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MDCC 2009 MATCH REPORTS |
Webed - Will be updated soon - sorry - see Message Board for individual match reports!!
MDAFS win by 18 runs
Another outstanding display with the bat by Mangesh Akerkar, inspirational fielding by the skipper, Tom Wheeler; and, relentless pressure bowling at the death by Raja Sampath saw MDAFS gloriously lift the delayed Cow Corner 20/20 2008 Trophy.
Again MDAFS lost early wickets as Asif (1) and Raja (2) both depart to Durling causing the skipper's Plan B to be employed and so Paul Hubbard strides out to the middle to steady the ship and join the in-form Mangesh, who had been promoted to open after his heroics in the semi-final. The ship is more than steadied as the pair put on a brisk stand of 49 runs before OMH cuts Peachey to Sheik at point for 17. MDAFS 63-3 after 11 overs and handily placed to post a challenging total well over the ton. With a succession of batsmen to accompany him (Ankeet 6 - run out in spectacular fashion by a Mathers-Wilson combo- Regan 10, Siva 5, Tom 6, and Rajnish 3 not) Mangesh passes his second half-century of the day, and just when he seemed to be tiring, Maggy launches a final savage assault on Mathers, with 14 runs coming of the last over to see us up to 127. Possibly 10 runs or so below where we would have liked but a challenging total which Marchmont would have to bat well to chase down over 20 overs given the quality of the MDAFS attack. Mangesh finishing on 66 not out to take his tally of runs to 136 for the day.
And bat well the openers Aaron Sardesai and Sam Peachey did - although a skier by Peachey clipped down to fine leg was spilled early on by the normally safe as bricks and mortar Melvyn. With Marchmont advancing at over 6 runs an over, and Sardesai looking in ominous form, wickets were required to slow down Marchmont. These arrived first courtesy of a sharp piece of work to run-out the dangerous Peachey for 17. Ankeet Vora bowled tidly to apply the brakes, bowling Stevie Mathers, and then Raj Sampath tore through the MCC middle order dismissing Clayton caught by Regan for 9 and Wilson caught by a flying skipper for 12. In between these wickets Tom claimed the prize Marchmont wicket of Sardesai for 30, with another catch by Regan. Now the game had decidedly turned in MDAFS favour and with another smart piece of fielding by Tom saw Reid run out for a duck, and Melvyn returning to trap ex-Roseburn CC McConnachie LBW for 5, then there was only likely to be one winner from this point as Raja Sampath closed out the game with another wicket of Sheikh for 6.
On paper a comfortable 18 run victory but at the half way point (61 off 10) Marchmont were a real threat. Not for the first time, MDAFS tight, pressure-inducing bowling allied to good fielding had seen a chasing side succumb under stress. Well played Marchmont, and particularly for their semi-final victory over Accies, but the plaudits lay with Tom Wheeler's side and with Mangesh Akerkar for his brilliance with the bat - chaired off the pitch at the end by his delirous team-mates. Glory glory to the Balti Army.
Scorecard details in attached spreadsheet: 2008 Cow Corner Final Scorecard
Mangesh on route to 66 not out in the Final
Raja Sampath in full flow
And Maggy, the Man of the Finals, is carried off by his jubiliant team-mates
A proud skipper with the Cow Corner trophy
A great team effort across the CC 20/20 campaign is rewarded with silverware
MDAFS win by 13 runs
MDCC 111-5 off 20 overs. Mangesh Akerkar 70, Jean-Pierre Cruz-Rocha 19 not out. Drummond-Trinity 98 for 6 off 20 overs : J Nasir 36, S Pollitt 19; Mangesh Akerkar 4-1-10-2, Jean-Pierre Cruz-Rocha 4-1-14-2, Melv Clench 4-0-10-1, Rajnish Singh 3-0-23-1
Scorecard details in attached spreadsheet: Cow Corner 2008 Semi-Final Scorecard
Maggy bowling versus Drummond Trinity
MDAFS lost by 15 runs
Courtesy of Mr Ellis' postings on ESCA and on the Holy Cross blog at http://holycrosscricket.blogspot.com/
"Holy Cross 189/6 (50 overs)
(Pickering 58, E.C. Smith 42, C. Ellis 35*, C. A. Smith 25)
M. Asif 2/13
M. Clench 2/20
MDAFS: 174ao (45.2 overs)
(Jigar Patel 45, Mohammed Asif 35, Raj Devangere 27, Paul Hubbard 22)
Bonfield 10 overs, 4/24
Ellis 7.2 overs, 2/29
Worsnop 7 overs, 2/35
Astley 8 overs, 2/34
Super game of cricket-with a good atmosphere created by the Rugby League supporters. Game interrupted for about 40 mins when some local youths stole 2 of the stumps while we were having drinks ( 1 stump retrieved by chasers)."
MDAFS won by 39 runs
MDAFS1 beat Edinburgh Academicals by 39 runs at a lively Newfield on Sunday.
Having limped to 104 ao off 44 overs (JP a fine 26 not, Belly a marathon 18,
Luke 13 and Raj D 11) having lost early wickets, MDAFS sensed they had given
themselves an outside chance if we bowled really well and took early wickets.
That indeed was the case with Raj Sampath and Melv Clench were in sensational
form with the ball as the Accies top and middle order was routed - Raj 4 wkts
and Melv 3. JP kept the pressure on with 2 wickets plus a wicket for Tall Raj.
A fantastic victory given our poor batting performance.
MDAFS 104 ao off 44.4 overs.
J-P Cruz Rocha 26 not, I Shiels 18, L Hayes 13. A Carmichael 4-11, K Woodmansey
4-25.
Edinburgh Academicals 65 ao off 34.4 overs.
A Moffat 15, P Taylor 11. M Clench 3-12, Raj Sampath 4-28.
MDAFS lost by 46 runs
1s came down to earth with a bump after last week's excellent victory at Newfield with a 46 run defeat to a Boroughmuir side featuring the ex-MDAFS duo of Sumanth Eadala and Ram Boyapati.
With the forecast looking dodgy, Boroughmuir were sent into bat on winning the toss and, despite a mini-collapse mid-innings (although nothing on what was to follow...) made relatively serene progress to 187 for 9 off their 50 overs, with skipper McGrath making a classy 45, opener Charlie Buchan 34 and Nigel Binnie an obdurate 22 not out. 25 or so runs above par on a slowish but true pitch and an outfield slowed by a combination of rain and wet grass clippings. Wickets were shared around, with everyone who bowled getting some reward - Wheeler 3-35, Clench 2-31, and a wicket each for Sampath, Davanagere, Cruz Rocha and Banks.
At 82 for 1 in the 25th and with Hubbard (42) and Hayes (33) starting to get on top of the bowling, the home side were narrow favourites, but tight bowling from man of the match McGrath (4-21) and Docherty (3-27) pushed the run rate up and total collapse was the outcome, including the loss of 5 wickets for 9 at one stage and an eventual capitulation to 141 all out with five overs still remaining. Regan Black (13) and Siva Jayahanthan (12) were the only two other batsmen to reach double figures.
A tough result to take and plenty of food for thought for captain and players. Congratulations though to Boroughmuir for a deserved win, earned through exerting the sort of second innings pressure that MDAFS have done to plenty of other sides in the past. Good to see Sumi and Ram again and looking forward to locking horns again later in the season.
MDAFS won by 2 wickets - reporting by web-ed and Tom Wheeler
Carlton 2 142 ao 47.1 overs - Ben Duerden 39; Melv Clench 2-28, Raj Sampath 2-20, Tom Wheeler 2-22, Jean-Pierre Cruz-Rocha 2-25.
Murrayfield-DAFS 143-8 49.4 overs - Mohammed Asif 28, Tom Wheeler 27 not out, Raj Davanagere 25, Raja Sampath 15 not; Stevie Elder 3 wkts.
MDAFS staring down the barrel at 57-6 and then 102-8 but a fine skippers innings from Tom at no.10, ably supported by Raja, saw us home - just! Squeaky bum time indeed... partic for Melv padded up at no.11
Supplementary reporting by Tom: Some excellent photos of the 1s game on Carlton's website - look out in particular for a faultless forward defensive pose from Mr Belly. None shall pass. (They seem to have missed the winning runs being scored though... )
Scorecard from 1s game also on Carlton's website, which saves me a job at least:
http://www.carltoncc.co.uk/Scorecards/CA....AFS_23MAY09.pdf
Couldn't resist a smile at one aspect of Carlton's otherwise excellent website - their match summaries are well written and everything, but they do tend to be a little bit one-eyed - not exactly teeming with detail about the MDAFS performance...
"The third senior match on Saturday had no such happy ending as Carlton Twos lost a game they really should have won at home to Murrayfield DAFS. Batting first, Ben Duerden, Craig Marshall and Rob Thornton all got starts and were looking good before getting themselves out as the home side limped to 142 all out. However, a fiery start for Rob Thornton saw him pick up two wickets. A typically accurate spell from Steven Elder brought him three wickets and the visitors were reeling at 7 down and a long way to go. However, Carlton took their foot off the gas and the visitors eventually reached the target with two balls to spare."
That pretty much covers it then... Tom.
MDAFS2 lost by 56 runs
Musselburgh CC Posted 239/9
(Top scorers K.Dilly-66,R.Tufail -39)
Bowling MDAFS 2's
M.Rafic 10-3-26-2
R.Singh 10-1-30-3
A.Talreja 9-1-48-3
H.Batwell 4-0-23-0
C.Banks 4-1-32-1
A.Vora 9-0-53-0
S.Sivasamy 4-0-22-0
Catches :
C.West 2
S Sivasamy 2
R.Singh 1
Batting MDAFS 2
Scored 184/10 in 46 overs
Lost by 56 runs
C.West 5
A.Vora 63 (8 fours)
Siva J 8 (2 fours)
S.Sivasamy 21 (3 fours)
Sutha 5 (1 four)
C.Banks 36 (7 fours)
Kamath 0
A.Talreja 5 (1 four)
M.Rafic 18 (1 six ,2 fours)
H.Batwell 0 Not out
R.Singh 6 (1 six)
Match abandoned
Match abandoned due to rain barely 2 overs into the match.
MDAFS2 won by 69 runs
Sunday saw MDAFS2 taking on GRANGE 3's at Goldenacre. On a very good and hard pitch on a lovely Sunday MDAFS won the toss and batted first.
Anks and Westy opened, but Westy sprained his ankle while running for a two’er. Ian Shiels replaced him and got into his usual watchful self. Anks at the other end was playing some good but mostly risky shots and scored 27 (four 4’s) before mistiming one back to the bowler. Siva joined Shielsy at 41/1 in the 12th over and both played some good watchful cricket to take the score to 100 off 28 overs before Siva skied one to midon for a well made 26 (five 4’s) . Sutha joined Shielsy both upped the tempo a bit before Shielsy was caught for a very good 40 (three 4’s). The score was 150 in the 38th over. Abdul Reyaz and Sutha then both cut loose and quickly accelerated to 205 in the 46th over before Sutha was bowled for 52 (five 4’s and one 6). Reyaz and Rafic continued the onslaught and took the score to 244 in the 50th over before Rafic was caught for 15 (one 4 and one 6). Reyaz was run out off the last ball of the innings for a very quick but well made 56 (six 4’s and one 6). MDAFS ended on 244/6 off 50 overs. Adam, Kamath and Rajnish classified as DNB.
The Grange innings started with two quality batsmen facing Rafic and Rajnish. The score was at 34/0 after 10 when Adam came in to bowl and got a (what looked like a plumb) lbw on the 4th ball of this first over. The second over from Adam saw a fantastic low diving catch from Sunny at gully to send the other opener back. And the very next over, saw the batsmen attempting a quick single to Sutha at point, but alas, Sutha’s perfect throw sent batsmen 3 as run out with Grange reeling at 37/3 off 13. Some tight bowling saw Grange making 57/3 off 21 overs before Adam got another one lbw. Kamath then came on the other end and got the batsmen to sky a catch to square leg off the very first ball of his spell. Kamath then bowled a good line and length and saw a great catch behind the stumps from Westy. kamath then bowled the next one in for a duck, leaving Grange reeling at 90/7 off 34. The next two batsmen settled in to score some and took the score to 122 when Kamath pouched one at midwicket of Rajnish Singh and then Rajnish bowled their top scorer. The last wicket however wagged a bit with 70 scored off the last 10. Grange ended at 175/9 in their 50 with a fantastic all round win for MDAFS2 by 69 runs. A good all round performance from the team.
MDAFS2 lost by 5 wickets
After the high scoring game of last week, the two’s were brought down by some poor batting. Having won the toss, MDAFS opted to bat first (to the surprise of opposition captain Richard Sorrell) on a pitch which was as soft as a refrigerated cake. The opposition strategy of starting with spinners on both ends took the top order by surprise. Anks played a very stupid shot in the very first over back to the bowler. Jaya was found lbw for 1. Chris West played as his watchful self before a nick was taken well by the keeper for 7. Danny stayed for some shots but then gave one straight to Point for 11. Some poor shot selection saw the middle order collapse with Siva bowled for 2, Sutha bowled for 2, Reyaz lbw for 6 and Kamath bowled for 0. Heath and Adam took the score beyond the 44 mark (which I believe is the lowest total for MDAFS) before Heath got a screamer of the pitch and clipped the top of his off stump for 3. Rajnish played two good shots before getting caught at point of 12 which was the highest score in the team. Adam was not out for 9. The team folded for 62.
The bowling started with some very good pressure applied from both ends by Rajnish and Adam. The opposition were in a spot of bother at 17 for 4 when Rajnish took two wickets of consecutive balls. Another wicket there and it could have been an open game. However the two batsmen watched the ball and waited for the loose balls (which were few) to work around. In the end the scoreline was too small to defend, and Dunnikier won by 5 wickets.
The bowling and fielding performance of MDAFS however was better compared to the previous games and that is a positive sign. The batting is what did us in this weekend.
Ankeet V: ct 2
Chris W: ct 7
Siva J : lbw 1
Danny A: ct 11
Sivaram S: bw 2
Sutha R: bw 2
Abdul R: lbw 6
Heath B: bw 3
Raghavendra K: bw 0
Adam S: not out 9
Rajnish Singh: ct 12
Mr. Extras: 7
Total: 62/10 off 33.5 overs.
3 wickets for J Braid, 3 for Richard Sorrell, 2 for C Drysdale, 1 each for B Cutter and G Skene.
Bowling analysis for MDAFS2:
Rajnish S. 10 – 4 – 15 – 3
Adam S. 9.4 – 3 – 20 – 2
Ankeet V. 4 – 1 – 7 – 0
R Kamath 4 – 0 – 16 – 0
Heath B 1 – 0 – 1 – 0
Sutha R 1 – 0 – 2 – 0
MDAFS3 won by 55 runs - report by Andy Lacey.
MDAFS3 202 all out (35 overs)
Carlton 3s 147 all out (42.4 overs)
MDAFS Batting:
Darryn Kidd 82
Chris Donaldson 3
Andrew Lacey 4
Norman Baikie 9
Abdul Reyaz 55
Lindsay Towns 10
David Clifford 1
Russell Berretta 21*
Joe Gordon 0
Stuart Coull 0
Henry Collins 0
MDAFS Bowling:
David Clifford 9-4-18-1
Stuart Coull 8-1-40-1
Joe Gordon 4-0-24-0
Henry Collins 9-1-26-1
Norman Baikie 9-1-18-5
Abdul Reyaz 3-1-8-1
Catches:
Baikie 1
Reyaz 1
Towns 1
Good start to season.
Match Abandoned
Rain saw a soggy end to a trip to the East Neuk of Fife.
MDAFS3 won by 73 runs - report by Andy Lacey
MDAFS3 143 all out (44.4 overs)
Falkland 3s 60 all out (17.1 overs)
MDAFS Batting:
Marcus Lyall 14
Russell Beretta 10
Darryn Kidd 10
Andrew Lacey 0
Lindsay Towns 17
Chris Donaldson 22
Stuart Coull 10
Dale Simpson 3
Paul Leonard 7
Joe Gordon 19*
Henry Collins 2
with top score being Mr extras 29.
MDAFS3 Bowling:
Joe Gordon 6-2-14-3
Stuart Coull 7-0-32-5
Henry Collins 3-1-9-1
Dale Simpson 1.1-0-1-1
Catches:
Donaldson 1
Beretta 1
Gordon 1
Two from two. Great performance by all. Middle & lower order batted very sensibly to post a defendable total. The bowling performance was simply superb by all.
MDAFS3 won by 30 runs - report by Andy Lacey
Mufs 162 for 9 off 45 overs
Holy Cross 132 ao off 37.4
Phil Hawkins 6
Vimal D'Souza 4
Darryn Kidd 30
Chris Banks 28
Lindsay Towns 12
Andy Lacey 1
David Clifford 2
Stuart Coull 17
Joe Gordon 0
Dale Simpson 10*
Henry Collin 10 *
Extras 42
Coull 6-1-20-1
Clifford 6-0-29-1
Collin 7-0-27-1
Gordon 8-2-15-2
Banks 5-2-4-1
Simpson 5-0-32-3
Catches
Clifford, Hawkins, Towns, D'Souza, Banks, Simpson 1
1 run out
3 from 3. Lets keep this habit going. Great team effort with us being made to work in the middle part of both innings.
Cheers,
Andrew
3 from 3. Lets keep this up.
MDAFS4 lost by 139 runs
After the trials and tribulations of selection, eligibility, de-selection, begging and bribing with the offer of beer, 9 muffers finally took to the field at Inverleith Park to face Dummond Trinity 2s. Losing the toss inevitably meant MDCC 4s were sent into the field shorthanded with the hope that Adeel would finish his school game in double quick time and Graham Watson’s work detention would finish sooner rather than later.
The moving of the astro-wicket at IVP meant the hill came into play and coming in down the slope proved difficult for Broon sending the first ball high and wide over the batsman. Harmy eat your heart out. Finding the wicket slipping on the delivery stride was also causing problems but so was the odd delivery passing the outside of offstump, both from Broon and Gurjeet, operating from the bowling green end. However after a chance was put down off Cyclops’ bowling the openers had moved onto 41 without loss from the first 10. Gurjeet finished his allowed 6-over spell and it was a change that bore fruit as the Dominator took a wicket in his first over with Webster skying one to Adeel at mid-on. Young Raza had arrived in the 11th over, which meant a wait until the 23rd over before he could bowl. In that time the big hitting Pollitt had moved the score onto 119, helped by the steady knock of Hewitt, who would go on to get 68 including 40 in singles.
Using the bowling restrictions wisely Adeel bowled 2 overs of spin and was then replaced by Piggott, allowing him to miss only 2 overs before being allowed back on. AP did remove Pollitt by bowling him behind his legs for 43, meaning the score was 154-2 from 29. Adeel returned to good affect to take 4 wickets to finish with 4-32, including 2 in 2, from his 7 overs. Kris Parker has also wheeled away from the other end to take the wicket of Baig, stumped by the quick work of Irfan. However despite the late rattle of wickets the early mid-innings runs carried Drummond Trinity to 216-7 off their allotted 40. Too many leg side balls meant setting a field, with reduced numbers, was difficult and but for KP’s and Adeel’s sharp ground work its have been a higher total.
The less said about the reply the better but a good foundation was set by Irfan and Rob opening taking up 14 overs before Rob fell LBW to Morrow, which was the first of his 3 wickets. Irfan followed for 17 a couple of overs later. Owen scored a fluent 15 before being one of 7 wickets taken through catches compared to only one for DT !!! Accurate bowling tightened the screw and loose shots gave Pollitt 4 wickets, including 2 c&b. Andy provided a moment of relief with a wonderfully struck 4 but Adeel was last man out for 15 from 35 overs, with the score having limped to only 77. Graham Watson eventually had arrived but too late to be allowed to bat and so the 9 wicket to fall were all DT needed to complete a 139 run victory.
Mufs took away 6 points and some sun / windburn and also a harsh lesson in sensible batting. Thanks must be given though to AP and KP for stepping in very late in the day and both were rewarded with wickets. Must bat better !!!
Match Abandoned
Match Abandoned with MDAFS 49-2 off 15 overs due to persistent rain.
MDAFS4 won by 6 wickets - report by Pickles...
The 4's had it all poise, class and most importantly a VICTORY!!
Saturday's performance at the Meadows was exceptional: to elaborate further I shall reminisce on some of the match highlights:
1) The Cameron hat-trick - What more can be said.....3 balls ....3 wickets....I challenge the 1's, 2's and 3's to do better!!!!! :P
2) The assisted Wilkie run out - first of all this is not a lie, Don did in fact get a run out, and it was due to a cool head and a fantastically accurate throw! Though, credit must also go to the fielding of Chris Richardson who made a clever flick to Don, facilitating the run out!
3) The Watson near fifty - A tremendous display with the bat, including a straight drive for four anyone would be jealous of!
4) Rob aka. Superman Slip - Rob was pretty much a 'ball magnet' (no sick pun intended - MELV, TOM, HUBBARD etc......) holding two exceptional catches and preventing numerous run opportunities!
It must be said that these are but a few dramatic scenes from an all-round suberb team effort!
Further praise must go to:
Vamshi Sunki
Anand Ventatesh
Gurjeet Singh
and Irfan Mahmud for fantastic bowling performances..........and I must commend
Owen for his suppotive opening partnership with Graham that secured an important
and positive start so needed!!!
I am immensely proud of all!
xxx
CB
MDAFS4 won by 6 wickets
Kismet 2 scored 159 for 8 off 40 overs with Broon, Mahmud and Anand with 2 wickets each. MDAFS reached their target in 35.5 overs with Anand a magnificent 96 not out and Neil Yelland also scoring 23.
MDAFS lost by 9 wickets
Bit of a repeat of last years exit without the damage to adjacent greenhouses as MDAFS exit the Masterton at the hands of Penicuik again. MDAFS limped to 75, losing our last wicket in the last over, but the loss of early wickets had fatally holed us. An early wicket of Willie Morton for Melv was MDAFS only cheer with the ball as Penicuik won with 6 overs to spare.
MDAFS won by 19 runs
MDAFS having won the toss elected to bat in glorious sunshine. Paul Hubs and Asif M. opening the batting with a slow, cautious but steady start. Hubs scored 20 (off 31 balls) before he was run out (I believe due to Asif’s non-existent calling!!!). Asif however looked in great nick scoring 42 off 36 balls with 5 4’s and a huge six (which disappeared into Murrayfield stadium (we were playing on the artificial) and the ball never to be seen). Luke steadied the innings with 11 off 15 balls before Vimal arrived on the scene to show some fireworks. With some lovely strikes of the ball VImal scored 42 off only 24 balls including 3 4’s and 3 6’s. the first six was a pleasure to watch as it went sailing over the deep midwicket boundary. Had it been hit straighter, that would have definitely landed in the river if not crossed it!!. The other 6 landed into the murrayfield stadium. (SW had to go through 3 balls to finish their 20 overs!!) in between Jigar was run out for duck by a direct hit from the long-on boundary. Sutha then joined the party with a quickfire 27 off 14 balls before being run out. Tall Raj and Adam Scott played the last few balls with MDAFS ending on 156/6. Anks, Raj Singh and Mel Clench finished as DNB. (and thanks to Mel for the excellent scoring with the balls faced also being tracked)
The SW innings started with Raj Singh and Mel Clench opening the bowling with both openers playing some good strokes. Adam Scott and Anks were the first and second change bowlers, however the opening batsmen were well set at 66/0 off 9 overs before Anks bowled Batsman 1 (Eddie Edwards) at 68/1. Few catches dropped in between not helping; it took Adams outside the off stump line for Batsman 3 to give a straight catch at point to Anks. A caught and bowled to Adam made two quick wickets with SW at 97/3 off 13 overs. Batsman 1 was however looking solid and hitting all round the park. It required a one handed blinder from Anks (with the ball being ‘lost’ in the stadium’s background) at long off to dismiss him. Batsman 1 scored 71 and the score read 125/4 off 17. Tall Raj then bowled some quick stuff in fading light and took 2 wickets with SW ending up on 137/7 off 20.
A good win for MDAFS. We play the Casuals CC in the second round.
Paul Hubbard run out 20
Asif Mohammed Ct. 42
Luke Hayes bowled11
Vimal D’Souza lbw 42
Jigar Patel run out 0
Sutha Rangaswamy run out 27
Raj D (Tall Raj) 3 not out
Adam Scott 1 not out
Ankeet Vora, Rajnish Singh, Mel Clench DNB
Extras 10
Total 156/6
Bowling Analysis:
Rajnish Singh 4 – 0 – 23 - 1
Mel Clench 4 – 0 – 20 – 1
Adam Scott 4 – 0 – 35 – 2
Ankeet Vora 4 – 0 – 30 – 1
Raj D 4 – 0 – 22 - 2
Cheers to all for a good win.
Anks
MDAFS win by 67 runs
A MDAFS XIII travelled to Westquarter for the first outdoor action of the year and recorded a comfortable win in a friendly match. Batting first on a soft and slow early season wicket, MDAFS batsman took a while to adjust from the harder indoor surface used during winter training onto the usual more pudding-like outdoor surface. Regan Black after hitting an impressive straight six, was the first to fall, bowled by Chadha for 11. Chris Banks found timing the ball difficult and fell to a top edge for 4, possibly his concentration worn-out by an astonishing 17 ball over by WRCC youngster Peter Hamilton, who discovered the umpiring spaceman, Asif, administering a very harsh line on leg-side wides. A tactical replacement of umpire was swiftly executed. The Belly was next to go for 16, wildly hitting across the line to Colin Fox, who was proving to be hard to get away on the slow wicket. Mangesh Akerkar started slowly as the Westquarter slow bowlers kept MDAFS scoring rate down, but although Maggy lost regular partners (Sutha 5, Asif 7, JP 3, Scotty 0, and Tall Raja with 5), his scoring rate accelerated to see MDAFS to a pretty competitive total given the conditions of 140 for 8 from 40 overs, Maggy unbeated with 54 including 3 fours.
Westquarter started solidly against MDAFS attack of Clench and Scott, until Adam claims the breakthrough with a sharp CnB to dismiss Sajid for 8. Debutant Vinod runs himself out next ball having advanced too far down the wicket and finding Raja's throw too sharp - good work too with the gloves by Charlotte. This brought the dangerous Mumtaz to the crease who kept Westquarter up with the rate but an accurate MDAFS attack saw him lose partners regularly as Melv claims the wicket of the other opener, Aslam for 7, and Chadha for 1, before debutants Raja and Joe Gordon are brought into the attack and claim a wicket apiece. Finally skipper Tom and JP enter the attack and finish off the home side with two wickets each - Mumtaz falling to Tom for 31 - to claim a 67 run victory; JP shamefully bowling a youngster first ball to end the match (we called him back for a bit of end-match practice for him and his fellow youngster). MDAFS bowling figures: M Clench 5-0-16-2, A Scott 5-0-12-1, Raja 5-0-15-1, J Gordon 5-0-18-1, T Wheeler 3.1-0-8-2, JP Cruz-Rocha 3-1-4-2. Catches: Regan 2, Melv, Joe, JP, Raja, Sutha 1 each. A good warm-up game played in good spirit and very useful to get the winter nets out of the system.
MDAFS 1/2s win by 5 wickets and MDAFS 3/4s lose by 1 wicket
MDAFS 1/2s and 3/4s were in action in a double header pre-season friendly versus Corstorphine CC at Roseburn Park - 1/2s notching up a useful 5 wicket win chasing 99 (MDAFS batting highlights: Paul Hubbard 23 ret, Mangesh 27; bowling: Mel Clench 7-2-9-2, Raj D (Tall Raj) 7-4-9-0, Raja S (Thin Raj) 5.4-3-7-1, Phil Rogers 6-1-17-2, Adam Scott 7-1-14-3, J P Rocha Cruz 7-0-31-2).
However a 1 wicket loss for 3s/4s having posted 120ao in a 12 batsmen-a-side game. Batting highlights: Chris West 20, Chris Banks 27, David Clifford 19, Neil Yelland 12*, Extras 36!; Bowling: Neil Yelland 4-1-13-2, David Clifford 5-0-19-0, Iain Martin 5-2-3-1, Joe Gordon 5-0-17-1, Stuart Coull 7.5-0-35-3, Heath Batwell 6-0-31-3.
MDAFS (98 for 5) beat Currie & Balerno (63 for 9) by 35 runs
A comfortable victory in the end for a strong MDAFS side in an 18 overs a side game against Currie and Balerno on the Roseburn grass. MDCC won the toss and batted, and Luke Hayes (26 retired) and the returning Vimal d'Souza (7) got us off to a flyer, putting on 34 for the first wicket. Wickets fell at regular intervals after that, with only Sutha Rangaswamy (26 retired) reaching double figures, and the skipper's near-total inability to lay bat on ball in the final overs restricted us to a slightly disappointing but competitive 98 for 5 off our 18 overs. Skipper Dan Barry was the outstanding performer for C&B, with a direct hit to run out Phil Hawkins (Siva may see this as natural justice after Phil sold him down the river on Saturday...) and figures of 2-14 from his 3 overs.
Openers Davanagere and Clench put pressure on the C&B batsmen straight away, and only some slapstick efforts in the field off successive balls (mea culpa) denied Raj a well deserved wicket or two. Melv made the breakthrough in his second over, dismissing Woodcock for 3 as Luke showed the rest of us how to take a catch. Wickets tumbled after that, with Messrs Belly, Spaceman and Skipper taking two each and Kamath one. Then Phil Hawkins came on for the final over and took his first wicket for the club, using his considerable flight and guile to deceive Dan Barrie, again C&B's outstanding performer, bowling him for a well made 19. Opener Stewart (18) was the other C&B batsman to reach double figures before falling to Kamath.
And a special mention to Vimal for his remarkable night vision in taking an excellent catch at deep midwicket off a grateful captain in near darkness.
Boroughmuir (plus MDAFS guests) 88 off 20 overs lost to MDAFS 89-8 off 19.2 overs.
Brief details as my fingers have yet to thaw out! MDAFS Batting dominated by Danny with a stylish 32 (retired not out) and an aggressive 23 by Sutha in a 55 run stand between them for the 3rd wicket to rescue MDAFS from 5-2. Little wobble at the end made it a bit more of a struggle in the cold and gloom than what it looked like being earlier.