Friendly (40 over): WFCC vs Bristol Malayalees, Match Report & Scorecard

Bristol Malayalees (183 for 8) beat Western Flyers (182 all-out) by 2 wickets.

The opposition termed it a pre-season warm up however for WFCC it was the official kick off to the 2015 summer of cricket! Cold, wet and windy weather doesn’t suggest summery conditions although such conditions have become the norm for every season opener at this time of year.

The toss

Shehan Somaratna skippered in the absence of Club Captain Atiqur Rahman. It wasn’t clear who actually won the toss; it seemed WFCC were offered the chance to bat first given the lateness of one player which was then followed by the actual toss which one can assume was won by the BMCC skipper who decided to field.

Early trouble

Shehan and newcomer Anam Arafat Amit opened the batting for WFCC and were immediately in trouble with Amit getting bowled off the 2^nd ball of the innings with BMCC making best use friendly seam bowling conditions. Shehan stuck around a bit longer but was also dismissed in the same manner against the same bowler and for the same score. WFCC were 2-2 after 4 overs.

Rebuilding (Part 1)

Saad Ahmed and Jude Mudannayake appeared to look more comfortable against the swinging ball with both batsmen moving their feet well and getting in line nicely with runs starting to flow from both batsmen. Both batsmen had a reprieve with Saad guiding a length ball towards second slip which luckily enough fell short of the fieldsman and Jude hitting one gently to short mid-wicket (the type of catch you expect to take when the bowler receives the ball at the start of his run up from mid-on/off) which to everybody’s amazement was spilled by the fielder. Jude and Saad needed to make it count and did so by bringing up their 50 partnership inside 13 overs before Saad perished in what can be described to be a charge down the wicket to a fullish ball in which resulted in him slogging across the line (and almost falling over) and getting bowled. A missed opportunity for Saad to play a big innings and WFCC were back in a dubious position at 54-3 with almost 27 overs left in the innings.

Rebuilding (Part 2)

Jude was joined by Yameen Hussain at the crease and the name of the game was now to play low risk shots and to build an innings of solidity to allow for more attacking shots at the end of the innings. Apart from a couple of sketchy strokes early on from Yameen, this worked very well with Jude picking up where he left off from and Yameen somewhat supporting him with regular singles, twos and even threes with both batsmen capitalising on the shorter boundary. Jude reached his fifty (his first for WFCC) in good time and was intent on pushing on until the final overs with a century in sight to the point he was thinking about the celebration he would use when reaching the milestone. The partnership picked up pace and with the score on 152-3 at 32 overs with both batsmen well set and poised to open up for an onslaught, Yameen was bowled off the newly introduced left arm seamer for 32 to a length ball that skidded on beneath his bat to end the 98 run partnership. Jude departed straight after an attempted pull shot that caught the toe end of this bat was taken by the same fielder that dropped him earlier. His 76 included five 4s and two 6s and his departure brought two new batsmen to the crease. A workmanlike yet courageous knock given the circumstances.

Last dash for runs and Collapse

The inexperienced lower order of WFCC were left to see out the final 7 overs of the innings with the challenge to eek out as many runs as possible and bat out the whole 40 overs. They tried hard but ultimately fell to the growing pressure applied by the BMCC bowlers. Ashwini Agarwal, another newcomer to the team showed glimpses of what he is capable of by dismissing any short balls for 4 and produced some very useful runs near the end of the innings. WFCC were eventually bowled out for 183 with one over to spare with last 7 wickets falling for 30 runs.

A fighting total albeit some felt it was 20-30 runs light however it was a score WFCC were confident of defending at the mid-session interval.

Opening bowling woes

After a lengthy lunch break, the players were finally met with some sun as they took to the field. Yameen and Shehan shared the new ball and despite some near misses and edges, the BMCC got off to a solid start racing to 55for no loss in very quick time. It is fair to say the right handed opener (also the captain) rode his luck a few times with wild hoicks at balls swinging away from  him and it was  blatantly apparent he was looking to clear the shorter boundary off Yameen’s bowling in particular who went for plenty early on. Despite a couple of missed chances, Shehan and Yameen looked rusty with both missing their lines and failed to capitalise on any good balls they bowled.

Spin to win 

Amit and Owen Gebler (not a spinner) were the first changes in the bowling and immediately stemmed the flow of runs with Amit bowling a mixture of off and leg breaks and Owen bowling left arm pace with lots of short of a length deliveries with occasional pace off the ball thus thwarting the opposition captain from playing his beloved hack towards the leg side.  Amit was unlucky not to get the breakthrough as he beat the batsmen’s outside edge on numerous occasions. Jude was brought on to replace Owen after 3 tidy overs with both batsmen looking uncomfortable against spin. Further mishits and edges ensued with the BMCC captain registering a 50 before finally getting bowled out by Jude in what can be described to be a ball that took an eternity to reach with the batsmen having several wafts at it before eventually defeating him through the gate. 90-1.

This had sparked a collapse and it was Saad who came on to replace Amit with his off spin who really rattled through the BMCC order picking up 4 wickets in what could well prove to be one of the best bowling spells of the season. His ability to out think and bamboozle the batsmen was a treat to watch although the same cannot be said for some of his dance moves which followed each wicket. There were a few nervy moments in the field with fielding standards not at the highest although Owen’s juggling effort at square leg to take a key catch is well in contention for catch of the season akin to Paul’s catch vs Bath Venturers in 2013. BMCC were now 7 down with 20 odd to win with plenty of overs left to get the runs, WFCC had to bowl them out.

The final strait to victory?

The batsmen were getting used to the spin as they finally realised low risk shots were the order of the day especially with just under 10 overs to go at a required run rate of around 2.5 runs per over. Shehan had passed the ball to Yameen to see if a change of pace could do the trick and it worked with almost immediate effect. The dangerman had perished to a back of the hand slower ball that was skied in the air to deep extra cover and was taken expertly by the smiling skipper Shehan.

What all felt would be a tight finish with WFCC promptly taking the final two wickets was in matter a fact all an anti-climax with the remaining pair taking singles with ease and getting two lucky boundaries through the slips cordon to seal victory for BMCC in what was a game that ebbed and flowed throughout.

Final thoughts

All in all it was a good run out for all involved with some very good individual performances and support from everyone in the field. The early signs are positive especially with the addition of new players like Amit, Ashwini, Leon and Rafi (didn’t feature in this match) as WFCC look to build on their successes from 2014 in what is looking to be a challenging year ahead with participation in two T20 competitions and more 40 over games.

Report by Yameen Hussain (WFCC President)

To read what Jude Mudannayke had to say about the game, click here.


Scorecard -

WFCC Innings (40 overs maximum)		R	B	4s	6s	SR
Anam Arafat Amit Shehan Somaratna Jude Mudannayake Saad Ahmed Yameen Hussain Ashwini Agarwal Mohammed Marbin Sivachandran Puniyakotti Owen Gebler Leon Rodriques Player 11 Extras Total	b Raj c Player b Raj c Player b Sadiq b Raj b Sadiq b Rakesh b Raj b Raj b Raj b Sadiq DNP (w21, nb 2, b 1) (all out, 38.2 overs)	0 0 76 20 32 19 5 2 0 0 - 24 182		- - 5 3 2 3 1 - - - -	- - 2 - - - - - - - -

Awaiting for Opponent Teams Bowling & Batting scorecard details!

WFCC Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
Yameen Hussain Shehan Somaratna Anam Arafat Amit Owen Gebler Jude Mudannayake Saad Ahmed	6.5 3 6 3 6 8	1 0 0 0 1 1	42 21 36 11 41 24	1 0 0 0 3 4	6.14 7.00 6.00 3.67 6.83 3.00

Match Detail -
M.O.M - Jude Mudannayake
Toss: WFCC won the toss and elected to bat