Fives and Heronians Cricket Club

Scorecard

Westcliffe On Sea v Fives and Heronians Cricket Club Saturday 1st XI on Sat 24 Jul 2010 at 1.00 pm
Fives and Heronians Cricket Club Won by 18 Runs

Match report Fives & Heronians extended their unbeaten run to 6 games with their 3rd win on the bounce thanks to another thrilling finish in an 18 run win against Westcliff-on-Sea at Chalkwell Park on Saturday.

This time it was the bowlers who produced the exciting finale to this game as the last five Westcliff wickets were taken inside the final 6 overs of the match with Irfan Ahmed taking the 9th and 10th with balls 1 and 3 of the concluding over!!!

A rare moment at the beginning of the day saw Fives skipper Jonny Kay win the toss and he decided Fives would bat first.

On another hot sunny afternoon, the game started badly with Ed Buxton again out cheaply as he was caught behind for 8 but Rahul Bhome and Gary Edwards mixed early defence with later aggression to add a 2nd wicket stand of 85 in 17 overs.

Bhome took advantage of his unplanned promotion - regular number 3 Phil Apps having broken down on the A127 en route to the game - by hitting 43 off 46 balls (6x4, 2x6) but after his 6th four which saw one of many lost balls during the Fives innings and thus a prolonged break, concentration appeared lost when attempting another hit the next ball as hosts captain Tim Wade took his revenge.

There was then another unforeseen promotion with Ben Britton coming in at 4 with Irfan Ahmed apparently stuck in the loo…but this also worked in Fives favour as a further 65 runs were added within 12 overs until a double blow in the 33rd over saw last week’s batting heroes Britton and Edwards falling to consecutive balls from Matthew Nobes as Fives slipped to 165-4.

Britton went first as he whacked a full toss high to deep square leg and was brilliantly caught by a sprinting Simon Mather for 38 from 43 (6 fours, 1 six) then the very next ball Edwards was cleaned bowled by the leggie having reached his 3rd half century of the league season with another well-crafted 59 in 98 deliveries which contained 8 boundaries.

Glenn Jackson drove a straight six onto the A13 off Mather in his brief 11 but the bowler had the last laugh to leaves Fives at a precarious 178-5 after 36 overs.

However, a further 99 runs were to be added to the final total in just 11 overs with overseas star Ahmed smacking 70 of those in only 45 balls (his 50 taking just 32 deliveries) in partnership firstly with Terry Ballard (34 for the 6th wicket) and then the telling blow with Ali Zaidi (62 in 7 overs for the 7th wicket) with both batters making a brace of 13.

After 6 fours and 4 brutal sixes into the A13 and surrounding trees, Ahmed was caught in the deep as Kay declared Fives innings at 277-8 after 47 overs at exactly 4pm.

In reply, Westcliff lost opener Paul Abbott bowled by Ahmed for 1 with the score 15-1 but Fives had to wait another 11 overs for another breakthrough as Bhome got through the defences of Jon Waddingham at 61-2.

Aussie Michael Bryant and youngster Sam Weller then added 73 for the 3rd wicket as Bryant reached his 50 and Weller played some attractive drives in reaching 40 off 56 balls, however, moving into the final 20 overs at 123-2, the match appeared to be drifting towards a tame draw with Fives unable to make further breakthroughs and Westcliff seemingly without much intent to chase down the stiff 278 target.

Then came a moment of genius that saw the match turn into what was to be an exciting climax as Weller advanced to Bhome and drove nicely over mid-off but a certain four was amazingly plucked one-handed from the air by Ballard to send Weller back and leave the hosts 134-3.

Peter Barnes entered the fray and he and Bryant pushed the accelerator to add 69 in 9 overs with the later moving to a superb ton off 111 balls.

Kay mixed his bowlers around without much success as Fives made a number of fielding errors thanks to a rather bumpy outfield which helped Westcliff move towards the target.

However, as he has most of the season, Ahmed was to play a big part in helping Fives to victory as he returned to the attack to bowl Barnes for 32 off 39 as the game came to life and the target reduced to 75 from 49 balls.

Kay brought himself back on and struck 2nd ball with the key wicket by getting through Bryant’s castle as his chanceless knock was ended on a run-a-ball 122 having stroked 16 fours and 3 sixes.

The home side to their credit kept on going for the target despite Bryant’s wicket with 49 still needed off 34 but Ahmed and Kay turned the screw with impressive quick bowling as the fielding improved to see Jackson smartly run out Pavelling next over for 8 and then Kay had his opposite number Wade well caught by Jamie Porter at cover for 3.

With 30 now required off the final two overs, Kay bowled Nobes for 7 with the first ball of the penultimate over to leave Westcliff 248-8 and seemingly a draw on the cards.

Ahmed bowled the final over with still an unlikely two wickets required but with Westcliff’s batters still chasing a lost cause Ahmed proceeded to demolish Foster and Mather’s stumps with balls 1 and 3 to send the Fives players into delirium as the home side were all out for 259 to see the Paddock side to an 18 run victory.

Ahmed finished with figures of 4-53 off 9.3 overs, Kay a captain’s effort with 14-2-56-3 and Bhome 13-2-57-2 after 2 weeks absence on holiday.

Fives now move into 5th place in SNEL division one on 150 points – 43 clear of the relegation zone but now just 30 off 2nd place South Woodford with still 6 games remaining – the first of those sees 2nd bottom Chingford visit The Paddock side next Saturday.

Fives and Heronians Cricket Club Saturday 1st XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 8 wickets
0
277
        
Ed Buxton ct Paveling b Bryant 8
Gary Edwards b Nobes 59
Rahul Bhome b Wade 43
Ben Britton ct Mather b Nobes 38
Irfan Ahmed ct Bryant b Barnes 70
Glenn Jackson ct Barnes b Mather 11 1
Terry Ballard ct Nobes b Watts 13 1
Mohammed Ali Zaidi b Barnes 13
Phillip Apps Not Out  1
Jamie Porter   1
Jonny Kay  

Westcliffe On Sea Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Peter Barnes9.0253226.505.89
Michael Bryant7.0025125.003.57
Tim Wade7.0039139.005.57
Simon Mather12.0155155.004.58
Matthew Nobes8.0063231.507.88
Steve Watts4.0027127.006.75

Westcliffe On Sea Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 10 wickets
0
259 (0.0 overs)
     
Michael Bryant b Kay 122
Paul Abbott b Ahmed 1
Jon Waddingham b Bhome 12
Sam Weller ct Ballard b Bhome 40
Peter Barnes b Ahmed 32
Duncan Paveling + run out (Jackson) 8
Steve Watts Not Out  12
Tim Wade * ct Porter b Kay 3
Matthew Nobes b Kay 7
Neil Foster b Ahmed 2
Simon Mather b Ahmed 0

Fives and Heronians Cricket Club Saturday 1st XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Jamie Porter8.006700.008.38
Irfan Ahmed9.3053413.255.58
Jonny Kay14.0256318.674.00
Rahul Bhome13.0257228.504.38
Mohammed Ali Zaidi3.002000.006.67

  • Umpire :
    Hicks & Orrock
  • Scorer :
    Dave Buxton