See scorecard here

We lost the toss and were put into bowl. With started with Mohsin Nawaz and Enzo Balke who both applied the pressure from the get go. Enzo picked up the first wicket caught by the safe hands of Sid Tewari in the deep. In Mohsin's third over he was on the verge of another hatrick, bowling the other opener and following it with an LBW but they managed to defend out the rest of the over. Amair Naseer took the reigns from Enzo and Sid took over from Mosh. Sid bowled really tight and built up the pressure and in his 2nd over was rewarded picking the danger man who was looking settled bowled! Mosh picked up a run out and we had five wickets down. Umer Razi came in and although despite going for 16 in his first over grabbed a wicket providing Mosh with a catch. Sid then picked up the other danger man enticing him down the pitch to the eagerly awaiting Alex Wollauz who removed the stumps. Umer then snatched two more in his 3rd over. First bowled and the second caught and bowled. Ahmad Bilal had just one over before Umer picked up his 4th and final wicket of the game for a chasable total of 127. A great all round fielding performance as they had 88 for not many after 10 overs.
After bowling so well Umer needed a breather and passed the buck to Aamir with great results.Sid faced nine deliveries before being bowled for 5. The opposition were bowling well. But that didn't stop Aamir and Alex putting on 35 run partnership before Alex got a corker of a delivery and was bowled 16(16). Umer came in and he and Aamir put on another 44 with Aamir really enjoying his time at the crease and playing some nice, and sometimes interesting shots around the ground. Umer was then stumped 11(18). I came in and we put on 22 more before I too was bowled 10(16). Ahmad came in and whacked a 2 and two fours before being bowled 10(4). Aamir's luck finally run out just short of his 50. 43 off 30 balls. We needed about ten more runs with a few overs remaining. Shayne Rotte managed 2(9) of them before being bowled and Sunny also adding 2(2) and the nerves seemed to be creeping in. Mosh and Enzo battled away. It came down to the last over, Ted Richards sat anxiously waiting, as he waited to see if the others could muster the last four runs required. Enzo 2(4*) grabbed a quick single and then our hero came in the form of the match winning shot from Mosh 5(4*) as he "placed" the ball, which was dropped the by the slip, over the boundary for four GAME OVER!!!!!! It was a really great match.
I must comment on the sportsmanship of both sides. It really reminded me what cricket is all about and why we all spend our time to come down and play.

Damien McMullen

See scorecard here

* Touring side led by Phil Tompkins (of Moseley Ashfield CC, Birmingham), but just a scratch XI of friends. ​

The day was a little wet and humid and we skipped the toss as the opposition opted to bowl first and we opened with the sturdy duo of Umer Razi and Siddhartha Tewari who put on a 46 run opening stand before was out caught for a quickfire 24(16) which brought Alex to the crease. He and Sid then put on another 42 before Sid was caught behind for a solid 21(33). Meanwhile Alex was playing textbook cover drives and all sorts of good, aggressive shots. Ted Richards came in but wasn't lucky and was bowled for 2(3) Rollo Bennett added one more to the total before he too to was bowled.Rob's mate Abe then jumped in after a few years without a bat and Alex pulled up another 50 to put himself well in contention for highest run scorer this year. Abe managed some good shots until he was finally caught and bowled 20(22), by our very own Mohsin Ahmed Nawaz who had decided to play the villain for the day. Nirjon Hasan came in and then Alex was finally dismissed (Mosh again!) for a very healthy 54 (36). Rob Paterson hit a four and then the overs were up for our good total of 164.
We opened with Nirjon and Alex. Alex struck first luring the batsmen down the pitch to be stumped by the nimble Nadim Aseq A Arman. Sai Raja Gopal playing his last match bowled really well and gave nothing away. Rollo picked up their number three batsmen cleaned bowled. Sidd chipped in to remove the other opener and their top run maker also bowled. Ted got a rattle too and Sid got another with a catch from Umer. There were two runouts one by Umer and the other by Sid. I gave myself a bowl and snuck in two wickets in a row to clean up the tail. And that was that we bowled them over for 122. 42 runs short.
All in all a good game, a good laugh, and a good bunch of chaps. We sat down for our usual chinwag.
Damien McMullen