Grammar slumped to their fourth defeat of the season after a rather unorthodox hundred scored by the number six batsmen Ahmed sealed the first win for newly promoted Crescent. Better known for guesting for various teams last season and being involved in ‘that’ decision by the appeals committee, his 111 not out was pivotal as Crescent fought back superbly to claim a win by 103 runs.
The day started brightly and on time with all 11 players present, skipper for the day Davey lost the toss and Crescent elected to bat. Vijapur and Hameed opened the bowling and after some persistence Vijapur had the opening batsmen out LBW not playing a shot, the new batsmen was back in the changing rooms rather sooner than he thought he should have been after being run out after being called through for a suicide single, Maplebeck and Waldron combining.
Grammer had their third when a full toss from Vijapur was returned back to him kindly by the batsmen leaving Crescent on 28-3, Vijapur had his third when the batsmen edge the ball behind, a good catch by Waldron but there was minor drama as the batsmen was convinced that he had not hit it,with the batsmen rather reluctant to leave the wicket The umpire Dually confirmed that he had nailed the ball to the keeper and sent him on his way.
Mahesh Challa came onto bowl and soon had the new batsmen caught behind too, although the batsmen was only returning to the pavilion once the Umpire had confirmed that he had hit the cover off it. The second batsmen of the day unsure whether they had hit the ball, a concerning but growing trend in the Grades. The New batsmen and remaining opener dug in until Mappleback had the opener in a bit of trouble, he then played a ball straight back at Mappleback who turn the ball onto the stumps running out the non-striker who was not amused.
At 75 – 7 FPs were in a strong position, but the two new batsmen had other ideas. Using a rather unorthodox batting technique à la AB Devillier’s , Ahmed and Awan cut loose weighing risk and reward above anything else and managed a partnership of 150+, among the drop catches and shots in the open spaces there was some classy shots played and Ahmed’s ton was well deserved. Crescent batted the full 45 and ended on 247 for 7.
The opening batsmen of Keith and Davey approached the mammoth task with a positive attitude but found the ball hard to get off the square, after some tight singles Davey was run out in true FPs fashion and Swiergon strode to the crease, after seeing off the opening bowlers with Keith, Swiergon sliced one to point. Waldron walked to the crease and shortly made the return journey followed by Hameed LBW first ball. Mahesh Challa was in no mood to hang around and managed to smash some boundaries along with a beautiful six over square leg before he was stumped for 22. Paul McDonald continued the aggressive form of cricket finding the middle of the bat but he was to caught and FPs looked defeated.
Keith cut loose after being starved of the strike and played some glorious shots before we was out for 27, with Vijapur and S.Knudson working the ball into the gaps Vijapur especially playing some classic shots before S.Knudson was caught and Vijapur was perhaps harshly adjudged LBW. That just left the two remaining batsmen R.Knudson and a broken Mappleback, they worked the ball around but unfortunately R.Knudson was bowled and FPs fate was sealed bowled out for 144
A great start to the day ended in horrible fashion for FPs. The ton really sank the grammar ship and they could not recover but if cricket was easy we would all be playing at Lords this week. Highlights included the two run outs and Roland’s famous scones, the Team will need to pick themselves up and get back on it next week.
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