4th XI Victorious

It was a nice day for Cricket that saw the 4th XI straggle in to meet at Heaton Mersey Village. In fact 3 of the team were so late it left the Captain no option than to bat first on a wicket that on inspection you hoped would play better than it looked. It did not.

So for the Jeckyl bit…Bhatti & Carr opened and it soon became apparent that the openers were in different moods. Carr circumspect and Bhatti in a ‘smash it for six’ mind set . This was to be Bhatti’s downfall with him playing a hopeless slog and missing it to be bowled for 7. A free gift for the Heatons. Graham was bowling well for the Heatons and would eventually land figures of 4 for 12 from 10 by innings close and he dismissed both Carr & Usman from balls that displayed irregular bounce. Iveson missed a good one as well and the innings was in some difficulty with only Khan showing any authority in the top order. Fisher was bowled through the gate by Parchment for 0, leading to a few circuits of the ground to reflect and connect with his inner self as there were no cats to kick.

Perhaps believing the tide had turned Khan tried to take the initiative back from the bowlers but played a limp loft into the covers to end what had been a battling performance for 35. The tail wagged a bit, led by Muzaffar (21) and Sajja (7) but both will be disappointed with the soft nature of their dismissals. Timperley all out for 118 against a bowling attack which bowled predominantly in the right areas to make scoring difficult. All the same,most of top order will have thought that they should have done better.

Through tea the deflated mood of the Timperley team was soothed by the Churchillian words of Bangee who was convinced they would win although I suspect few believed him.

Then Mr Hyde turned up. Recognising there was a game to be had the Timperley bowlers gave the same back to the Heatons and put the ball (mainly) in the right places. Usman bowled with his normal skill and would take 2 for 6 off 10 in two spells including 6 maidens. He was well supported in the field and some good catches were held as well as a sharp run out to put the Heatons up against it on run rate. Tayyab took 2 for 36 but was not at his best. Sajja was introduced towards the tail of the innings when Usman & Tayyab were bowled out and stepped up to the plate manfully to show a lot of bottle in bowling 9 overs, 3 for 27. Eventually it boiled down to 6 off the last over & 2 off the last ball and pulses raced as the ball was smashed to Usman at deep mid-off. Thankfully he fielded it cleanly and raced to the wicket to leave the Heatons one run shy of a tie. No one more thankful than Fisher who could have won the game 5 overs or so earlier with a missed run out.

It was great to win a tight fixture such as this but the team needs to tighten up. Poor application whilst batting and too many extras will catch up with them some day.