2s win season opening thriller at Roseburn
Fervently, another cricket season beckons…
All those moments of cricketing glory being imagined in the head for the upcoming season come to the fore as you realise that the season is due to start, only if the weather permits!
One look at the green Roseburn square and you know what’s coming your way (or not, if you are batting).
It was the opening game for MDAFS 2s against our old frenemies Haddington, which the past scorebooks will show how close our games have been. Some were bitter losses but of course some were very tasty victories.
With the grim forecast for the late afternoon, there was an agreement to start the game early by noon, however with the overnight rain it was impossible to roll the square ahead of the game. What is otherwise usually a dicey first pitch of the season, became even trickier to gauge as the damp and spongey nature of pitch was very much clear.
Against the run of successful toss wins from last season, Ram lost the toss and we were asked to bat first.
Saurabh and Maggi opened the batting for MDAFS 2s whilst Syme and Macdonald shared the new ball for Haddington. Syme settled on to his rhythm of outswing bowling quickly and both the MDAFS batsmen started watchfully. The plan was to see out first 5 overs to familiarise ourselves with the pitch conditions. With the 6th over in play, Saurabh got a juicy half volley which was dispatched for the first boundary of the innings. 7th over from Syme, Saurabh reverted to his usual (and fullish) bravado going for an expansive drive only to be bowled by the swinging delivery. Haddington drew the first blood with the team score on 12. Anand joined Maggi in the middle and in the very next over trying to connect one from Macdonald ended up getting caught. MDAFS - 13/2 in the 8th over.
LV now accompanied Maggi with the latter seemed settled to the pace of the pitch and in the process dispatched another boundary. Time for the first bowling change as the Haddington pair was replaced by Hancox and Hiley at 10 overs. Hiley’s first ball moved off the seam to trap Maggi plumb in front. LV went for another extravagant shot in the same over got castled by Hiley leaving MDAFS at 27/4 in the 12th over.
Dow coming back into the playing fold after missing a season due to injury, played a forward defence on to the back of his foot only to be clean bowled through deflection. Next to depart was Fin, as much to his chagrin he got a ball that rolled beneath his bat to rattle his stumps for yet another duck! MDAFS were now languishing at 30/6 at the end of 15 overs with an early end to the innings seemingly inevitable.
Reassuringly, skipper Ram and steady Adi combined to graft out a partnership which could give MDAFS something to defend. Watchful innings from both was the need of the hour as they both showed how to bat patiently on this demanding surface. Despite recovering from a wrist injury, Ram played a cautious innings growing in confidence with Adi blocking out any danger effortlessly.
Ram and Adi combined to play for another 13 overs between them before a quick run attempted from the mis field ended up in Ram getting run out by a direct hit from Cruickshank. A brilliant partnership of 23 runs for the 7th wicket gave us the vital few runs desperately needed. With the score now on 53/7 in 28 overs, Adi continued to play steadily whilst we kept on losing wickets at the other end Sakib (bowled) and Hruday (caught) followed without troubling the scorers.
Patrick on his 2s debut showed vast maturity as Adi and Patrick stitched together another few runs to push the score to 63 as Patrick eventually got out for a well-made 5 runs, whilst Adi finished unbeaten for a very well made 11.
Customary teas back on the menu, we devoured the sandwiches and sweat treats to numb the slight disappointment, however we all were aware that with the dicey pitch we will back ourselves to defend this score with past knowledge.
Soon after, with the weather still not great but not worse either, we went out to bowl with the new ball pair of perpetual swinger Anand and fiery Sakib.
With his typical in swing, Anand kept the Haddington opening pair quiet whilst Sakib kept the pace up at the other end making it extremely difficult for them to score. Sakib castled his first victim as Cruickshank (0) played on to his stumps leaving Haddington 2/1 in 4 overs. Sakib returned in the 6th over to remove Logan (7) and a very capable Hiley (0) bowling them both in the same over, leaving Haddington languishing at 10/3 in 6 overs.
Dow doing his best impression of a bunny rabbit
It could have been another wicket had the under-edge from Blades stuck in keeper’s gloves however the aging Saurabh (moving like an old tree!) over reached and could not collect it cleanly. Over the next few overs there were plenty of play and misses which could have been wickets at any other occasion but somehow the duo of Blades and Cardwell-Moore survived as they tried to play cautiously and slowly got a partnership developing. Hruday ‘Starboy’ was introduced into the attack and the opposition batters targeted him straight away as Hruday struggled a bit with his line getting 10 runs from the over and Haddington score reached 31/3 at the end of 12 overs.
With nearly half the target scored by Haddington and the partnership going well, it was time to change the pace of the game and Patrick ‘Paddy’ came on to bowl for his first ever spell for MDAFS 2s. The very first ball, a half tracker lured Blades into a hook shot which was brilliantly caught by Hruday at mid-wicket. We could say that was the plan as it worked perfectly, although reality may be a bit different. 3 balls later, Paddy clean bowled the other set batsman Cardwell-Moore in the same over. 2 overs later Paddy now trapped Shaw in front of the stumps with the momentum clearly shifting in the balance of MDAFS as Haddington were stranded at 33/6 at the end of 17 overs.
MDAFS were in a similar position before Ram and Adi’s partnership and Haddington were looking for something similar to rescue them from this tricky position. Similar to us, Haddington skipper Macdonald arrived at the crease at the same time and was looking to resurrect them in the similar fashion. Adi now bowling in partnership with Paddy was keeping the pressure on the batsmen and had the opposition skipper Macdonald caught by LV at mid-off as Haddington now needed less than 20 runs to win in as many overs with the score at 45/7 in 20 overs.
Next to leave was Hancox who was caught by Dow off the bowling of Paddy as he completed his outstanding debut 2s bowling spell with 4 wickets. Haddington 51/8 in 23 overs with only 14 more runs to win.
Anand came back for his second spell and despite bowling a brilliant first spell without any wickets, bowled Bell round his legs leaving Haddington at 55/9 in 26 overs with either side close to victory. Haddington needing 9 runs to win and MDAFS needing a wicket. Couple of close calls later, A Kumar drilled a shot straight to Dow at short mid-wicket which rearranged Dow’s digit and crippled his ability to flip the bird! Ideally should have caught that and won us the game, however what followed was a bit of commotion, anxiety and confusion as to how to get on with the game and get Dow off the field!
With the game back on and Haddington only 7 runs away from victory, Adi returned to clean bowl Syme and finishing Haddington innings at 57 all out and MDAFS winning with 6 runs in the process.
Standout performances / call outs:
Key partnership of 23 runs between Ram and Adi to propel MDAFS from 30/6 to 53/7 and adding some vital runs.
All bowlers combining well to restrict Haddington for 57
Sakib for a brilliant and hostile opening spell with new ball and getting top 3 Haddington scalps by clean bowling them!
Paddy for key last wicket partnership and then taking 4 wickets on his fantastic 2s debut
Fin for (yet another) duck!
Dow for broken digit
Also, to all our fellow friends and club mates who came down to support us on the home ground – Rob ‘Pingu’ Hayward; Mel ‘Sporty spice’ C; Josh; Ben ‘Stokesy’ H; and our 4 legged friend – Mike ‘Bath tub’ B!