28 July 2007 St Lukes A v Old Isleworth & Heston B (League) – Away
St Lukes:
James Somers (Capt)
Richard Bent (w/k)
Andy McArthur
Gothum Kandavelu
Michael Krishna
Mitsi Patel
Shoukat Rahman
Wasif Zamir
Gopi Desai
Evan Huyerman
Bob Gaddes
Team near the top (lost only one) plays team near the bottom (only won one) so outcome entirely predictable. Not quite.
The skipper lost the toss (so what’s new) and St Lukes were put in on a green wicket with a few patches that suggested there might be some uneven bounce. James (30) and Richard (25) started patiently, giving the bowling a good seeing to. 40 runs of the first 10 overs gave some symmetry. This was taken to 56 before James was out caught (there was to be a lot of that) by an excellent running catch taken just inside the long on boundary. This started a complete collapse of St Lukes top order as batsmen came and went, adding only another 23 runs for the loss of 6 wickets. Shoukat (18) and Wasif (17) added some (limited) respectability with a stand of 23 but then the tail fell away leaving St Lukes all out for only 116 of some 33 overs.
The batting lacked patience and was naïve at times but credit OI&H for bowling straight keeping the pressure on and taking the catches (no less than 8).
Since tea was not ready, OI&H had a tricky pre-tea period to navigate with St Lukes keen to make an early breakthrough. This came in the first over as Bob had the opener given out LBW to a ball swinging in – lot of thought by the umpire (well the batsman was his brother). More was to follow as his replacement (would this be a ‘tea watchman’ rather than a ‘night watchman’?) was caught by Wasif, again off Bob (8-2 and a break for tea to come). After tea Hearsum and P Hirst batted carefully but kept the score ticking along. The match was definitely swinging OI&H’s way as the score moved to 64 when Hirst had a swing at Mitsi only to be caught in the deep by Bob. Another two quick wickets – another for Mitsi and one for Evan – reduced OI&H to 67-5 and the match was back in the balance. The match stayed in the balance as OI&H lost further wickets to take them to 102-8. But that was St Lukes’ last success as the batsmen took the score on to 120, the winning runs coming in a flurry of boundaries. Some success for the bowlers: Mitsi (20-3), Evan (42-3) and Bob (18-2) but conceding 31 extras (22 in wides) in such a modest score was poor.
Man of the match – (author’s choice) the whole of the OI&H team, played to their strengths, set attaching fields and took their catches.
- (Captains pick) Bob – got the early breakthrough to keep St Lukes in the match.