New name,
new logo, new committee, new captain, new season and new beginnings! A winning
start for the Western Flyers in what could be termed a ‘very friendly’ game and
more importantly a good run out for everyone. New captain Atiq took this
opportunity to experiment with the team based on individual player preferences
for which he accommodated to see what everyone had to offer.
The
Venturers could only raise 7 players for this match and as WFCC turned up with
12, it was decided that WFCC would lend them 2 players (Yameen and Shehan)
making it a 9 v 10. Following this, there were weather concerns and of course
diminishing light at this time of the year so both teams agreed on a 16 overs
per side encounter.
Captain Atiq
had won the toss and opted to bat first. A fairly obvious decision given the
favourable batting conditions and the issues we had with reduced visibility
this time last year at the same venue. The experimentation had begun with
Thusitha and Munim opening the batting where they got off to solid start with
both registering boundaries in their first scoring shots. Thusitha dispatched
his second boundary to midwicket before he fell trying to repeat the same shot
where he was caught at mid-on to the left armer. Munim was bowled soon after by
the same bowler. Oliver and Jude were promoted to 3 & 4 respectively and
they put on a very good partnership that set up the WFCC innings. They took
advantage of the big open spaces by converting singles into twos and threes and
boundaries were hit with regularity especially from Oliver’s bat who found
supreme timing and top scored with 46. Shehan who opened the bowling for
Venturers bowled tidily and induced the edge a few times and was unlucky not to
get a wicket. The batsman took a particular liking to Gregory’s bowling by
dispatching him with ease and was soon removed from the bowling attack. Yameen
was given a chance to bowl and started badly by bowling too short and Oliver
took advantage by taking 15 off it. Oliver’s matured knock finally came to an
end when the off spinner ran out of ideas and decided to draw the batsmen
forward and bowl it wide thus getting him stumped. Yameen finally found some
rhythm and dismissed the new batsmen Captain Atiq LBW. Jude rode his luck and
should have been dismissed after he skied the spinner but the relatively easy
catch was dropped by Yameen at mid-on. No real harm was done as his well
compiled knock of 34 came to an end in the following over as he ran himself out
in a badly judged single. Paul was looking good with the bat and showed lots of
application with sound footwork and timing. He was unluckily dismissed as he
tried to clip Yameen behind square but found the ‘smiling’ Shehan who took a
very sharp catch. Debutants Nathan and Marbin came in to see the innings out
with both taking any opportunities for quick singles and twos effectively.
With a more
than competitive score posted by WFCC, the Venturers openers, one of which
included Shehan got off to a solid start by playing risk free shots and
constantly rotated the strike. The
boundary hitting was limited due to some good tight bowling from the openers
Munim and Thusitha who bowled off and leg spin respectively to great effect. Jude,
another spinner was the first change bowler for Thusitha and found immediate
success by getting the thinnest of edges off Shehan’s bat down the legside, it
was so thin and unnoticeable that the umpire signalled a wide but Shehan being
the gentlemen he is gave himself out and walked. The ball was neatly taken by
Nathan behind the stumps who appears to be a very good find for the team as he
looked very much in his comfort zone as wicket keeper and he looked more than
competent for the role. The Bath batsmen reconsolidated the innings by putting
together a good foundation for the last few overs although the WFCC bowlers did
a very good job in keeping the required run rate in check. Marbin was given the
ball and also kept things very tight by bowling stump to stump on what was
increasingly becoming a sluggish pitch to bat on. The theme continued into the
last 5 overs with 50 required where Atiq introduced himself into the attack to
bowl his stump to stump seamers and Oliver from the other end to bowl what can
be described as being a mix between his slow left arm spin and pace. The
bowling combination worked superbly with the batsmen coming under increasing
pressure, the bowlers kept it simple and were rewarded with Oliver having the
number 3 batsmen well caught behind again by Nathan. This sparked a flurry of
wickets with Atiq getting in on the act by taking the Bath opener for a well
compiled 50. This again was possible from some very good fielding, this time
from Ian who is proving once again to be a livewire in the field. The final
nail was put on the coffin in the same over with Atiq comprehensively bowling
the batsmen out for a duck. This left Yameen and Vikaash needing 21 off the
final over, they only managed 8 thus sealing a very good win for WFCC!
The fielding
was generally ok with a few lacklustre efforts and misfields but can be
excusable being the first game of the season. There were notable fielding
efforts from Luton Malik (as usual), Ian and Marbin who all got stuck in
putting in the dives to save those crucial runs. A special mention once again
to Nathan who kept exceedingly well by taking 2 catches and didn’t concede a
single bye which is a fantastic effort given the circumstances and closeness of
the match.
Finally,
congratulations to Atiq on his first win as captain in his first game. He
experimented a lot but maintained the desire for victory from ball one and
ensured he got the most out of his team mates who also rallied well around him.
He executed his plans very well in the field with subtle bowling changes
according to the nature of the pitch.
Scorecard -
WFCC 120/6 (16 overs)
Venturers 106/5 (16 overs)
WFCC won by 14 runs.
WFCC 120/6 (16 overs)
Venturers 106/5 (16 overs)
WFCC won by 14 runs.
WFCC Innings (16 overs maximum)
|
||||
Batsmen
|
Runs
scored
|
How out
|
Bowler
|
Total
|
Thusitha Wickramasinghe
|
4 1 1 4
|
Caught
|
Hutchins
|
10
|
Munim Mushfiq
|
4 2 1
|
Bowled
|
Hutchins
|
7
|
Oliver McCambridge
|
4 4 2 2 1
1 2 4 4 4 4 1 1 1 4 1 2 2 2
|
Stumped
|
Clark
|
46
|
Jude Mudannayake
|
2 1 4 3 1
1 2 4 2 1 4 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1
|
RUN
|
OUT
|
34
|
Atiqur Rahman
|
1
|
LBW
|
Yameen
Hussain
|
1
|
Paul Remfry
|
1
|
Caught
(Shehan) |
Yameen
Hussain
|
4
|
1 1 2
|
NOT
|
OUT
|
4*
|
|
Marbin*
|
1 1
|
NOT
|
OUT
|
2*
|
Ian
|
-
|
DID
|
NOT
|
BAT
|
Mohammed Malik (LUTON)
|
-
|
DID
|
NOT
|
BAT
|
No 11th man
|
||||
Bowling extras
|
No balls
|
0
|
||
Wides
|
9
|
|||
Fielding extras
|
Byes + leg byes
|
6
|
||
Total extras
|
17
|
|||
Total score
|
120 runs for 6 wickets, 16 overs
|
|||
Bath Venturers Bowling (16 overs)
|
|||||||||
Bowlers
|
Over 1
|
Over 2
|
Over 3
|
Over 4
|
Overs
|
Maidens
|
Runs
|
Wickets
|
|
Hutchins
|
6 runs
|
5
runs,
W |
MAIDEN,
W |
3
|
1
|
11
|
2
|
||
7 runs
|
9 runs
|
4 runs
|
3
|
0
|
20
|
0
|
|||
Gregory
|
15 runs
|
15 runs
|
2
|
0
|
30
|
0
|
|||
Harsh
|
7 runs
|
6 runs
|
2
|
0
|
13
|
0
|
|||
Yameen Hussain
|
15 runs
|
3
runs,
W |
3
runs,
W |
3
|
0
|
21
|
2
|
||
Clark
|
12 runs,
W
|
2 runs
|
2
|
0
|
14
|
1
|
|||
Vikash
|
5 runs
|
1
|
0
|
5
|
0
|
||||
Bath Venturers Innings (Target 121 in 16.0 overs)
|
||||
Batsmen
|
Runs
scored
|
How out
|
Bowler
|
Total
|
J.Clark
|
1 1 1 4 1
1 1 2 1 1 2 1 4 1 1 1 1 4 2 1 1 2 1 1 2 2 1 1 4 1 1
|
Caught
(Ian)
|
Atiqur
Rahman
|
50
|
1 2 4 1 2
2 2 1
|
Caught
(Nathan)
|
Jude
|
15
|
|
Hutchins
|
1 1 2 1 1
1 1 2 1 1 1 3 1 1 3
|
Caught
(Nathan)
|
Oliver
|
20
|
Nikhil
|
1 1 2
|
Caught
(Marbin)
|
Oliver
|
4
|
Harsh
|
Bowled
|
Atiqur
Rahman
|
0
|
|
Yameen Hussain*
|
1 1 3
|
NOT
|
OUT
|
5*
|
Vikaash*
|
2
|
NOT
|
OUT
|
2*
|
Simon Shaw
|
-
|
DID
|
NOT
|
BAT
|
Gregory Sankaran
|
-
|
DID
|
NOT
|
BAT
|
No 10th or
11th batsmen
|
||||
Bowling extras
|
No balls
|
0
|
||
Wides
|
10
|
|||
Fielding extras
|
Byes + Leg byes
|
1
|
||
Total extras
|
11
|
|||
Total score
|
106 runs for
5 wickets, 16 overs
|
|||
WFCC Bowling (16 overs)
|
|||||||||
Bowlers
|
Over 1
|
Over 2
|
Over 3
|
Over 4
|
Overs
|
Maidens
|
Runs
|
Wickets
|
|
Thusitha Wickramasinghe
|
6 runs
|
7 runs
|
2
|
0
|
13
|
0
|
|||
Munim Mushfiq
|
5 runs
|
8 runs
|
2
|
0
|
13
|
0
|
|||
Jude Mudannayake
|
6
runs,
W |
6 runs
|
6 runs
|
3
|
0
|
18
|
1
|
||
Marbin
|
6 runs
|
5 runs
|
9 runs
|
3
|
0
|
20
|
0
|
||
Atiqur Rahman
|
9 runs
|
8 runs
|
2
runs,
WW |
3
|
0
|
19
|
2
|
||
Oliver McCambridge
|
7 runs
|
10 runs,
W
|
8
runs,
W |
3
|
0
|
25
|
2
|
||
Match Detail
Toss – WFCC, elected to bat
Player of the match - Oliver McCambridge
