When I woke up this morning roughly 7am I was wondering why I was feeling so nervous, Then I suddenly remembered its do OR die day. After the usual picking people up and making sure every one at the ground by 12pm I myself got to the ground. I was greeted by beautiful sunshine and a very good looking batting track. As I have a habit of loosing toss I decided to get Shehbaz to do it for me. Long behold he WON the toss and I had no hesitation to bat first as 25 points will guarantee us promotion. As usual we got of to a reasonable start with Rizwan and Shehbaz batting sensibly and took us to 23 in 8 overs. Then Shehbaz got a peach that left his stumps disturbed and we were 29 for 1. In came Waqar, coupled with some aggressive but sensible batting by Rizwan we soon crossed 50 and were looking very strong. I must mention the track was playing beautifully (Looked like a wicket from back home in Pakistan Fast Flat and Fun) . A decent catch in slip saw us 86 for 2 in 17 overs. Harry and Rizwan stayed together for a while and with a decent shout for LBW against Harry we found ourselves 105 for 3 in 23rd over soon to be 115 for 4 in 27th over. I decided to pad up and decided today is the Day. With Rizwan getting out soon after things started to look a bit shakey. Well with support from Awais Umar and decent 36 from Sultan runs started to flow at a decent pace. Taking full advantage of a decent batting track I enjoyed batting today. So when Sultan got caught on 36 at the end of 48 over I decide to declare with us at 300 for 7 including me at 94 not out.
During the TEA break we got the news that the Game between NORTH MAIDENHEAD and CHAINES was called off due to NORTH MAIDENHEAD not been able to raise a side (More like issues within the CLUB resulted in players not turning up for the game). That left WINDSOR (Champions) at 227 CHAINES at 215 US at 214 and FARNHAM COMMON at 203. We knew that another 2 more points will take us home and to promise land of Division 6. We took the old ball and with magic from Waqar and Aman's fingers pouring out Farnham common sound found themselves 35 for 4 in 14 overs. We knew we were home and DRY and decided to introduce the pace into the attack with new ball. Soon runs started to flow and so did the wickets. Farnham common were 115 for 6 in 32 overs. With the light fading and us trying to wrap things up there were more then 4 LBW (DEAD DUCK) shouts that were turned down by Farnham common umpires. DOWN THE LEG SIDE seemed to be there favourite line for the DAY. But we struggled on and farnham common finished at 166 for 7 in 52 overs. That meant one thing WE FINISHED SECOND TO WINDSOR meaning PROMOTION PROMOTION PROMOTION (The shouts are still ringing in my ears).
Boys I am not able to express how I feel (TIRED SHATTERED ELATED all at the same time) but would like to congratulate each and every one of you on the AMAZING SUCCESS IN YOUR FIRST (Of many) SEASON at MAIDENHEAD & BRAY CC. Boys do remember that next week we have an annual bash at the club so see you all there with a BIG smile.
Huw Buckle |
Colts Winter Training programme starts 25th February at St Pirans School Maidenhead.
The cost is £5 per session, or £20 for all 5 sessions per Age Group.
February 25th St Pirans School:
March 3rd St Pirans School:
Lynden Baldwin |
The Maidenhead & Bray Cricket Club Annual General meeting 2011 is to be held at the clubhouse, High Street, Bray on Sunday October 16th starting at midday promptly.
Nominations for Club Officers of the Management Committee and Directors should be sent in writing to the Secretary thesecretary at mandbcc dot co dot uk no later than midday Tuesday October …
Well done Adnan, well deserved promotion also would like to add a few comments.The season didn't …
Comments (2)
Charlie:
Sep 06, 2011 at 03:59 PM
If this story was a film you would just not believe it. Well done to Adnan and to his supporting crew.
Shabaz:
Sep 11, 2011 at 02:14 AM
Well done Adnan, well deserved promotion also would like to add a few comments.The season didn't start too well but it was a great job by Adnan (skipper) to get the players together & motivate theteam, our aim had been very clear in terms were we wanted to become end of season & that was to be promoted, this didn't always Look like it was possible but excellent leadership qualities & the will to win gave the team alot Of confidence which showed in the latter stages of the season The highlight for me was a must win game (to keep our promotion hopes alive)
against Windsor at Windsor who were A very strong team. We beat them convincingly without playing our best cricket.& to beat the top of division team so easily proved We were good enough to be promoted. Yet we still needed to win our last 4games against the top 6 teams in the division, so we still had a long way to go to achieve our goals. Each & every player Stood up & played a big part in the success of the team. I think we Have a great side & should also look for promotion during the 2012 season. The team that is playing at the moment is strong Enough to win division 6 & we will see what happens when we get to
div5. Overall a big success & thank you to Maidenhead bray for the opportunity & all the guys behind the scenes, I hope to have many years of enjoyable Cricket & lots of success.
In the 4s is good enough to play in division 5 Without doubt
& if we play as a team & not As individuals I'm sure we
will have a lot of success In the future, & we can help take
our club m/bray to the the highest standard possible,. Well done
to all the players & especially the captain Adnan, also the
Job done by the groundsman to prepare great yes great Wickets for
us to play on, even though we don't have covers. The standard of
the wicket was very high