Bessborough CC v Hornsey Cricket Club 1st Team on Sat 28 Jun 2008 at 13.00
Match was Drawn
Hornsey Is v Bessborough Is
Hornsey 223-9 (54 overs; Andy Tyler 58, Joel Gregory 41*, Alex Scrini 30)
Bessborough 214-8 (46 overs; Adrian Fawden 4-55)
Losing Draw for Hornsey
A peculiar and fluctuating game against Bessborough, the sole side below us in the table, saw us take home one point as the game ended with both sides within striking distance of victory. Their captain won the toss and inserted us, but the opening partnership of Rasheda Cyrus and Alex Scrini threatened to a make mockery of his decision as they put together an assured 40. Screens was watchful and well paced whilst Rasheda played more expansively, with several shots skimming along the fast outfield like stones along a pond. Yet once Rasheda gave away a catch, having just set himself up on 22, his dismissal instigated another of those Hornsey collapses that have dogged the club this season. 40 without loss after 11 and a half overs rapidly descended to 53-4 through a combination of loose shots and looser footing.
Fortunately Andy Tyler emerged to help Screens re-establish the innings, and the pair of them made a very convincing and unruffled 38 partnership for the 5th wicket. This was abruptly ended when Screens, looking to kick on after watchfully accruing 30 runs, misread their captain's innocuous spin, and handed him his only wicket of the day. But Tyles remained resolute at the wicket, carving some gorgeous boundaries and looking totally at ease with their double spin attack; Gurj provided very solid support and they had made 58 for the sixth wicket when Tyles edged onto his pads and back on to the stumps for a glowing 58. Gurj followed soon after for a hearty 24, but Chet and in particular Joel helped us accelerate towards the end of the innings as we whipped up 40 runs from the last five overs to leave us on 223-9 after 54 overs. Joel was left undefeated having smote a brutal 41. A decent wicket, an unremarkable attack and possibly the quickest outfield in the league inflated the score but after our travails this season any score comfortably over 200 is to be welcomed.
Our bowlers got off to an electric start as we had them trembling on 4-2 after 3 overs with both their openers removed – Gurj took a catch off Joel's bowling after Zarig had taken a sharp slip catch off Ollie in the previous over. However their middle order responded with some vigour and clubbed 53 runs in just five overs, not merely rescuing the innings but announcing that the victory was as much in their sights as ours. But Chet's decision to bring on Garfield early paid handsome dividends as he induced a couple of edges behind and extracted as much lift from the pitch as any bowler in the match. Again Bessborough rebuilt strongly from their double set back but again Chet's bowling change reeled them back in – Adrian Fawden's consummate spell of off spin dried up the runs and soon picked up another pair of wickets for Hornsey, including their captain who had just reached a watchful 42 when he grew frustrated and fed Duncan O'Connor a catch.
At 117-6 off 28 overs we looked on course for our second league victory of the season, but their batting line-up proved deeper than expected, and they took us a little closer to defeat than was comfortable. Their seventh wicket partnership looked assured in compiling 38 until their wicketkeeper misread Adrian and was bowled for 39, with Fawds as pleasantly surprised as anyone else. Their number eight had played himself in by now but the new number nine batsman was a slogger and if we had taken another quick wicket we might well have rolled them over sharply. As it turned out they rode their luck (we dropped the decent batsman and gave away five overthrows off the very next ball) and started successfully lashing out at the bowling. They were perilously close to victory in the penultimate over when, needing 28 from two overs, they took a liking to Adrian and had already picked up 14 runs from his first five balls. For once Hornsey didn't suffer the worst possible fate, as Fawds' final ball was spooned straight up to Rasheda. They were content to block out Joel's final over, finishing nine runs short of the winning total with two wickets left in hand.
We were left with an air of frustration at having failed to finish them off, but they were probably equally irritated to have ended so tantalisingly within reach of the full ten points. Given our run of form an away point isn't to be sniffed at and it was encouraging to see the batsmen post a good total.
Author Johnny Marr
Hornsey Cricket Club 1st Team Batting
223 for 9
Bessborough CC Bowling
| Barrie |
11.0 |
1 |
31 |
1 |
31.00 |
2.82 |
| Botha |
10.0 |
2 |
31 |
3 |
10.33 |
3.10 |
| Modha |
13.0 |
0 |
48 |
3 |
16.00 |
3.69 |
| Sawant |
4.0 |
1 |
17 |
0 |
0.00 |
4.25 |
| Chavda |
12.0 |
2 |
57 |
1 |
57.00 |
4.75 |
| Jaffa |
4.0 |
0 |
16 |
1 |
16.00 |
4.00 |
Bessborough CC Batting
214 for 8
| Hawes |
2 |
Caught |
| Clarke |
2 |
Caught |
| Jaffer |
21 |
Caught |
| Chavda |
42 |
Caught |
| Barrie |
5 |
Caught |
| Whitson |
39 |
Bowled |
| Adams |
9 |
Lbw |
| Linton |
46 |
Not Out |
| Botha |
25 |
Caught |
| Sawant |
0 |
Not Out |
| Modha |
|
|
Hornsey Cricket Club 1st Team Bowling