Levante got their first victory in ECCL Division One with a comprehensive victory over Madrid CC in the second match of the weekend double header. Thanks to Levante player Rhys Hoy for the match report.
What a difference a day makes…
With yesterdays loss heavily on our minds, Levante C.C. returned to the VCG to finish off the double header against Madrid. With six changes we were hoping to overcome the slightly embarrassing defeat suffered not 15 hours previously.
The toss was won and Madrid were forced to bowl. Back into the team came the clubs opening duo of Tony Little and Rhys Morgan and swiftly the runs were on the board and the run rate levelling at around 5 an over. Quickly Morgan rocked to 50 with consummate ease with Little solid as ever, providing the perfect opening partnership.
With the rest of the team relaxing and Madrid toiling wondering where the wickets would come from Levante broke their top opening partnership record and went onto 134 when unfortunately Little was bowled for 45.
Graham Hunt was then caught swiftly for 2 and was replaced by Usman Fareed. In the mean time yet another Levante record fell as Morgan continued on to his maiden century for the club and went onto make 110 before he fell.
It was a fantastically measured innings from Morgan, which showed great patience and an array of shots of the highest order. Fareed continued in his usual style to score very quickly and in a blink of an eye reached 70 before he was bowled.
Quick powerful innings from Burchell, Hussain, Abbas and Tivey brought the score to another Levante record of 284.
On the VCG wicket everyone knew this wasn’t a given and a lot of effort was needed to win the game. A great start came in the very first ball delivered by Hoy which was caught by Hunt in the slips and unlike the previously day is stuck like glue and was a cracking catch. Hoy then took a wicket with the first ball of the very next over and Levante were in a very strong position, but with Madrid’s two best batsmen still in magic was needed and up stepped Dave Tivey. In his first 4 overs Tivey had Woodward and Kala both caught on the boundary with good catches from Fareed and Hoy. Qasim Abbas took his first wicket for the club with a great caught and bowled and Abid Hussain then bowled the no.8 with a great ball to remove middle stump. The skipper on the day Scott Burchell also got one wicket with a brilliant reactionary diving catch off his own bowling.
With the overs dragging on and Madrid managing to hang onto the game by a thread upstepped Tivey and in his penultimate over had one of his balls caught by Hussain and then with his final ball caught the no.10 trapped LBW and as Madrid only had 10 players victory was Levante’s.
After a very difficult Saturday, Sunday’s victory was a little sweeter. Lots to learn and work on and a lot to take from the weekend. Congratulations, onward and upward.
Man of the match was an obvious one with Morgan’s fantastic knock of 110
Levante Cricket Club Levante CC Batting
| Player Name | Runs | M | B | 4s | 6s | SR | Ct | St | Ro | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
extras
TOTAL : |
for 6 wickets |
0
284 |
(45.0 overs) | |||||||
| Tony Little | Bowled | 45 | ||||||||
| Rhys Morgan | Caught | 110 | ||||||||
| Graham Hunt | Caught | 2 | ||||||||
| Usman Fareed | Bowled | 70 | ||||||||
| Scott Burchell | Lbw | 13 | ||||||||
| Qasim Abbas | Caught | 10 | ||||||||
| Abid Hussain | Not Out | 9 | ||||||||
| Dave Tivey | Not Out | 3 | ||||||||
| Andrew Pilkington | ||||||||||
| Rhys Hoy | ||||||||||
| Martin Taylor | ||||||||||
Madrid CC Bowling
| Player name | Overs | Maidens | Runs | Wickets | Average | Economy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Khan | 9.0 | 0 | 61 | 1 | 61.00 | 6.78 |
| Awan | 9.0 | 0 | 53 | 0 | 0.00 | 5.89 |
| Rao | 9.0 | 0 | 43 | 1 | 43.00 | 4.78 |
| Balani | 9.0 | 0 | 44 | 1 | 44.00 | 4.89 |
| Baker | 7.0 | 0 | 54 | 1 | 54.00 | 7.71 |
| Balasubramanium | 2.0 | 0 | 29 | 1 | 29.00 | 14.50 |
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Umpire :Brian Pitts and John Howden