Anniesland 258-7 beat Inverclyde 123-6 by 125 runs.
Match played at New Anniesland, Glasgow on Saturday 24th June 2023 at 12:00.
Western Union Championship Three, 40 overs-a-side.
Match Report- Anniesland vs Inverclyde
Inverclyde made the trip down to New Anniesland to take on the league leaders who were looking for their 7th win in their 7th game in champ 3. Anniesland lost the toss, the Inverclyde skipper (seam bowler) choose to bowl first on a wicket with moisture and cloud clover.
Sathish and Ramsay came out to open, looking to negotiate what would obviously be a tricky first few overs. The ball was hooping in and they got off to cautious start. Sathish looked good early on with a nice boundary however was bowled by a great outswinging delivery in the thrid over. The next wicket fell in the 8th as Ramsay departed lbw. In the 14th Accies were reduced to 44-3 as Fraser was given lbw on 10 runs.
Anniesland were once again down a good few wickets for not many runs, but, Kapil at number 3 had got his eye in. Kapil unleashed a catalogue of fantastic shots as he pulled, cut, and drove Anniesland out of trouble and put the pressure back on Inverclyde. At 20 overs Anniesland were 86-3. Kapil and QQ at the crease as they looked to get to the 120 mark, then kick on after. The 120 mark was achieved in the 24th and QQ looked to kick on as soon as he saw it. In the 25th over he came down the track to launch the spinner right over his head, unfortunately for him, his bottom hand prevailed as his batface closed and he connected with the outside portion of the toe and put on straight up to mid off. An 87 run partnership came to an end. The opening bowler returned at the other end and bowled what was the longest over in the history of cricket. After pulling out of his run up multiple times and changing the field, he bowled Kapil who lost his focus and had a big swing. Then he struck again after pulling out of his run up another 4 odd times in the over and changing to spin and bowling Ian. Anniesland were reduced to 136-6. Karan came in and ensured the boundaries kept coming for a couple of overs before he was bowled trying to slog legside. At 147-7 Ed came in, he batted smartly and made sure Sunil had strike at every chance he could. Sunil at the other side went ballistic, deposting the Inverclyde spinners all over the ground. This partnership ended up worth 80 odd, with Ed graciously retiring not out before the start of the 40th to let Ek face a few balls. However, sunil needed 28 for his ton and he fancied his chances. First ball 6, Second ball 6, 3rd ball 4, 4th ball 2. But the he failed to connect with the 5th. Anniesland finished on 258-7 in the end, courtesy of two fantastic innings of 91* from Sunil and 72 from Kapil.
With the ball things were a little less entertaining. With a massive target set Inverclyde never tried to give it a shot, instead they set a goal of not getting bowled out. Sunil clean bowled the number 2. The other opener was run out by a good throw from Sathish that went straight to Ian who was nowhere near the stumps and had no idea there was a run out chance on, however, the batman just gave up and Ian took the bails. Sid as usual bowled well and 2 wickets. Inverclydes number 5 stuck around for a long time despite some extremely close lbw shouts, and a caught behind shout. However, Ed managed to bowl him in the 37th, and gave him the full bhoona with a Hasan Ali type celebration. Fraser rolled his arm in the last over and with that the game ended. Inverclyde finished on 122-6. A long and boring bowling innings but a very good one for our NRR.
Potm- Sunil
Champagne Moment- Eds wicket and subsequent celebration