4th XI defeated at Wilmslow

Eventually 11 Timperley players mustered at Wilmslow in readiness for a match against the league leaders. Everyone knew that strange things were afoot when it was realised that Krishna had got to the ground first instead of straggling in a few minutes before the start.

Wilmslow elected to bat first on a worn green pitch. The ground was short straight but long wide and it looked as if it was likely a few balls were going to be lost. Mo & Waz opened the bowling and it was clear that we needed to utilise the new ball well as both Wilmslow openers looked to press on from the start. Both beat the bat regularly but could not induce snicks to hand. Eventually Mo had one of them well held at deep mid-off by Mo Tay off a steepler and it was game on. The remaining opener kept at it and was scoring freely. Mo Tay was introduced to the attack and had a bit of chirp with him resulting in a smashed drive to deep mid-off where Waz held a superb running catch to make it 56 for 2. The third wicket was worth 74 and the game began to slip away from Timperley as a few lofted balls frustratingly landed in space.

The partnership was broken when Ameya had Hargreaves expertly held at deep square leg by Krishna for 38 and it was 130 for 3 and it looked likely that a 280 ish target was in the offing. The Wilmslow 5 looked terrible but still scored 28, including a big 6 onto the leisure centre roof. We managed to regain a little control over the last ten overs or so, Mo U bowling Bharat for 74 and Kabir grabbing a couple of great run outs from the deep cover position to leave Wilmslow finished on 237 for 9 which seemed gettable on a small ground.

With a challenging target facing the team we knew that a few would need to play well and that the scoreboard would need to be kept ticking over. Unfortunately the Wilmslow opening bowlers were having none of it and kept the Timperley response well under control with accurate seam bowling that was difficult to get away. Amaya fell first to a good diving catch at mid-on and the rot set in at 22 for 1. Zain fell soon thereafter trying to take the initiative but was cleaned up by Pranesh for 19 to make it 27 for 2. Mo U then watched bemused from the non-strikers end as a procession of ducks took the stage. Kabir strangled out down the leg side, Bilal bowled playing defensively, Gary edging behind playing defensively, Waz bowled slogging, Mo T bowled playing defensively & Joe bowled as well (I blinked and could not tell if he was blocking or not). Lo & behold 37 for 8 and the game is effectively over. Krishna goes caught and bowled for 1 off a ball that was most probably a no ball but the horse had bolted by then.

Incometh Raj (2 not out in 42 balls) who supported Mo well in some slight honour restoration. They put on 36 for the last wicket and seemed comfortable against the Wilmslow second string bowlers. It all ended in the 27th over when Mo edged behind to finish the game. He had scored 32 and was the only bat who looked in any sort of control of things in the middle.

Comprehensively outplayed by the Wilmslow bowlers we have to hope for better things next week.