Bad Luck - Deserved Better

It was disappointment for both teams again this weekend unfortunately.

The first team failed to chase down their host's 143 total, which is a real shame considering the remarkable bowling by Mohammed Zulfiqar - cleaning up the top 7 batsmen. I'm sure he deserved more from the game after that performance, but still a great effort.

The second team was basically undone through lack of numbers. Only able to field eight players instantly made life far harder for all involved, so it was a superb effort to restrict their opponents to just 111 - of which 78 came from one player. With only 8 batsmen, it proved just too much though, a shame as once the opponents' opening bowlers had been seen off, they had little left of note - unfortunately by then the last pair were in. Steve Bailey and Imran Mehrban put in a fantastic effort of 31 runs, but fell just 18 short (to my untrained eye, the last wicket was from a no ball). It has to be considered that with a couple of extra boundary fielders, Denholme could have had at least 20 runs fewer...

But onto the positives, and there were several. For the first team, as already mentioned Mohammed Zulfiqar was superb taking 7 wickets for just 31 runs from his spell. Naveed Hussain also chipped in with a couple of wickets, plus two catches. In the seconds, Mohammed Qadeer once more impressed with 4 wickets, Danny Kernan bagged a couple and took three catches, and Akeel Rashid mopped up the tail in just 8 deliveries. The return of Imran Mehrban was heartily welcomed, and every player on the pitch gave all they had despite the numbers handicap.

And finally, a big round of applause for Bob Morrisroe. Barely able to walk due to injury, but he manfully strove to provide the teas, overcoming hardships such as 'how does the oven work?' (thanks Niomi), 'Can somebody go to the Co-op for supplies?' (thanks me), and 'How does Tuna work? (thanks John) But nobody complained - and Bob has a new respect for those who regularly make the teas!