MidWeek XI versus The Nomads XI - Weds 7th Aug 2013

M & B came out on top of their annual midweek fixture against The Nomads on Wednesday by 59 runs in the end. M & B fielded a side containing four of the hung over tourists from Bournemouth. Skipper Armstrong had no hesitation in choosing to bat upon winning the toss. He was given a good start by openers Cam Jacobsen & Sachin Moudgil who posted a rapid 53 in the first 9 overs with fine stroke play and a plethora of extras, mainly byes. Jacobsen was the first to go caught in the slips off an intentional guide to third man , very rare at this level of cricket. It was good to see Moudgil play so fluently, as always strong on the drive and one notable wristy whip off his legs for four. Moudgil added a further fifty partnership for the second wicket with Yusuf Qureshi before he departed lbw having been starved of the strike for a number of overs. Qureshi was a bit more circumspect on this occasion taking 12 overs to compile his 30, albeit there were a number of fluent scoring shots. Qureshi fell shortly after Moudgil's wicket to leave the game evenly poised with two new batsmen at the wicket.

Tom Wilding & Ben Ward both came in when the two opposition spinners were in tandem, with Collins in the middle of a very frugal spell. Wilding used his proficient drive as his release valve whilst Ward relied on the pull and sweep. Although the spinners bowled well the batsmen did not nudge the singles enough with many singles on offer against a few ageing fielders. In the period between 20 to 30 overs only 41 were scored leaving the score at 146 for 3 with 10 to go. M & B were lucky to have the in form Raoul Cheema coming in at 5 and he was able to raise the scoring tempo, aided by Atif Amin in the final 9 overs. After a close run out appeal Cheema was quickly into his stride with his fluent drives and well placed pushes for 2's, expanding his repertoire with pulls and well placed cuts. In the end Cheema & Amin were able to combine to post a fifth wicket partnership of 48 in 9 overs scoring 42no & 15no respectively, to leave just below par on 219 for 5 off their 40 overs.

M & B needed a good start with the ball to create pressure and that's what opening bowlers Adam Dean & Yusuf Qureshi were able to do. Qureshi bowled his best spell of the season, a controlled aggressive spell of 6/2/13/1 topped off with the wicket of skipper Brockton in his penultimate over. Dean bowled a controlled spell of 8/1/29/0 and was unlucky to be wicketless. The crucial passages of play though came in the space of two overs. The tight bowling forced a run out of opener Steele courtesy of a good pick up by Ward throwing the ball to Armstrong to give him the formality of tipping off the bails, to break the left hand right hand partnership, which is such a pain. In the next over, Tom Allen's(GT) first, his first pie, his third ball, a short friendly delivery asking to be hit, was duly drilled, by returning player, Fahad Raja, but unfortunately for the opposition straight to Cheema, who doesn't drop catches. So in the space of two overs The Nomads were right behind the eight ball.

Skipper Armstrong was in the middle of a probing spell and scoreboard pressure resulted in the wicket of Peerless, who inside edged a drive onto his stumps to give Armstrong a rare wicket. From then on M & B seemed to have the game in the bag if they could maintain their concentration. Armstrong bowled through to finish with figures of 8/1/30/2 and GT finished with flattering figures of 8/1/26/3, albeit his final wicket was courtesy of a beautiful flighted delivery which hit the top of off. Jacobsen and Amin tidied up proceedings to leave The Nomads well short on 160 for 9 off their allocation, with Ghosh helping himself to 61 no in a losing cause.