Another enjoyable match for the Midweek XI resulted in a comfortable win against a forceless Cumbernauld side.
The Ringer
The tone was set from the first ball of the match as Khalid Suleiman, the Kiwi unit, dispatches a loose ball to the boundary. Khalid played some tremendous strokes, but nothing unnecessary.
The first partnership was an exciting start to the match, and quite a spirit-breaking one for the Cumbernauld side who appeared frustrated by Khalid’s talents. Anthony Revell scored 4 from his 6 balls in the time our New Zealander faced 24.
The second partnership was an expansion of the first, with Beattie scoring 3 of the 53 in the 8 balls he faced.
Prem Kumar, a fairly new member of the club looked promising, and patient, scoring a stylish boundary and taking two the next ball. He was, however, caught at mid-wicket the following delivery.
Alex Cochrane unfortunately was dismissed from his first ball for his third midweek game in a row… next game Alex!
Mark Dodds hung around for a bit, fending off the ball nicely, then hitting a lovely boundary to backwards-square-leg.
Khalid all the while was racking up runs, and finished on 101… retired!
Jim McLaren and Alasdair Wilson then scored a few more runs, Alasdair gallantly running himself out on the last ball of the innings.
Due to Cumbernauld’s late arrival, overs were reduced to 18, though Cumbernauld faced 20 overs.
A fine knock by Khalid Suleiman, and as for the rest, well… *nod empathetically and encouragingly*
Tidy Bowling and a Wonderful Team Spirit
The “new” ball was thrown to Prem Kumar, bowling from the Chamberlain Road End. Prem bowled on-the-spot seamers from the first ball, piling the pressure on Cumbernauld openers Innes and Anderson.
Mike Callaghan, bowling his suddenly magnificent and consistent medium pace also tied down the Cumbernauldians.
Six overs in, the pair had, however, not taken any wickets, so young skipper Dick took it upon himself to try his hand at the job- and did fairly well, finishing with figures of [5-0-12-3].
And joining him from the clubhouse end was thrilling left-arm-spinner T.O.D.Fleming, who bowled with outstanding consistency and potential.
The spin twins had soon dismissed five between them, and finally the ball was prized out of the skipper's hands!
After some controversy, the captains decided to play a 20-over innings as “the game was decided”, with Anthony and Alex bowling to varying standards.
Summary
Bloody fantastic!
The Midweek XI has come on a great deal since their first match away at Cumbernauld. Far more self-reliant… in a bowling sense!
Coz