, the jubilation among the Scotindians fielders at escaping with a draw was a clear indication of how well Crow Road had performed in pursuit of a mammoth 258 run target.

The innings was built around an outstanding 103 from Graham Smillie, who played far more freely than in any of his previous matches this season to ensure that the required run rate hovered at little more than 5 an over for almost the entire chase. Adding some superb off-drives to his more familiar repertoire of well placed 1s and 2s, he paced his innings beautifully until losing the strike for a couple of crucial overs near the end and eventually holing out to deep midwicket trying to make up for the lost momentum.

Smillie’s efforts were backed up by strong contributions from his top-order colleagues. Ashutosh dominated a 50 partnership for the first wicket, Tariq helped add another 50 for the second, then Rixon and Smillie reprised and ultimately exceeded their Home Park partnership to put on 107 for the third and take the score to 207-2 in the 39th over. It was only after Rixon’s dismissal that Crow Road’s relentless pursuit began to stutter as an inexperienced lower-middle order was exposed to the pressurised situation in the middle.

At that stage, with 51 more runs required to win off 10.4 overs, Crow Road were still favourites but Blaal was swiftly dispatched for 0 and big Umar then found it difficult to rotate the strike. By the time Umar was bowled, the target had moved on to a far more challenging 34 runs from 31 balls. Ijaz came to the crease to join Smillie (who was blissfully unaware that he was now into the nervous 90s) and they ran well between the wickets but still couldn’t prevent the required rate advancing to 8 an over. Amid the growing tension, Smillie was dropped off a skier on 99 and shortly afterwards completed a richly deserved maiden hundred from 127 balls in 150 minutes with 11x4. Three runs later, however, he miscued a slower ball to be caught on the midwicket boundary and finally end Crow Road’s chances of victory. Or so it seemed...

Scotindians’ opening bowlers were now back on and 24 runs were needed off 17 balls, but with 4 wickets still in hand there was no reason to give up the chase. Umar junior and Ijaz weren’t finding scoring easy – the next four balls went for 1-dot-dot-1 – but Ijaz regained the initiative with a big 6 off the final ball of the over to reduce the target to 16 off 12. Just four of those came from a well-bowled 49th over, but in a manic 50th there were byes, singles from Ijaz (who was run out coming back for a second), Umar and Ali, and a no-ball from what should have been the final delivery of the match to set up the classic scenario – 6 to win from the last ball. Wee Umar went for it but couldn’t get enough power on the shot and ran a single to complete a breathless draw.

Six hours earlier, everything had looked so much more straightforward. After winning the toss and choosing to bowl, Crow Road had Scotindians in dire straits at 70-6 with the wickets shared between Tariq and big Umar. The scoring rate was less than three an over and the decisive blow appeared to have been struck when Tariq bowled the Scotindians’ captain and most accomplished batsman, Raj, for 24. It could have been even worse for the league leaders had a couple of close lbws been given, though it should be said that the umpiring was far more even-handed than has been suggested in reports on other clubs’ websites.

It was at this point that the Scotindians’ innings, and the complexion of the entire match, was turned on its head by an explosive innings from their No. 8, Avinash. The Crow Road bowlers (with the exception of one over of full tosses that was smeared for 24) kept a decent line and length, but Avinash responded by repeatedly walking down the pitch to loft perfectly good deliveries over the leg side boundary for 6. He was well supported by the ultra-defensive Kishan, and the players’ contrasting styles were keeping the Crow Road fielders busy running in and out from the boundary ropes every time the strike rotated. As it was the hottest part of a glorious day, this proved very draining for our young set of players.

As the 7th wicket partnership moved well into three figures, big Umar and Tariq were brought back into the attack earlier than planned to try and re-establish some control. Eventually Tariq made the breakthrough, trapping Avinash lbw for an excellent 90 and he followed up by dismissing the No. 9 next ball to complete his second 6-wicket haul of 2007. Blaal’s golden arm then worked its magic as he had Kishan caught behind in his first over and, after a brief flurry of slogs from the last wicket pair, Ijaz finished off the innings at 257.

It looked like Crow Road would need fireworks from the two big-hitters in the order, Ashutosh and Tariq, to make any impression on such a large target. Ashutosh started uncertainly but after a change of bat he settled in and was soon flaying the bowling around. On 29, though, he was run out after a bad misjudgement by Smillie, then Tariq never really got going and was bowled for 20. Luckily these dismissals proved far less crucial than might have been expected as Smillie and Rixon seized the initiative and put together the partnership (by the end of which almost 400 runs had been scored for the loss of 6 wickets across the two innings) that really laid the platform for the dramatic conclusion.

Against a team who wouldn’t be out of place a league or two higher up, Crow Road raised their game significantly in this match and turned it into a high-quality, highly dramatic contest. Of course it was disappointing that an astonishing victory proved to be just beyond our grasp but we can still take great pride at having ended Scotindians 100% winning record. And if it is to be the last game that most of the departing Asian kids play for the club this season then what a game to go out on. This was as close as Division 5 ever gets to epic.

Crow Road v Marress, 02/06/2007

Crow Road v Marress
WDCU Div 5, Old Anniesland, 02/06/2007

Marress won toss and elected to field

Crow Road
G Smillie lbw b Mudunuri 18
* A Rixon b M Ingram 16
# M Hussain run out 1
B Hussain b Mudunuri 7
H Livingston b Mudunuri 0
I Thomson not out 18
J McGrath b Mudunuri 5
S Alcock c Bennett b Reuben 13
G Reid b Mudunuri 0
Z Iqbal lbw b Mudunuri 0
D Tate b Mudunuri 3
Extras 30
Total (all out, 41.2 ovs) 111

M Ingram 9-3-23-1, Conway 6-2-17-0, Mudunuri 14.2-4-21-7,
D Ingram 7-1-22-0, Reuben 5-1-19-1

Marress
* M Ingram lbw b B Hussain 57
# Bennett b Reid 0
Mudunuri lbw b Reid 29
D Ingram not out 10
Conway not out 5
Extras 13
Total (3 wkts, 21.3 ovs) 114
Gillaland, Park, Sachin, Ram, Cooney and Reuben did not bat

McGrath 4-0-36-0, Reid 10.3-2-45-2, Iqbal 6-1-32-0,
B Hussain 1-0-1-1

Marress won by 7 wickets
Crow Road 3 pts, Marress 25 pts

Match Report

Old Anniesland was not a good place to be on Saturday if you were a GHK player. The 2nd XI took a heavy beating from Clydesdale while over on the magic carpet Crow Road put in a limp display to slump to defeat against Marress (Irvine 2s). After Rixon lost a toss he’d really have preferred to win, Crow Road were put in to bat under cloudy skies with their intended opening batsmen both still engaged in a school match. It was therefore Smillie and Rixon who strode out to face the bowling, hoping for a repeat of their Home Park partnership against an attack that conceded 136 to Yoda’s bat alone last year.

The bowlers gave nothing away early on though, bowling a controlled line outside off stump to start with three consecutive maidens. Rixon then managed to hit a few bad balls to the boundary but, in the 11th over, missed a drive at a straight one to be dismissed for 16. This brought Mobeen to the crease and hopes were high that his free-hitting style could put the bowling off its rhythm. Instead, it all ended in tears as he set off for a single and had almost reached the far end of the pitch by the time Smillie sent him back to be run out.

The Crow Road batting order was now in some disarray as the school match was still in progress and young GHK debutant Hamish Livingston (who was quite literally plucked from the school car park shortly before the match after a player was lost to the 2s) was only available for another hour. In the end, it was Blaal who got the nod to go in at No. 4 with Hamish to follow, and they were soon batting together after Smillie was trapped lbw to end an innings that never really got out the blocks.

By now, Marress had unleashed their secret weapon, the spinner Mudunuri who apparently played for GHK as recently as last season. Bowling at a skiddy pace and, as one batsman said, ‘getting the ball to do a bit of everything’, Crow Road were soon wishing he hadn’t changed clubs as he bowled Blaal, Hamish and Jimmy McGrath in quick succession. With the score on a precarious 71-5 in the 26th over, this finally brought the intended opening pair, Steve-o and Ian “Thommo/Stroppy” Thomson, together at the crease.

They duly built the highest partnership of the innings (27), which included a glorious cover drive for 4 by Steve-o but also a shocking drop by the point fielder to reprieve Thommo. The score had moved on to 98 and the run rate was starting to pick up when Steve-o nicked one to the keeper and walked off for an unlucky 13. The lower order batsmen then had no answer to Mudunuri, who swept aside Gordi Reid, Zishaan and Duncan to finish with superb figures of 7-21, although Duncan at least showed some resistance to help take the score past 100.

On the whole, the Marress bowling was tidy and the enforced changes to the Crow Road batting order made it harder to build the innings across 50 overs (by the end Thommo was looking comfortable at the crease and you have to wonder how things would have gone had he been available to open). However, a total of 111 was significantly below par and clearly Crow Road had to be disciplined from the outset to have any chance of the win.

It all started promisingly, with a good over from Jimmy, then a superb wicket maiden from Gordi in his first over for 10 months. Unfortunately the next over disappeared for 18 and from that point on, Marress were able to race along at more than a run a ball. To stand any chance of victory, Crow Road needed all the luck to go their way, but it certainly did not. Jimmy conceded a number of his runs to edges through 3rd man, a sharp chance was missed at slip and, most frustratingly of all, Gordi appeared to have both their key batsmen (M Ingram and Mudunuri) lbw early in their innings only for the Marress umpires to adjudge them not out.

When Gordi took some pace off the ball and finally did win an lbw shout (ironically to a ball that might have missed the stumps), Crow Road had a glimmer of a chance at 61-2. Zishaan kept the pressure up with some accurate medium pace but, with no sign of the rain that had been forecast, Marress were able to ease their pace and make certain of the win. They were within 3 runs of victory when Blaal came on and immediately showed some of the control that had been missing at the start to dismiss M Ingram lbw for a hard-fought 57. Good as Blaal is though, he wasn’t able to do a Malinga and it wasn’t long until Marress reached their target for no further loss.
After last week’s excellent team performance, this loss is a serious reality check. The disappointing batting display highlighted the importance of working in partnerships, although with a jumbled-up order against a useful attack, it can in part be written off as a bad day at the office. The bowling, on the other hand, needs some serious thought. On a dead pitch like the astroturf, any pace on the ball will work in favour of the batsman as soon as it’s in a hitting zone. Our quicker bowlers therefore can’t afford to bowl any short or wide ones if we want to build sustained pressure, which could well be the key to victory when we welcome the unbeaten Scotindians to Anniesland this Saturday.

Crow Road v Home Park, 26/05/2007

Crow Road v Home Park
WDCU Div 5, Old Anniesland, 26/05/2007

Crow Road won toss and elected to bat

Crow Road
S Alcock lbw b Praveen 6
D Hoffmann c Zahid b Key 8
G Smillie b Javaid 61
W Hussain b Zahid 2
# M Hussain c Raj b Zahid 4
* A Rixon b Frazer 30
A Malik not out 36
B Hussain b Javaid 9
Z Iqbal b Praveen 1
I Miller run out 0
W Murray c Zahid b Javaid 0
Extras 70
Total (all out, 49.2 ovs) 227

Praveen 9-0-30-2, Key 5-0-14-1, Zahid 6-0-17-2,
McGrath 5-0-21-0, Javaid 13.2-2-31-3, Sam 6-0-30-0,
McGlashan 4-0-35-1, Waleed 1-0-24-0

Home Park
Mobin b Malik 3
Javaid c Hoffmann b W Hussain 62
# Raj b Murray 8
Sam lbw b Rixon 5
Key b W Hussain 0
Praveen b Malik 8
McGrath b W Hussain 12
McGlashan c Smillie b Malik 0
Waleed b Malik 0
Raheel b W Hussain 1
* Zahid not out 0
Extras 38
Total (all out, 23.5 ovs) 137

Malik 12-3-51-4, Murray 4-0-31-1, Rixon 2-0-20-1,
W Hussain 5.5-0-20-4

Crow Road won by 90 runs
Crow Road 25 pts, Home Park 8 pts

Match Report

Crow Road chalked up their second win of the season with a strong performance against Home Park (Motherwell 2s). There was the odd scare along the way – particularly when the top order subsided to 47-4 after Rixon chose to bat – but for the most part, it was a far more comfortable and controlled display than in any of the previous three matches.

The day started with something of an own-goal when Yoda (of 1st XI fame) brought along two new players to fill just one space in the Crow Road team. It was Danny Hoffmann who got the nod to play – but his mate Jimmy, looking like a pro in an England Test match top, was promptly snapped up by Home Park who’d only turned up with 10. Steve-o and Danny therefore walked out to bat hoping that he wouldn’t prove to be the next Ryan Sidebottom.

As it turned out, he didn’t open the bowling, but the pair that did were pretty useful and Crow Road were soon in a spot of bother. Danny hit a catch to one of the fielders in the off-side ring and Steve-o was trapped lbw before the score had reached 30. The Home Park captain then brought himself on and found some swing to remove Waqas and Mobeen cheaply.

This brought Smillie and Rixon together – club-mates for years but surprisingly having batted together just once before (a last-wicket stand of 31 in 2003). With only one of the Crow Road XI over the age of 25, they also represented two of the more experienced heads in the team and duly brought some calm to proceedings, taking the score past 100 for no further loss in the 29th over. Smillie was the more free-scoring and had soon brought up his first 50 of the season with one of the well-worked singles that characterised his innings. He celebrated the landmark by top-edging a full toss over longstop for 6 as Crow Road looked to up the scoring rate towards the closing overs.

The partnership was six runs short of 100 when Smillie was bowled by a full ball from Javaid for a well-constructed 61 (115 mins, 95 balls, 6x4, 1x6). In the next over, Rixon started to cut loose against some increasingly erratic bowling, only to miss a rare straight ball and depart for 30. With 12 overs remaining, and the score on 155-6, there was still every chance that Crow Road could be bowled out well short of 200, but Azeem soon put these worries to bed with an explosive final flourish. Taking a particular liking to Home Park’s 8th bowler, who he smashed for three consecutive 6s, Azeem added 55 with Blaal to bring up Crow Road’s highest total of the season. With support from Zishaan, Iain (unfortunately run out for a duck once again!) and Will, he then kept the innings going into the final over before Will was caught after middling a textbook cover drive straight to a fielder!

With such a youthful lineup and after such a stuttering start, the final score of 227 was a terrific effort and illustrated the value of building a platform for some big hitting in the final 10 or 15 overs. It has to be said, though, that Home Park didn’t help themselves by contributing an obscene total of 70 Extras. Crow Road were hoping for a much tighter bowling display as the teams re-emerged after tea.

Unfortunately, the first few overs were anything but tight. Although Azeem and Will both claimed an early wicket and created a couple of other missed chances, the opener Javaid was smashing the ball all around the park, keeping the Home Park scoring rate around 7 an over. Rixon came on for Will and dismissed the No. 4 with one of the few balls he landed in the right half of the pitch, but by and large there was nothing any of the seamers could do against Javaid except bowl to defensive fields and hope for a mistake.

To try and stem the tide, Waqas was brought on to bowl his spinners as early as the 14th over. Straight away, he got one to turn past the bat of their No. 5 and hit the stumps, but the big breakthrough came in his third over when, with the score on 112, Javaid hit a drive to Danny at cover and he thankfully held on to the catch. This was due reward for Waqas’ control of line and length and it marked the end of any serious Home Park challenge. Azeem, now bowling with good rhythm, had no trouble tearing through what remained of the middle order, and just as Zishaan and Blaal were warming up to bowl, he and Waqas rather unkindly took the remaining three wickets in their last overs to finish with 4 each.

Crow Road therefore ran out winners by 90 runs and could reflect on a job well done. When the going got tough in both batting and bowling, there were players prepared to take on the responsibility of bringing the situation back under control. There was also a livelier effort in the field, and a better spirit between the teams than in previous matches. A repeat performance against Marress next week will do very nicely.

Crow Road v Alps, 12/05/2007

Crow Road v Alps
WDCU Div 5, Old Anniesland, 12/05/2007

Crow Road won toss and elected to field

Alps
* Siddiqui retired hurt 54
Paton not out 85
Stone b Christie 3
Ahuja lbw b Christie 5
# Jones lbw b Christie 9
McLaren b Iqbal 16
Harding b Iqbal 0
Murray b Christie 7
Bashir b Christie 0
Gleed not out 1
Extras 57
Total (7 wkts, 50 ovs) 237
Smart did not bat

I Hussain 6-0-16-0, Smillie 7-0-26-0, Christie 16-1-67-5,
A Hussain 13-1-74-0, Malik 5-0-21-0, Iqbal 3-0-16-2

Crow Road
A Mustoe b Smart 1
A Hussain b Smart 15
A Christie b Stone 4
G Smillie c Stone b Gleed 18
# M Hussain b Stone 73
I Hussain c Harding b Bashir 4
A Malik b Stone 14
Z Iqbal b Stone 0
* A Rixon lbw b Murray 5
G Semple b Stone 0
D Tate not out 0
Extras 51
Total (all out, 45 ovs) 185

Smart 15-2-34-2, Stone 11-0-25-5, Gleed 8-0-38-1,
Bashir 3-0-38-1, Harding 3-0-26-0, Murray 5-2-13-1

Alps won by 52 runs
Alps 25 pts, Crow Road 8 pts

Match Report

A brilliant innings of 73 from Mobeen, undoubtedly the standout performance of Crow Road’s season so far, was not enough to stave off defeat against the Alps after a generally disappointing team display. On a grey day on the magic carpet at Old Anniesland, Alps’ 237-7 was probably 30 runs above par, and with the Crow Road batsmen struggling to build partnerships, only fleetingly did it ever look under threat.

As 1pm approached, the outfield was still damp from morning rain, and in hindsight Rixon’s decision to bowl first may have been a mistake. The match ball quickly became wet and difficult to grip, and this, coupled with a rather flat performance in the field, allowed Alps’ opening pair to move serenely past 100. In the early stages, they barely managed to hit the ball off the square, but didn’t really need to as opening bowlers Ijaz and Smillie interspersed their good balls with two or three extras each over. When Yoda and Adil were brought on, however, the ball started to disappear off the square with alarming regularity. Yoda opened his season with a rank half-tracker that was smashed for 4 and Adil struggled for control with a ball that was by now extremely greasy.

Siddiqui was the first of the openers to reach 50 and they were both looking relatively untroubled when the Old Anniesland astroturf injury jinx stuck again. In an incident eerily reminiscent of Ashutosh’s broken nose, Siddiqui top edged a full toss into his mouth and had to leave the pitch streaming blood and minus two front teeth. Unfortunate as this was, it did finally give Crow Road the opportunity to get stuck into the Alps middle order and Yoda proved more than equal to the task. First, he bowled the No. 3, then won two LBW decisions – against Ahuja (who failed to connect with a particularly agricultural mow) and Jones.

The 4th wicket pair progressed steadily to 212 before Zishaan made a double breakthrough in the 46th over, pitching the ball up to bowl McLaren and Harding. Yoda then produced a repeat performance in the final over, knocking over two of the lower order batsmen to finish with a career-best 5-67. Still, the good finish couldn’t disguise a disappointing overall showing in the field. There weren’t many really expensive overs or bad misfields (and there was only one dropped catch, ironically by Duncan who was otherwise the best fielder on the day) – it was just a general lack of sharpness from the fielders and inconsistency from the bowlers that caused the problems, summed up by a huge total of 57 Extras.

The target was therefore a stiff one – 237 – although the weather had cleared up and the Crow Road batting line-up went quite deep for once. After a bad start, when Ally Mustoe and Yoda both fell early against nagging swing bowling, Adil and Smillie steadied the ship with some sound defence. It wasn’t the most fluent of partnerships, but did see off the new ball and laid the platform for the big-hitters in the middle order.

When Adil was bowled for 15, Mobeen came to the crease with the required run rate just above 6 an over and straight away settled into a mode of controlled attack. While he didn’t score any boundaries to start with, he also kept the dot balls to a minimum, picking off 1s and 2s with ease. This rubbed off on Smillie, who had got a bit bogged down, and together they moved the score to 93 in the 30th over. More significantly, Alps had now brought on bowlers who were far easier to score off than their openers. It was therefore to his immense frustration that, having done all the hard work, Smillie holed out to a fielder just inside the ropes as he tried to open his shoulders. It looked like Crow Road’s key man was gone – but not today. The real key man was still there, at the other end, and he was only just getting started.

Supported first by Ijaz and then Azeem, Mobeen proceeded to massacre the bowling with a succession of huge shots through the leg side. One Bashir over disappeared for 20, then another from Harding went for 14 as at one stage Mobeen racked up 40 from 18 balls. His partnership with Azeem (who joined in the fun with a big straight 6) had reached 61, and the score 171-5 off 39.5 overs, when Azeem was bowled for 14. Zishaan followed soon after but, in contrast to the approach the opposition might have taken, Crow Road decided to keep pressing for the win. Needing 54 off 7 overs, it was just about still on until Stone struck the crucial blow, bowling Mobeen for a career-best 73 (off just 58 balls with 11x4).

Immediately attention turned to saving the draw, with Rixon, Semple and Duncan not famed for their range of shots. Unfortunately Semple rather inappropriately attempted to hoick a straight one and was bowled second ball, after which Rixon proceeded to make a bit of a fool of himself. Trying to steal a single through backward point to farm the strike, he was dismissed in about as embarrassing a way as is possible: LBW hit on the box reverse-sweeping. With 5 overs left unbowled, Alps took the win by 52 runs – a win that was, on the overall balance of play, fully deserved. In time, though, you have to wonder if this game might be remembered for something more significant than the result – namely the innings where one of GHK’s promising youngsters started to deliver on their potential and hopefully laid the platform for plenty more major contributions in future.

Hillend v Crow Road, 06/05/2007

Hillend v Crow Road
WDCU Div 5, Glenpark, 06/05/2007

Hillend won toss and elected to bat

Hillend
M Robertson c Mansell b Murray 59
Gerrard c Smillie b Curtis 6
Thomson b Curtis 17
Copeland b Smillie 3
* P Robertson b Curtis 11
Sharman c Mustoe b Curtis 1
# Baum c Smillie b Curtis 1
McDougall c Rixon b Ali 2
Peterson b Curtis 1
McPaul c Rixon b Curtis 0
Daisley not out 9
Extras 11
Total (all out, 26.4 ovs) 121

Curtis 13-1-53-7, Smillie 10-0-51-1, Murray 3-0-14-1,
Ali 0.4-0-2-1

Crow Road
S Alcock lbw b McDougall 10
A Mansell c Copeland b Peterson 35
G Smillie c Gerrard b Copeland 37
# A Mustoe lbw b Thomson 7
L Curtis b Copeland 4
U Ali c P Robertson b Thomson 4
* A Rixon not out 4
W Murray b Copeland 0
I Miller run out 0
J Pulley not out 0
Extras 21
Total (8 wkts, 40.2 ovs) 122
L McDermid did not bat

Sharman 6-0-20-0, McDougall 10-0-25-1, Peterson 5-1-21-1,
McPaul 6-1-17-0, Copeland 8-0-25-3, Thomson 5.2-2-9-2

Crow Road won by 2 wickets
Crow Road 25 pts, Hillend 5 pts

Match Report

Crow Road picked up their first win of the season in nerve-shredding circumstances, surviving a catastrophic batting collapse to edge out Hillend by 2 wickets at a showery Glenpark. After restricting the home side to 121, then cruising to 105-2, it was almost incomprehensible that Crow Road could come so close to defeat, but 30 minutes of brainless batting left the match on a knife edge before Rixon and debutant Jon Pulley finally scrambled the winning single.

The Hillend captain won the toss but somewhat bizarrely offered Rixon the choice of what to do. The home side were promptly inserted in drizzly conditions to face Smillie and Luke Curtis, also playing his first match for the club. Crow Road started uncertainly, with a number of chances going to ground just as they did last week - this is evidently something that needs to be worked on at training. Even when Smillie managed to hang on to a skier in the 5th over, it only brought to the crease a batsman who was clearly a class above any of his team-mates.

The score was racing along, with Smillie going for 27 off 11 balls at one point including a 6 that disappeared into a nearby back garden. Thankfully, Luke made a crucial breakthrough, forcing the No. 3 to play-on for 17, and this completely shifted the balance of power, to the extent that only 4 more boundaries were scored in the remainder of the innings.

Smillie tightened up his line and length and got due reward when he bowled the No.4, and then Luke exploded through the middle order, taking 5 more wickets for 12 runs. Some of these were to excellent balls, though a couple of the Hillend batsmen did themselves no favours by miscuing full tosses to the off-side fielders. In any case, Luke’s superb final analysis of 7-53 is right up there on the list of best-ever innings returns for a GHK bowler.

Towards the end there was also a promising spell from another GHK debutant, Will Murray, which included the wicket of the opener Robertson for a resilient, if slightly fortuitous, 59. Umar also got amongst the wickets, finishing off the innings courtesy of a skier to mid-on.

That left Crow Road chasing a target of 122 and, after a short rain delay, Steve Alcock and Manse strode out to open. Six overs were safely negotiated before the rain came down again, causing a further half-hour interruption, and by the time the match resumed the wicket was starting to resemble a bit of a bog. Manse still played with impressive fluency, hitting one particularly attractive cover drive, before he was caught out by the increasingly slow bounce and mishit a drive to a fielder for 35.

Smillie came in at No. 3 and played with calm assurance, while Steve-o’s somewhat stroke-free innings (10 off 64 balls) was just starting to get going when he was unfortunate to be judged LBW. Ally Mustoe (who had earlier kept very tidily) replaced him and helped guide the score to 105-2 in the 33rd over. Everything looked very comfortable – so comfortable in fact that some of the lower order batsmen decided to change out of their whites. Obviously they had no idea of what the GHK 3rds are capable of...

The collapse started when Smillie tried to up the scoring rate, but could only pick out a deepish cover to depart for a solid 37. It got worse when Ally received a highly dubious LBW decision, the day’s second example of Crow Road umpires doing their batsmen no favours at all. With the rainclouds gathering again, and the pitch having now deteriorated into a mudbath, Hillend were starting to waste time in the hope the match would be abandoned. The pressure was on Umar and Luke to reach the winning line as quickly as possible, but with 4 runs still required, they both got out to ugly swipes and Crow Road were in freefall.

Will came in at No. 8 and was swiftly dispatched for a duck, then Iain was run out as his increasingly agitated captain made a desparate attempt to get on strike. By now, the ‘Fall Of Wickets’ column was starting to resemble an advert for Directory Inquiries, with four having gone down on 118. Thankfully, the spinner dropped a bit short with the next ball, which Rixon spanked over square leg for 3, and after John saw out the rest of the over, Rixon struck the winning run – a drive straight to a fielder, who fortunately failed to manage a direct hit. This was a huge relief to the Crow Road team – not least the No. 11, Liam McDermid, a late call-up for the match, who was by all accounts reduced to a quivering wreck in the dressing room by the prospect of having to come in to bat.

In the end, then, 25 points in the bag, but there’s no doubt that this match highlighted some serious problems that the team must address. An unacceptable level of dropped catches for the second week running, self-destructive umpiring, complacency when we appeared to be cruising to victory and a complete lack of common sense once it started to get tight. Even though the game was won, we’ve got to learn from these mistakes, because if we make them next time, we might not get away with it.

Still, there’s plenty of positives to take as well – not least Luke’s magnificent 7 – and plenty to suggest we’re in for a great derby match at home to the Alps this Saturday.

Crow Road v Bees, 28/04/2007

Crow Road v Bees
WDCU Div 5, Old Anniesland, 28/04/2007

Crow Road won toss and elected to field

Bees
P Barbour b Khan 37
Omand c A Stewart b Khan 24
Judge b Allen 6
Williams c and b Rixon 21
# Campbell run out (Rixon/Allen) 2
Tung c Gibson b Allen 0
Henderson c Miller b Allen 42
J McCrossan st Mishra b Rixon 0
* G Barbour not out 23
C McCrossan c Mishra b Allen 0
Extras 22
Total (all out, 40.4 ovs) 177

Khan 15-2-50-2, A Stewart 1-0-10-0, Allen 12.4-0-54-4,
Rixon 8-1-31-2, Ali 4-0-31-0

Crow Road
D Allen b G Barbour 35
# A Mishra retired hurt 5
* A Rixon lbw b G Barbour 18
U Ali b G Barbour 26
A Khan b Williams 9
G Stewart b Judge 6
A Stewart b Williams 6
C Stewart b Williams 0
I Miller lbw b P Barbour 10
D Tate b Williams 1
M Gibson not out 7
Extras 40
Total (all out, 40.3 ovs) 163

Williams 15-5-54-4, Judge 12-1-39-1, Tung 4-1-10-0,
G Barbour 8-1-23-3, P Barbour 1.3-0-6-1

Bees won by 14 runs
Bees 25 pts, Crow Road 9 pts

Match Report

Crow Road started the 2007 season with a tense home defeat at the hands of Bees (Clydesdale’s 4s). There were some major selection problems in the lead-up to the match, with the final XI still being put together half an hour before the start. In the end, the team included no fewer than 7 GHK debutants including 5 (Martin, Duncan and the three Stewart brothers) who had never even played a proper game of cricket before. Bearing this in mind, it was a fantastic achievement to come within 15 runs of victory.

New Crow Road captain Rixon won the toss and gave the opponents first use of the old astroturf under cloudless skies. Ali Khan opened the bowling from one end and, after a quick burst from Ally Stewart failed to pay off, Dave Allen came on at the other. The Bees openers weren’t afraid to go aerial, with most of their attacking shots lobbing in the air in the vicinity of Crow Road fielders. Unfortunately it tended to be the less experienced players on the end of the chances, and after a number of drops, Bees found themselves at 63-0 in the 12th over.

Ali then made the crucial breakthroughs, bowling one opener and having the other smartly held by Ally Stewart at short cover. Dave soon got in on the act as well, bowling the No.3, combining with Rixon for a run-out and watching on with some relief as Martin managed to hold on to a juggled catch. Suddenly the visitors were 90-5 and Crow Road were very much back in the game.

Bees’ 6th wicket pair, Williams and the impressive 13-year-old starlet Henderson, started to rebuild and had moved the score on to 132 when Rixon produced a slightly controversial double-wicket-maiden. First, Williams offered a low return catch to the bowler, which after some discussion was accepted as a clean take. His replacement was then furious to be stumped by the ever-alert Ashutosh after grounding his back foot behind the wrong one of the 2 crease-lines marked out at one end of the astro. (Does anyone know why there’s 2 lines there?)

The Bees captain calmed things down and helped Henderson to take the score to 177 before Dave wrapped the innings up courtesy of two catches behind the wicket off successive deliveries (as this was a one-off appearance, who knows when the hat-trick ball will be!).

With a glaring lack of batting experience in the Crow Road line-up, the top order batsmen knew they had to take responsibility if the target of 178 was to be challenged. Unfortunately the chase got off to a disastrous start as Ashutosh top-edged the fifth ball of the innings into his nose and had to retire hurt to seek medical attention. This brought Rixon to the crease and he attempted to play the anchor role as both Dave and Extras kept the scoring rate ticking over well above the required rate.

The score had progressed to 70-0 in the 16th over when Dave was bowled for 35. Young Umar then strode to the crease and proceeded to smack the ball to all parts of the ground, charging to 26 with five 4s before he too was bowled, swinging across the line. This was a key wicket as, although the score was still a healthy-looking 113-2, Bees were now well and truly into Crow Road’s sizeable tail.

Ali hit a couple of 4s behind square before his bails were dislodged, and then Rixon’s 27-over vigil came to an end when umpire Allen adjudged him lbw. Coming in at 6, 7 and 8, Crow Road’s trio of Stewarts contributed 12 between them, with the family bragging rites probably going to Gordon, who followed up an energetic fielding display with a promising innings which included a neat pull for 4 to fine leg.

It ultimately fell to Iain and the newest of the newbies, Duncan and Martin, to somehow conjure the 38 runs required for victory. While Iain picked off the bad balls, Duncan resisted well, and even managed a nice push to square leg which he stood admiring for so long that what would have been a comfortable 2 ended up as a scrambled single! When he became the fourth victim for the persevering Williams, it was Martin’s turn to take to the crease for the first time and, obviously not feeling the pressure of the situation, he proceeded to unfurl a truly unique range of shots, including a jab over cover with no backlift and a shot that abandoned the traditional ploy of using the bat in favour of trying to kick the ball away through midwicket.

Together, Iain and Martin kept chipping away at the target, and an extraordinary win was beginning to look on the cards when, to Bees’ obvious relief, Iain was pinned leg-before with Crow Road still 14 runs short.

To have taken 9 points, and threatened to take all 25, from this match was a real credit to all the Crow Road players involved. Fielding a full side was good in itself, but the commitment shown by everyone in the field and at the crease has really set an example to the more experienced line-ups the 3rd XI are likely to field later in the season. Hopefully we’ll see more of the same attitude in Sunday’s match away to Hillend.