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.