Saturday 8th September 2007

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1st XI vs. Glaxo

Report by: Alan Barnard

So, the last game of the 2007 season is upon us, and the equation was relatively simple: being 10 points behind Indian Gymkhana in second place, we had to win and then hope that Gymkhana didn't in order to secure an impressive second placed finish. Our opponents were Glaxo, and we made the trip round to Greenford, meeting at the club at 10am, a time that's better spend in bed as far as I'm concerned. It seemed that Danny Hare felt the same way too, as he was still in bed at 10:40 when I came round his house after he didn't make the meet. Once roused, dressed and en route (thanks to Paul for packing his kit), we made up good time due to a lack of traffic on the A406 at that time of day.

On arriving at the ground (and pretty impressive it was too, apart from the slightly short boundary on one side), Kev proceeded to lose the toss, and get put in to bat by an opposition looking to finish a season where they've struggled on a high. This was bad news for us, as we'd have chased every time, confident that we had the bowling to restrict our hosts to something manageable. Gavin Mardell and Dave Hinnigan opened the batting, and both looked solid to start with, mixing defence with the odd boundary, as the runs came slowly.

Gav was the first to fall, as he misjudged a straight ball, and lost his middle stump, and this brought Anil Sharma to the crease in what would be his last innings of 2007, as his flight back to Delhi was scheduled for the following day. Dave and Anil didn't look to waste any time, manoeuvring the run rate up to 4, and then on to 5 with very little effort, Dave looking in the best tough he's showed all season, and Anil punishing anything off of line or length. In fact, the run rate was nearer 6 when Dave fell for 76 after an impressive 150 run partnership - something that we're been trying to put together for some time now in the 1st XI.

With an eye on getting on with things, and pushing the run rate on even more so that we could declare and give ourselves enough overs back at Glaxo, Wali Khan came in at 4, and didn't waste any time hitting 27, including 2 impressive sixes, before he was bowled by a quicker delivery. Adeel Saeed came in, and hit one of the largest sixes I've seen in some time - over the pavilion - but he also fell to the same spinner, this time stumped. With the score on 220, Alan Barnard came in, and in a brief cameo of positive running brought the score up to 260, in which time Anil Sharma had made 110. The Indian overseas player fell going for another attacking shot, so with Danny Hare joining Barney, the score increased to 284 from 48 when the declaration was made.

Tea was taken, and the high quality sandwiches didn't really make up for the lack of variety or what seemed to be an acute muffin shortage in West London. It was good to see that England were shaping up well to win the ODI series against India on the screens in the clubhouse bar, although disappointing that Dave Rai wasn't there so we could enjoy the moment with him in the same way that he celebrated the test series with the rest of the team ;-). Anyway, after approximately 0.4 muffins each, we returned to the changing rooms to start the second (and toughest) half of the game. We knew we needed to bowl out Glaxo in around 48 overs to pick up the 30, but we also knew that the pitch was docile, and didn't offer much in the way of seam movement, although it did offer a little turn. With Kevin and Chat Gallage in the side, it was clear that one or both of these spinners would play a part at some stage.

Opening up though was the usual 'away game' duo of Wali Khan and Mark Varley, and it was the latter who looked the most threatening, seaming the ball away from the openers with pace and bounce seemingly at will, most of the time doing too much to take an edge, or taking an edge that would fly over the slips, or into space. It was Wali who made the first breakthrough, a slower ball deceived the batsman, and Ash Perera made no mistake at gulley. Varley did get his breakthrough though, an LBW decision that seemed to be dead straight, and the batsman had to go. 2 wickets down, and the 3rd was soon to follow, thanks again to Wali Khan, and another slower ball, which Ash Perera again snapped up in the gulley area.

Varley was not to be outdone though, and a crashing drive was sent back towards him, which appears to have four written all over it, until he stuck out a big right hand in his follow through and produced another contender for catch of the season. It should be mentioned at this point that with no specialist wicketkeepers available to us due to other commitments, Danny Hare was deputising behind the stumps, and doing a very good job of it by all accounts (despite the late night antics the night before). In fact, Varley was keeping Dan busy beating the bat time and time again, and despite the 2 wickets, you felt that he was a little unlucky to be replaced by the skipper, given that he had a very good caught behind chance turned down, and a routine drop in the gulley.

That said, Kev's decision to bring himself on paid dividends almost instantly, as he picked up 2 quick wickets to leave the hosts reeling, thanks to catches at backward square leg from Chat Gallage, and deep mid wicket from Adeel Saeed, the latter involving Adeel moving approximately 0cm from his starting position to take the catch. Kev's 3rd and final wicket came from an excellent piece of bowling getting a quicker ball through the batsman's defences that dipped and hit middle and leg. We knew that victory was a serious option now, and when Wali, who had been bowling non stop from the top end dug one in with even more pace than normal, it was all the batsman could to do glove it away, producing a fantastic catch from Adeel Saeed in the gully running, and diving full length to snap it up inches off the ground.

1 wicket needed, with 13 overs to go, and things were looking rosy for ECC, and the skipper replaced himself with Anil Sharma, who beat the bat a few times, but didn't look like picking up the much needed wicket on a very docile pitch. With about 8 overs to go, Varley was reintroduced in place of Sharma, and struck with his first ball, getting the ball to do enough to elicit an LBW decision from the umpire. It was a great way to close of the innings, and the season, meaning that we did the double over Glaxo, and gave ourselves every chance of finishing second depending on other results. It was a good game with the bat, the ball and in the field. We played like we meant business in this game, and were rewarded well with 30 points. After a couple of beers in the bar with the Glaxo boys, who are a good bunch, we headed back to Hydeside to celebrate with the other XI's who finished their seasons off in good style also.

Lawrence, Mardell, Hinnigan, Sharma, Khan, Saeed, Barnard, Hare, Perera, Gallage, Loveday

2nd XI vs.

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