Div 2 Round 11: Aliens Vs Gronland
When: 16 July 2016
Where: Rommen
Grønland Cricket Club 207/5 (30.0 ov)
Aliens Cricket Club Aliens - A 180 9 (30.0 ov)
Grønland Cricket Club - Won by 27 runs
The match started poorly for Aliens, with captain Dennis too busy to make it to the middle in time for the toss, former skipper David had to step in and managed to call incorrectly, allowing Grønland first use of the facilities.
Things got off to a good start for Aliens as Tariq finally bowled his first delivery of the season in the batmans half, splattering captain Sheikh’s stumps in the 4th over. He obviously enjoyed this experience as he repeated it an over later, with number three Habil this time the victim. Another few tidy overs from each of the openers passed before Dennis made a double switch, bringing both himself and Arif into the attack. This didn’t pay immediate dividends for the bowlers, but brought a wicket none the same. Shazif pushed one back past Dennis and set off for a single, only to find himself still halfway down when Dan picked up the ball, with plenty of time to think many might have panicked, but dead eye Hollins took his time, took aim and pinged the stumps down form the edge of the circle to leave the batsman well short of his ground. Arif had bowled beautifully in midweek T20 to earn his chance but was obviously nervous to be thrown the ball for the first time in a league game and his first two overs were a touch on the expensive side, but he regained his composure to lure Imtaiz into a false shot which was gobbled up by Tariq inside the circle.
After drinks things did not go so well, in Simon’s first over Nawaz aimed a wild swipe at the ball and succeeded only in hitting it almost straight up in the air, Keeper Mitch called and set himself under the ball, only for Arif to come steaming into his as he caught the ball, resulting in a broken nose for Mitch, and worse, a dropped catch. Things didn’t get any better from there for the 10 remaining Aliens as they managed only one further wicket (Nawaz bowled Damon for 56) as Nawaz, Mahmood and then Mehmood swatted the bowlers to all corners of the outfield, finishing up on 207-5 from their 30 overs, a total that looked far beyond their reach earlier in the day.
The Aliens reply got off to a steady start with Jamie and David taking the score to 22 before the former clipped one straight into the hands of midwicket for 11. The innings continued along with Aliens around the same sort of scores as Grønland at the same landmarks, but possibly lacking in similar firepower lower down the order. The score has ticked along to 59-1 just before drinks when Dennis clipped one off his legs from the off spinner, unfortunately for him the umpires didn’t see this and decided that the ball would have hit the stumps if his bat hadn’t gotten in the way, so off popped a grumbling skipper for 17. Damon arrived to continue to help tick the scoreboard over before he repeated Jamie’s earlier mistake of hitting one pretty well, but straight to a fielder. By now the equation was beginning to get a bit tougher for aliens with 109 needed from the final 9 overs. While these score of chases are regularly successful in the IPL, there aren’t many club sides with the required firepower, and so it proved here. Things briefly looked on as Taufiq blitzed his way to 28 from just 15 balls, while David step from steadily accumulation to all-out attack, but both departed in quick succession to leave the lower order an all but impossible task. Wickets continued to tumble as people looked to secure their place in Aliens folklore (there was even a special guest appearance from Gerard Depardieu at number 11, he made a breezy 5*) but it was in vain as the innings closed on 180 for yet another defeat when a win had earlier seemed on the cards. Once again the difference between the sides was boundary hitting ability, with Grønland scoring 110 runs in boundaries compared to Aliens paltry 54.
