CORDOBA SEE OFF MALAGA

Southern Spanish Cricket League

Malaga CC v Cordoba CC  02 May 2010.                                   Won by Cordoba CC by 25 Runs.

Cordoba CC won the toss and elected to Bat.

Malaga CC 166 All Out , 7 points.                     Cordoba CC 191 all out , 18 points.

Cordoba won the toss and elected to bat on a warm sunny Malaga day with a cooling sea breeze.  A run out in the first over wasn’t how they would have chosen to start.  They put this behind them though, laying bat to ball to reach 33 in the fifth over before losing their second wicket then on to 92 for three in the thirteenth over.  A hefty total looked on the cards at this point but the Malaga bowlers stuck to their task, removing batsmen at almost metronomic intervals to prevent any build up of batting momentum. 

It was only the persistence of Shoaib Hussain coming in at number three and carrying his bat throughout the remainder of the innings for a fine 77 which carried Cordoba to a respectabe 191 all out.  Kashif Mehmood with 21 and Addil Raza with 17 were the only other Cordoba batsmen to reach double figures, with the remaining seven contributing 32 between them.  The Cordoba wickets were shared around the Malaga bowlers apart from the 4 for 38 taken by Kazam Ali.

Malaga managed to outdo Cordoba in the “wouldn’t have chosen to start like that stakes”, when the opening batsman gloved Shoaib Hussain’s first ball of the innings to the wicketkeeper.  Malaga then began to score reasonably freely, with Amjad Ali (24) and Waqas Ali (22) making good contributions to a mid innings score of 104 for 5 off 19 overs and Malaga looking well set to overhaul Cordoba’s score.  Alas, the tail proved too long and too fragile.  Asif Tarar held the late middle order together in fine fashion for 38 and began to look as if he might be able haul his team over the finishing line, but Cordoba had a cunning plan. 

They restricted the strike away from Asif and bowled tightly, conceding just eleven runs in six overs.   With the pressure building for more runs they offered Asif a chance to hit over the mid wicket boundary, provided he could clear the fielder  placed there for the catch.   The trap was set.  The Cordoba skipper hadn’t set himself – as the catcher and was he was able to take a catch down at his ankles to send Asif back to where the pavilion would be if we had one.  An aggressive knock of 27 by Kazam Ali couldn’t hold up the tail, leaving Malaga all out for 166, 25 runs short.  Bowlers love to brag about their “fivefers” – 5 wickets in an innings.  Tahir Mehmood takes bragging rights back to Cordoba for his 5 for 42 against Malaga.

There were good performances from players on both sides but man of the match goes to Shoaib Hussain.  He just shades it with 77 not out, 2 wickets for 17 and a couple of catches, even if one of them was an outrageous running steal from the hands of his shorter team mate waiting to take the catch.

                                      P    W    T   NR    L   BP  Pts
Combined Colleges           2    2    0    0    0   17   37
Cordoba                          2    1    0    0    1   14   24
Malaga                            2    0    0    0    2   13   13