COMBINED COLLEGES GO ONE UP IN LEAGUE SERIES

COMBINED COLLEGES GO ONE GAME TO THE GOOD

Championship Decider – First Leg

Combined Colleges CC  v  Fuengirola CC

12^th June 2011

Combined Colleges won the toss and elected to bat.

Match won by Combined Colleges CC by 26 runs

With the Southern Spanish Cricket League thrown into confusion by the demise of Malaga CC the race for the title came down to a best-of-three championship decider to be played on alternate Sundays from 12^th June

In this first leg Fuengirola’s tight early bowling was maintained throughout the innings, keeping Combined Colleges to a below-par score of 158.  Combined Colleges unusual opening pair of Previn and Ashan contrasted in style.  Previn waited patiently for the opportunity to score while Ashan was determined to try to score quickly.

In the fourth over he flashed at the first ball outside the off stump and missed.  Ditto second ball.  Almost ditto third ball except that he connected and sent a catch straight to Sidhu at backward point.  Azard (32) and Previn put on a partnership of 62 in 15 overs before Azard sent a catch straight to Hassan at mid off.

Three overs later Previn sent a hard catch straight back to bowler Tanveer and then the wickets began to tumble.  In just 18 deliveries 94 for 3 became 96 for 6 before Brian and Kasun steadied the boat a little.  Onlookers may have been puzzled as to how this happened since, despite exhortations to take it easy and just stick in there, Kasun clearly had his twenty/20 head on and played all sorts of adventurous shots (including a reverse sweep)  none of which carried the Boycott seal of approval.  Combined Colleges ended their innings with one ball remaining on 158 all out.  Previn top scored with 46.  Tanveer’s 7 overs, 3 wickets for 18 was a magnificent spell for Fuengirola.

After the interval Fuengirola, needing almost exactly 4 ½ runs per over found it no easier to score runs than Combined Colleges had before them but did find themselves consistently behind the asking rate.  The opening pair of Shaid Mahmood and Afzal shared a stand of 26 in 7 overs before Shaid tickled one round the corner where veteran Fernando had used the experience of his years to place himself in exactly the right spot to take the catch. 

After this partnerships were notable by their absence until the end of the innings.  After 10 overs Fuengirola were 3 down for 31 and in a bit of trouble.  What don’t you need when your backs are to the wall?  A silly run out of course. 

Hassan and Sham had stopped the rot by staying together for 7 overs and 19 runs when they ended up both stranded in the middle of the pitch.  The problem for Combined colleges was whether to throw the ball to the bowler’s end, throw it to the striker’s end or to discuss the matter over the proverbial cup of tea before deciding.

In the end it was Hassan who trudged back to the pavilion.  Two overs and one wicket later the question was – what don’t you need when your backs are even closer to the wall.  Another silly run out of course.

This time it was Asad who took a despairing glance at the umpire, knowing the finger had to go up.  And that was almost it. After 26 overs Fuengirola were 87 for 9 with no chance of victory.  However, nobody seemed to have told Tanveer and Shahid. 

The last wicket pair just kept on hitting the ball and with three overs left needed an improbable but not impossible 11 runs per over.  They had taken the mood from disbelief in the possibility of victory through nagging doubt and  into the faintest glimmer of hope before Tanveer fell, bowled, attempting another mighty blow.  Tanveer top scored with 28.

Man of the match goes to Tanveer for his excellent bowling and late order against-the-odds batting.