Crane Cricket Club

Scorecard

Knotty Green CC v Crane Cricket Club Crane on Sun 04 Jun 2006 at 2pm
Crane Cricket Club Lost Loss by 45 runs

Match report
Crane took to the road and headed toward Knotty Green CC, in an attempt to secure back to back wins for the first time this season. Bright sunshine beamed down on a beautiful Knotty Green ground and Crane were feeling confident. Initial victory belonged to Crane, with skipper Hardeep Khangura winning the toss and electing to field in this timed match. But early fortunes were later to change, and regrettably Cranes hopeful day ended in disappointment.

Crane got off to a perfect start with Mitul Bathia getting to grips with the new ball and delivering three early wickets. Knotty Green’s top order batsmen struggled to cope with Mitul’s unnerving in-swingers as he twice knocked back the stumps and then forced Knotty batsman Folkard into a false stroke, leading to a tidy caught-behind by Crane keeper Anoop Sharma. At this stage, all was looking rosy for Crane. But having seen a trilogy of wickets fall around him, the patience of Knotty Green opener Millington was rewarded as he eventually struck up a good partnership with Abbott to push their run total past 50. With Crane’s bowlers tiring, Hardeep brought himself into the attack, and this triggered an immediate string of match-turning events.

The skipper’s determined effort firstly dislodged opener Millington for 36 runs, with Mitul taking a blinding catch in the slips. Soon after, this feat was nearly repeated as Abbott slashed a ball hard to point where Chaz Virdee got a hand on it, almost pulling off a stunning catch. Then some continued pressure from Hardeep brought about confident appeals for a run-out, with Hardeep himself whipping off the bails… but Crane’s appeals were controversially turned away.

From this point on, a frustrated Crane began to come apart at the seams and runs started to flow for Knotty Green. Left hand batsman Baxter capitalised on Crane’s misfortune, blasting his way to a total of 61 runs before Crane’s leading light, Mitul, returned late-on to trap him leg-before-wicket. During Baxter’s innings, Romy Sharma took the wickets of Abbott, out caught by Mitul for 31 runs, and Marsh, who was brilliantly bowled. Knotty Green finished their innings on 189 runs at 40 overs, with batsman Doyle unbeaten on 22 runs.

During a difficult afternoon in the field for Crane, praise must be given to Bob Rehill for his outstanding all-round fielding display. If it weren’t for his numerous last-ditch sliding stops on the boundary, Crane may have been chasing a score of 200 plus. But with 190 runs to win still a huge challenge, a weary Crane team returned from tea to give it a go.

The loss of an early wicket for Crane did not help matters, and unfortunately was a marker for things to come. In for the departed Oz Hussain, skipper Hardeep, together with opener Chaz, proceeded to pummel the boundaries with some powerful stroke-play. Soon after though, they were both removed in quick succession, Hardeep (13 runs) out caught to a mistimed stroke and Chaz (19 runs) clean bowled. Beyond this, Bob Rehill (14 runs) continued his good showing by producing a vital partnership with Sunny Bajwa (15 runs) at a time where wickets were tumbling. And Mitul, on the back of a 14-over bowling shift, further enhanced his man-of-the-match display by churning out a great knock with the willow.

Not enough wickets in hand and a shortfall of runs meant that Crane had to turn to plan B and salvage a draw, a shame for Mitul who was batting so well. Mitul curbed his natural attacking instinct for a while but, on 24 runs, he eventually had his stumps knocked over. A desperate final-over attempt to save the game was wrecked with four balls to go, as Crane lost their critical last wicket, leaving them all-out on 144 runs.

So well done to Knotty Green CC and thanks for the game. Also well done to those who had a good game for Crane this match. Let’s pull together and produce a better team showing next week at home.


Crane Cricket Club Crane Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 10 wickets
0
144
(0.0 overs)		    
Chaz Virdee Bowled  19
Oz Hussain Bowled  0
Hardeep Khangura Caught  13
Bob Atwal Caught  0
Bob Rehill Caught  14
Sunny Bajwa Bowled  15
Romy Sharma Bowled  2
Mitul Bathia Bowled  24 2
Rishi Tind Run out  2
Kam Khangura Bowled  2
Anoop Sharma Not Out  0 1

Knotty Green CC Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
No records to display.

Knotty Green CC Batting
Player name Runs
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 7 wickets
0
189 (0.0 overs)
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Crane Cricket Club Crane Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Mitul Bathia14.0449412.253.50
Oz Hussain5.011700.003.40
Sunny Bajwa5.011300.002.60
Romy Sharma8.0051225.506.38
Hardeep Khangura10.0335135.003.50