12th June - Valley End (Away)

[Naz]

A long drive away to Valley End and a few miles down the M25, when Wilf having spoken to the Valley End skipper realised we were all on the way to wrong ground! Eventually we got to the right ground only to find a green fluffy pitch with bare hard patches and small indents on a length. The batsmen’s reaction was summed up by O’neil (our keeper/batsmen) who started rehearsing his bowling action!

The game got under way to a quiet start and their openers looked cautious but solid. Kia and Dan got the odd ball to do a bit but we failed to get an early breakthrough. Dwar came on looked threatening. He clean bowled one of their openers and picked up 2 more wickets, one LBW and one caught behind courtesy of an excellent diving catch by O’neil. At the other end Dan was settling into his rhythm and regularly beating the bat with not a lot of luck. He deservedly got a wicket caught by Salim at mid off.

One of their batsmen despite playing and missing several times, hit a few boundaries which prompted spin from both ends. Javed as usual bowled tightly and at the other end Wilf bowled with intent and picked up 4 wickets for his efforts. Javed chipped in and we bowled out the opposition for 107.

O’neil and Doddi opened up for us, and O’neil got off to a brisk start cracking a couple of boundaries. However the indifference in the track was apparent. Doddi was dismissed for 3, caught in the slip/gully region. I came in and hit few boundaries. Then O’neil got a ball that kept a touch low and was a bit unlucky to be given out LBW for 11. Daman came in and was watchful. I fell for 12, caught at cover. At this point we were 36 for 3. Javed came in and decided to deal with pitch by calmly walking down the track. Daman looked solid and hit some good straight boundaries. Then Javed nicked one behind and went for 8. Simon PM went in and rotated the strike. Daman eventually fell for a valuable 21 with us inching towards victory at 70 odd for 5. Salim much the same as everyone else went in, hit a couple of nice boundaries and got out for 13. Dan went in and played sensibly with Simon PM. Then Simon PM was caught for 17 and Wilf went in at number 9. Dan remained calm and took us home with 7 not out.

Far from a convincing performance but a win nevertheless. We all chipped in with the bat but the nature of the track made it tough for any batsman to really settle in. Good performance in the field, well bowled to Dwar and Wilf. Sinjun Grammians next up - unfinished business from last year's loss and we'll have to be sharp against an unpredicatable opposition.