AGSFP’s 3rd XI made five changes to the team from the previous match, Ian Johnston, Doug Russell, Shaun Mountain, Rahul Gopal and Rama Mantha were replaced by Shriram Balasumbramanian, Agha Haider, Arun Chidhambaram, Jeston D’Costa, Jim Lee and Melvin Joy. Remaining team members were Sandeep Dhanamani (C), Kingshuk Gosh (Wkt), Paul Norwood, James Lord, Bhanu Yalamanchili.
FP’s won the toss and elected to field first, the opening batsman for Ellon were C Watson and Middleton. FP’s opened the bowling with J D’Costa and S. Dhanamani. Both the opening bowlers started off well however from the 5th over C Watson and Middleton started to hit the ball all over the ground. The rain did not help the bowlers keep to a tight line and length. At the end of 9th over Ellon had reached 62 runs for no loss. B Yalamanchili was brought on to bowl, replacing S Dhanamani at this stage the rain had become heavier. Both teams agreed to stop the match for few minutes to see if the rain would stop.
After a 20 minute break, the rain stopped and field was inspected by the captains to see if it was in a playable condition. The pitch was fine however the outfield was slippery. FP’s asked Ellon if they would like to call off the game due to the outfield condition. Ellon advised that they were happy and keen to play on. The FP’s captain sportingly agreed to resume the game and only call it off if it started to rain heavily again.
B Yalamanchili continued his spell, and at the end of 12th over Ellon reached 100 runs. FP’s tried all their bowling options, however C Watson and Middleton still managed to find the gaps. J Lord and A Chidhambaram replaced J D’Costa and B Yalamanchili. Chidhambaram bowled a full toss delivery and Middleton completely missed the ball which hit the stumps, FP’s started to celebrate the fall of the long awaited wicket however the umpire from bowler’s end called that as a no ball. FP’s Captain explained to the umpire at the bowler’s that the square leg umpire had not called that delivery as a no ball. The umpire at the bowler’s decided not to change his decision even though the square leg umpire was sure that it was not a no ball. With disappointment FP’s continued to bowl.
M Joy and A Haider replaced J Lord and A Chidhambaram, both the bowlers started off with good line however the both the batsman were in good form at that stage. Ellon reached 200 runs without losing any wickets in 25 overs.
It was J D’Costa who took the first wicket for FP’s at the 32nd over, D’Costa bowled a full length delivery, C Watson tried to hit it straight for a boundary but missed the ball which hit the stumps. C Watson was out for 125 runs.
Proctor was the next batsman to come and lost his wicket to P Norwood when he was on 8 runs, A Haider taking a good catch to dismiss Proctor. J Lord took the third wicket by getting Middleton bowled. Middleton played an excellent innings and scored 147 runs, and at that stage Ellon declared their innings. The target for FP’s 321.
P Norwood and J Lee opened the batting for FP’s the right and left hand combination worked well for FP’s. P Norwood hit some lofted shots which raced to the boundary. The opening partnership had reached to 54 runs when P Norwood was bowled by S. Herridge for 30.
K Gosh was the next batsman, scoring 2 quick boundaries but was out for 8 runs, S Herridge picked up K Ghosh’s wicket. J Lord scored 5 and was bowled by C Morris. M Joy played some good shots however was also bowled C Morris for 19 runs.
C Watson managed to get J Lee out LBW, J Lee opened the batting and played until 32nd over scoring 45 runs. At this stage FP’s were 124 for 4, but unfortunately FP’s lost their last 6 wickets for 10 runs. Ellon bowled well to get the FP’s all out for 134, R Kennard and C Morris bowled well and claimed 3 wickets each.
