A strong BGCC first
eleven made their Division One debut away at Moseley CC. Captain
Andy Ford won the toss and chose to bat first on a sunny but windy
day with showers forecast. This was also the first league game under
the new ODI rules.
Openers Jon and Adam Dovey had put on 23 before Adam was given out
caught behind by Yousaf off the bowling off Eburagh for 9, with more
than a suspicion that it clipped his pad rather than bat. This
brought Alex Hepburn to the wicket but his Birmingham League debut
ended abruptly when he was also caught behind by Yousaf off the
bowling of Dulai without scoring.
Phil Harris, coming in at four, continued where he started off last
week – for the second week in a row his first scoring shot was a six
when he hooked Dulai over towards the clubhouse. The pace quickened
and BGCC hit 50 in the 12th over when Jon Dovey also hooked Dulai
for 6 – dislodging a few slates off the clubhouse roof in the
process. Harris continued hitting freely, with a straight six off T
Watts bringing up his 50 off only 27 balls and another bringing up
BGCC’s 100 in the 16th over.
Moseley turned to spin by bringing on Awan and Hafeez and this
slowed the pace a little and ended the partnership when Jon Dovey
was caught behind by Yousaf off Awan for 28. Kev Golder came and
made a quickfire 9 before chipping one back to Awan. With the score
on 140 for 4 after 24th over the game was nicely poised. Captain
Ford joined Harris. Ford batted steadily supporting Harris who again
picked up the pace, it was his turn to dislodge some tiles twice in
two overs when he hit Awan twice for 6 over long, first to bring up
the 150 and then to reach his century off only 79 balls.
The score had moved onto 229 when Harris was caught by Chase at
mid-off, off the bowling of Dulai. Harris’s impressive innings of
123 came off 110 balls in 139 minutes and included 6 fours and 9
sixes. Graeme Cessford came in at 6, but in trying to push on in the
power play got himself out for 5, caught by Chase at cover off T
Watts. Elliot Hennessy came in at 8 and kept the scoreboard ticking
over. Ford completed his half century when he guided one through
third man for 4. Two quick wickets fell in the last over as BGCC
tried to squeeze every run out of the 50 overs. First Hennessy top
edged one to Pickering at cover point then Ford was trapped lbw for
51 giving T Watts his third wicket. Dannie Rees and Ash Brewer added
3 singles of the last 3 balls to set the final total of 266 for 8
off 50 overs.
Due to two brief rain breaks and a delayed start after tea, the
calculators were out the tea break and Moseley were set a revised
target of 237 to win off 42 overs.
Two quick wickets for both opening bowlers meant Moseley were 7 for
2; first Harris clean bowled Taylor for 0 then Cessford claimed his
first BGCC wicket when he bowled Pickering for 3. Wickets fell
regularly throughout the Moseley innings which affected their
ability to keep up with the run rate of 5.64. Jon Dovey trapped
Jones lbw for 10 to make the score 32 for 3 after 10. The solid
Chase was joined by Hafeez and this partnership looked key to the
game; they had put on 51 when Ford dismissed he dangerous Hafeez lbw
for 19. Yousaf was then run out by a smart pick up, turn and throw
from Harris at slip to reduce Moseley to 95 for 5.
Moseley rallied when Chase and J Watts began hitting out. Watts had
hit Ford for two sixes before he had revenge two balls later –
getting him caught by Rees at cow corner for 25 off only 14 balls.
Off spinner Kingsland then all but ended Moseley hopes of reaching
the target when he dismissed Chase – caught well by Hepburn on the
deep mid-wicket boundary – for 58. T Watts came in at 8 and he
looked impressive but he was left 23 not out when the last 3 wickets
fell. Awan was caught by Hennessy at cow corner off Dovey, Dulai was
bowled by Cessford and Eburagh was smartly stumped by Brewer off
Kingsland. Moseley were dismissed for 181in the 36th over – 56 runs
short of their target.
The wickets were evenly distributed between the bowlers and as a
team BGCC made good use of the new format – taking advantage of the
power plays with the bat and varying the bowling to not allow the
Moseley batsmen to settle. The new ODI rules on wides affected all
the green bowlers and it is thanks to some spectacular diving stops
from keeper Brewer that the extras did not total more than 22.
Overall it was a pleasing start to the 2013 campaign with a 20 point
haul.