March 13, 2024
GAME ONE
After Saturdays 40 over game was abandoned due to rain, all 3 T20 games went ahead on Sunday. Partly Cloudly and some strong winds but most of the day brought sunshine and warmer weather.
Game 1 of the day saw LMTCC win the toss and elect to bat first. D. Mcclements on his LMTCC debut, led the attack with A. Hussain. However, A.Hussain found himself stumped off his first ball inside the first over. E. Folwer came in at no.3 and ticked the score over before being caught one handed at the 45 position. Captain A. Alger in at his regular no.4 position but found himself stumped a few balls after. 25/3 after the power play.
G.Singh in at 5 to assist D. Mcclements but he could only add 1 run to his tally before he was bowled shortly after. With the score at 28/4 off 7 overs. LMTCC were struggling but the game changed when S. Godan came to the crease at no.6 and hit a maximum in his first few balls. This changed the momentum as the 2 batters then put on 70 runs in the next 10 overs to bring the score up to 98 before D. Mcclements´s debut with the bat came to an end scoring 35 off 38 balls when he was stumped.
With only 2 overs to go before the end of the innings, T. Vine came in to bat and added a quick 10 runs to the board before he was unfortunately run out on the non-strikers end after S. Godan hit the ball back at the bowler to parry it onto the stumps. P. Singh came in and was also run out a few balls after adding a further 8 runs to the board. Then the last over saw S. Goden and K. Wood run out with F. Shezhad and A. Anwar seeing off the rest of the over with the score at 124/9 off 20 overs.
D. Mcclements with his 35 was well accompanied by S. Godan´s 38 off 35 balls.
Now it was time for the defence, F. Shezhad opened the bowling from one end and started off with a maiden before A.Hussain opened the bowling from the other end but was costly for 14 runs. The Runs tickled over as Granada CC came out of the power play 38/0.
The change in the bowling attack bringing on T.Vine and P.Singh saw the breakthrough with the wickets and run rate drop with T.Vine going for 12 off his 3 over spell, whilst P. Singh claimed 3 wickets for 5 runs in his 3 over spell, which included a catch from A. Hussain, a stumping by K. Wood and a bowl out. This brought the game back to 55/3 off 11 overs.
The next 5 overs came from debutee M. Wilson-Pestel (18/0 off 3 overs) A. Anwar (8/1 off 2 overs) and then finished off with G. Singh and S. Goden defending 50 off the last 4 overs with 6 wickets in hand.
G. Singh claimed 3 wickets for 5 runs off his 2 overs which included bowling out the opener who had battled hard for their 22 runs, A catch taken by P. Singh and another stumping by K. Wood.
Meanwhile on the other end, S. Goden finished off his fine day on the field with figures of 12/1 off his 2 overs with his wicket being caught behind.
Granada CC finished their innings 103/8 off their 20 overs.
F. Shezhad 18/0 off 3 overs
A. Hussain 18/0 off 2 overs
T. Vine 12/0 off 3 overs
P. Singh 5/3 off 3 overs
M. Wilson-Pestel 18/0 off 3 overs
A. Anwar 8/1 off 2 overs
G. Singh 5/3 off 2 overs
S. Goden 11/1 off 2 overs.
A good victory for LMTCC to start their 2024 campaign with everyone contributing with bat, ball or field.
GAME 2
After a few hours break from the LMTCC´s victory and then Belper Meadows chasing 108 runs in 9 overs vs Granada CC. It was then time for the 3rd and final game of the weekend.
Belper Meadows won the toss and elected to bat first. Here is how that innings went.
With a few changes from the morning game as C. Wood joined the XI and gave LMTCC as good start as he only went for 4 runs in the opening over. This brought some early pressue and caused an early breakthrough as F. Shezard claimed the first wicket of the innings, bowling out the opener.
An early change in the bowling attack saw A. Hussain come on to bowl in the 5th over and claim his wicket, caught by the replaced bowler C. Wood. This saw LMTCC keep the tourists down to 44/2 off the powerplay. A few overs passed as the score kept creeping up before Captain A. Alger brought himself on to bowl and claimed the wicket of the other opener off his first ball, caught by A. Panchal at Deep Mid-Wicket. 66/3 after 9 overs. Belper Meadows reached 100 in the 13th over without any kind of risk.
The change came when Mr. President himself was given the ball, H. James came on to bowl and caused some issues for the batters who were trying to accelerate their innings now. Keeping the scores tight in his first over, he struck in the second over when he forced the batter to get a bottom edge and after a bit of juggling, keeper K. Wood managed to hold onto the ball. 105/4 off 15.
G. Singh also came on to bowl and claimed a wicket of his own as he clean bowled the batter.
115/5 off 17 and the momentum looked in favor of LMTCC.
Testing the seamers in the death saw C. Wood return to bowl with F. Shezhad and although one of the 3 overs only went for 4 runs, the other 2 overs went for 11 and 14. This saw the score finish on 144/5 off 20 overs with J. Row finishing on 53 not out.
C. Wood- 41/0 off 4
F. Shezhad - 23/1 off 4
A. Hussain - 7/1 off 2
A. Panchal - 20/0 off 3
A. Alger - 27/1 off 3
H. James - 10/1 off 2
G. Singh - 16/1 off 2
Time for the chase. 145 to win.
D. Mcclements got his chance up the top of the order again but this time joined by one of the changes to the squad, A. Panchal. The Belper Meadows seamers seems rather dificult to start with as only 12 runs coming from the first 3 overs. The 4th over saw LMTCC double their score before the 5th saw the first wicket fall. A. Panchal run out taking a single inside the 30 yard circle. This brought K.Wood to the crease at no.3. and saw the powerplay end with LMTCC on 37/1. The two batters built a partnership worth 62 before D. Mcclements innings ended in the 11th over.
The score at 86/2. A. Alger made an immediate impact coming in at 4 with a massive 6 over long on but unfortunately couldn't keep add any more as he skied on to Deep-Midwicket the next over. This started a collapse in the middle as G. Singh, T. Knowles and A. Hussain came in and and were all out for ducks in quick succession. F. Shezhad came in at 8 but could only add 2 more runs to the score before getting out and then C. Wood quickly followed 5 balls later when he was out stumped. E. Fowler joined K. Wood at the crease requiring 44 off the last 2 overs but K. Wood eventually fell too. H. James the last batter in as they saw the innings through but short 37 runs.
LMTCC finish the innings 107/9 off 20 overs. D. Mcclements with 29 off 34 balls and K. Wood scoring 34 off 45 balls.
A defeat by 37 runs against a strong opposition. LMTCC will finish the weekend with alot of positives but also alot of things to practice and work on before the next set of fixtures.
LMTCC would like to thank Granada Cricket Club and Belper Meadows CC for a great weekend and we hope to see both teams again in the future!
LMTCC will resume training next Sunday 17th March which then is quickly followed up by the LMTCC T20 tournament on Friday 22nd March till Sunday 24th March with 8 team participating !
Fixtures and times to follow in the upcoming week.
See you all again soon !!!
KIERAN WOOD - LA MANGA CC
