1 September 2007 St Lukes A v Old Manhattans (Friendly 40 overs)) Home
St Lukes:
Hemant Joneja (Capt)
Gopi Desai
John Breedon
David Houghton
Mitsi Patel (w/k part)
Wasif Zamir
Shoukat Rahman
Roy Yatali (w/k part)
Saqib Rahman
Nick Radivan
Bob Gaddes
On another bright and sunny afternoon (you would almost
think it was summer) Hemant led the A team out against new opponents in Old
Manhattans (OMCC). The skipper won the
toss and decided to bat perhaps influenced by OMCC still waiting for two of
their players to arrive (these early starts are a curse). Gopi, in an unaccustomed
role as opener, and Jon started carefully and it was some time before runs
overtook overs.
An opening stand of 22 was ended when Gopi (8)
misjudged an incutter from Cave. David (2) took the score along to 37 before
he, John (26 4x4 and 1x6) and then Wasif (not
troubling the scorer) were out in quick succession to leave St Lukes on
59-4. Not for the first time this season
Mitsi and Shoukat came together to restore a bit of order. Together they added 63 runs in only 10 overs both taking a liking to the short leg-side boundary
before Mitsi (52 9x4, 1x6) was controversially out caught at deep square
leg. Mitsi was sure the fielder had
stepped over the line but the catch was called good by the umpire. Shoukat (26) took
the score along to 134 before Hemant (31) marshalled a contribution from the
tail -
After a surprisingly good tea (after which Shoukat had to depart not because of the tea he was going anyway), OMCC took up the run chase. They starting brightly as the openers made steady progress against Bob and Hemant. Both Mansoor (36) and McCarthy (20) looked comfortable until Gopi induced the former to drive straight to Hemant and then bowled the latter as well as the new batsman (to finish with 22-3). After that breakthrough, wickets fell regularly as the bowling was shared around. Two wickets each for Saqib (17-2) he does look a lot like Uncle Shoukat in his bowling action and Wasif (13-2) took out the middle order and David (6-2) cleaned up the tail with a mixture of guile and confusion. OMCC were all out for 134 in 36.1 overs leaving St Lukes the victors by 42 runs.
Man of the match Mitsi for a stylish half century holding the innings together.