When: 09 MAY 2015

Where: Stubberudmyra

Alna Cricket Club Alna Cricket Club 182/8 (31.2 ov)

Aliens Cricket Club 181/5 (35.0 ov)

Alna Cricket Club - Won by 2 wickets

See the scorecard at CricHQ

The 2nd league game of the season was up against Alna, at a sunny but damp Stubberudmyra, with a green and lush outfield. Stand in Captain Steve, won the toss and elected to bat. The fresh opening pair of Marcus Lyon (19 off 45, 2x4) and David Kuhlwilm (73 off 93, 5x4) were met by some tight bowling but got the Aliens of to a solid start of 64 off the first 16 overs. Marcus was the first to fall, when he was caught off a leading edge trying to up the scoring. Jamie (14 off 15, 1x4) was next in and out, when he was confused by the slowness of a straight ball, missed it and adjudicated LBW. Waqar (12 off 20) was next in and he and Dave shared a 30 run stand in which Dave started taking a more aggressive approach to the bowling. Waqar got out caught at gully, trying to hit the ball into orbit over midwicket. Dave was then joined by our first debutant of the day, aussie Simon Gazdowicz (24* off 22, 1x4) who was playing his first game in years, but supported Dave well in a partnership of 25. After a flurry of 2’s, a tiring Dave finally fell for a very well-played 73, when trying to clear long off. Dennis (23 off 16, 1x6) was next in and he and Simon saw out most of the remaining overs, adding a very handy 47 runs, before Dennis was out off the penultimate ball. Ahmad (0* off 0), stole a bye off the last ball and Aliens ended on 181 runs off their allotted 35 overs.

After a short break, Waqar (7 overs, 1 for 38) and Steve (7 overs, 2 for 24) set about the Alna batsmen with a wonderful combination of controlled line and length and brutish aggression. Waqar picked up the first wicket, LBW, off an inswinging yorker, plumb as plumb can be. Steve soon picked up the 2nd wicket after pushing the batsman back into his crease with a barrage of quick short balls before pitching one up, which cut back in and hit the top of middle. He should have had his 2nd shortly after, but cement-foot Cameron put down a toughish chance at 1st slip and earned himself match report duties. Thankfully this didn’t cost much as Steve produced another edge, which was gobbled up by keeper Simon, for his first scalp for the club. Waqar was replaced by Dennis (7 overs, 1 for 41) after 4 tight overs. After a couple of questionable warm up delivers, Dennis quickly found his rhythm and picked up the 4th wicket, caught by Steve at mid-on. Steve finished his 7 overs on the trot and was replaced by the 2nd Aliens debutant, Ahmad** (7 overs, 3 for 47) who got a bit of stick early on, but recovered very well to pick up 3 wickets. The 1st of which was edged to slip, 2nd being bowled and the 3rd was expertly stumped by Simon, late in the innings. Unfortunately for the Aliens, the Alna nr 6 (85 runs off 51 balls, 6x4 and 5x6) fancied the bowling a bit and seemed to enjoy hitting sixes. This was something that puzzled our old stalwart (Marcus), who cheekily commented that balls like those we were bowling usually got blocked in the Eliteseries. Alna gave us plenty of chances but we didn’t take enough of them, resulting in Alna chasing down our score with 2 wickets in hand, off 31.2 overs.

Highlights of the game (my subjective opinion) include top quality batting from David and some great, hostile bowling from Steve. The old adage remains true though, catches win matches fellas.

**Ahmad debuted for the club in England a couple of weeks ago, but this was his first league appearance.