The last Saturday in July saw Accies' First Eleven line up in a must win
bottom-of-the-table clash with Kelburne at Accies.
The visitors won the toss and pessimistically invited Fraser Murray and his
team to bat first on a typical "belter" of an Accies deck.
Sid Hariharan was given out lbw early on, but then the quality of the pitch
told as Fraser Murray and Richard Andrew shared a stand of 81 to give Accies
a firm platform. Richard managed to hit his maiden 1XI 50 from his new
position opening the batting.
In the latter stages of the innings, some manic running and enthusiastic
flinging of the bat saw the end of most of the middle- and lower-order and
checked the scoring rate but Accies finished with a competitive total of
184-7. On-song skipper Fraser Murray finished with a solid, unbeaten 83.
After a tea break tragically too short for Sid to finish his second slice of
chocolate cake, the match really got going.
The start couldn't have been better for Accies - first ball from opening
batsman/bowler, Richard Andrew, rapped Bennett on the pads in front of
middle and leg and the umpire's finger rose after a huge, all-Accies appeal.
The first over seemed about to turn even sweeter for Accies as Randy
produced a beautiful delivery, which convinced an entire team that they had
seen Kelburne No.3, Robin, caught behind. Sadly for Accies, neither batsman
nor umpire was convinced by the ensuing shout.
Robin and Bailey then shared a stand of 51 for the second wicket, before
Nigel Campbell outwitted the number 2 batsman and overseas player to have
him caught and bowled.
Another large stand, this time exactly 50, followed before Kelburne's number
4 was trapped in front by Vedam Hariharan straight after drinks. At 101-3,
Kelburne seemed in control.
Nish Goyal produced one of the deliveries of the day when he fired an
in-swinging yorker through the defences of Kelburne's young number 5 to
leave the score at 108-4.
Soon afterwards, Accies were again convinced that the Kelburne number 3 had
been caught behind, this time off the bowling of Campbell. Second time
round, the umpire saw Accies' side of the appeal and sent Robin packing for
66. Tommy Milne took an excellent catch at long-on to remove the Kelburne
keeper for only 3, and Accies seemed to have a way back into the match.
Sadly then a good partnership developed which could only be broken by quick
thinking and a blistering direct hit from the edge of the 30-yard circle.
Sid's pinpoint throw left an unsuspecting, ambling batsman several feet
short at the striker's end.
At this point, Kelburne needed only 7 runs to win from the next 5 overs and
seemed certainties for victory.
Before the 8th wicket partnership had begun, though, it was over - the
settled McLister hit a drive firmly into the covers and set off straight
away on a run. The ball was scooped up by Neil Dowers at cover and flicked
into the gloves of Edd Hunter, who quickly dislodged the bails, completing
the second run out in three balls. Accies seemed once again to have a chance.
2 overs later, Vedam Hariharan took the key wicket of McLister who,
frustrated by a lack of runs coming in the covers, played all round a
straight ball and was bowled. 4 runs to win for Kelburne; 1 wicket for
Accies.
Number 10 took a single off the first ball off the penultimate over of the
innings, being bowled by Campbell, leaving number 11 5 balls to block out.
He managed this
for 2 balls before going back in front of his stumps,
swinging across the line, being hit plumb in front and seeing the finger
rise.
Cue wild Accies celebrations. Everybody knew how much this match meant and
the celebrations matched its value.
Scorecard: Glasgow Accies (25) 184 for
7 beat Kelburne (8) 184ao by 2 runs