MAL Beat Chelsea In Middx League
MAL wrapped up their 2010 Middlesex Sunday Cricket League Division Three campaign with a hard fought away win against Kensington & Chelsea in Barnes on Sunday.
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MILLET SPORT
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MAL 181 (38.1 overs) Greg Corin 49, Mark Landau 27, Matthew Plax 26, Rav 3-25, Kishor 3-34, G 2-19
Kensington & Chelsea CC 116 (24 overs) Ben 38, Sandeep 31, Klinger 6-31, Charlie Sherrard 3-17, G Lebens 1-1
MAL won by 65 runs
Sunday, 29 August, 2010
With the opposition having failed to reserve their normal pitch there was a little initial confusion as to whether the game would go ahead, before a pitch was found.
It was very under-prepared and KCCC had no hesitation in inviting MAL to bat first. With the ball seaming and swinging it was difficult to get the bowling away although Mark Landau was able to get some crisp boundaries away.
Max Sherrard struggled to time the ball and eventually found a fielder to be dismissed for 5 by Kishor. Corin joined Landau and the pair set about building a solid platform. They took the score to 85 at drinks, before Landau was caught at point shortly after, for a gritty 27. Next man in Matt Plax was aggressive from the outset and he and Corin lifted the run rate in an enterprising stand of 59 (which was interrupted for a short but very heavy rain shower) – though Plax's dismissal for 26 saw MAL lose 5 wickets for 10 runs in 4 overs, with Corin falling for a valuable 49, Yoni Schurder for 0, Gav Lebens for 2, and Tony Wise for 3. The last couple of wickets added some useful runs to get MAL up to 181, with Yitzy Hill and Josh Begner making 8 and 5 respectively.
After tea, the returning Yoni Schurder and Tony Wise opened the bowling. The Kensington & Chelsea opening batsmen were ultra aggressive and went after the bowlers from the off. There were some loose balls, and some poor catching, but some spectacular batting as they took the score to 58 without loss from just 6 overs, Schurder's 3rd over disappearing for 18 with 2 enormous sixes over long on. Gav Lebens had to change the bowling to try and stem the flow.
This started with Charlie Sherrard's first over just going for 3, and then Michael Klinger picked up the dangerous Sandeep for 31 with his first ball, Yitzy Hill hanging on to a tough catch at mid on. Klinger picked up another wicket in his second over, the ball after being launched for 6, a smart piece of bowling and swift work from Corin to stump the other gun KCCC batsman for 38. None of the other KCCC batsmen looked as comfortable as the openers and MAL really started to get a grip on the game. Klinger's 3rd over also produced a wicket, Quintal caught behind by Corin, before Sherrard got just reward for his persistent accuracy, having Rav LBW for 3.
With the runrate required still well below 4, a sensible partnership could still have won the game for KCCC, but Klinger bowled James for 1. The 6th wicket prompted a swift end to the game, Sherrard taking two wickets in his final over, and Klinger 2 wickets in his final over, with some outstanding catches being taken (particular mention to Tony Wise’s one handed grab at short midwicket, and Gav Lebens for a diving grab at mid-wicket. Given how well Kensington & Chelsea had come out of the traps, Sherrard and Klinger were outstanding, with figures of 3-17 and 6-31 respectively from their 8 overs to totally take the game away from the opposition. It was left to skipper Gav Lebens to wrap things up, having his opposite number Pramod caught at mid on for 1.
A return of 8 wins from 10 league games represents a fantastic return, and we can only look forward to an assault on Division 2 in 2011.
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MILLET SPORT
