SPORTING ALFAS II V TORREVIEJA (ECCL LEAGUE TWO)

With Torre losing the toss, Alfas decided to have a bat and Abdul and J. Perman set about picking the gaps with ease. A fine maiden first up from Angus before the floodgates opened for 20 Overs.

Throughout the first session, the Alfas openers found boundaries with ease and went at 10 an over until the hard working Torre side finally managed the breakthrough. It could have been a lot sooner as Shelton, in his 1st over, got Abdul to sky one to the Square Leg boundary which Knowles was unable to hold.

However, in the 21st Over, Shelton did manage to get the breakthrough as, shortly after completing a, chanceless, 52 ball ton, Jack got a rush of blood to his head and danced past one which Knowles, having taken over behind the sticks was able to dismiss the young centurion.

The wicket gave the fielding team renewd vigor and the rest of the Alfas batting could not match the fireworks of the openers.

Mudassar was next to go, Shelton again the bowler, getting a slight edge from the batsman which Knowles held well one handed down the legside. 214/2

Byrne followed Mudassar in and out, another well held catch as C. Wood settled under a high slap well and Alfas were 244/3.

Waqar gave Knowles another scalp, edging C. Wood behind, the change of ends for the young bowler working immediatly. Tocher gave the captain a wicket as K. Wood got one past his gate to clean bowl him.

C. Wood had the last laugh in the innings, getting the other Centurion Abdul for a fine 129, miscueing one high in the air which Knowles claimed easily and next ball, Wood had Jamsaid clean bowled to finish with fine figures of 3/52.

Alfas batted out the remaining overs for no further loss and set Torre a total of 344 to win.

After tea, Captain Wood and Knowles came out to begin the run chase which the alfas bowlers decided to take a helping hand with. The first over, going for 15 as the radar was adjusted! The breakthrough was not long in coming though as in the 3rd over, K. Perman managed to delivery a lovely and legal delivery to clean bowl Wood.

Walker was not to stay out of the wicket column for long and in the next over, got Knowles to edge behind, Byrne taking it off his shoelaces as the ball died sudddenly from a soft edge. 31/2.

In a day of partnerhips however, Harvey and Reid pulled off maybe the most impressive of the day. Coming together in the 4th over, the two men advanced the score by 90 runs, taking up many of Alfas’s overs in the process until Reid finally fell, 22 overs later, hitting one high to Abdul who made no mistake with the catch. A vital partnership broken.

Guichard helped Harvey put on another 20 runs before J. Perman got his second wicket, getting the young batsman to pop one up to M. Perman, fielding in short for just that chance.

Harvey, after passing his 50, finally fell with 3 overs to go, slapping an ugly ball back to the ugly bowler, allowing Waqar to pick up a C&B and give the game an exciting finish.

Torre with 3 batsmen left, Alfas with 3 overs to get them.

Shelton and McDowell facing, M. Perman brought himself on and tried to trashtalk McDowell into giving his wicket away, with Shelton commanding him to just block it, McDowell had his own ideas and drove a text book 4 back past the bowler.

Walker had the penultimate over and bowled out a maiden. Last over, Torre needed 7 to get another batting point, Alfas still needing 2 wickets. 2 dot balls, 2 wides, a four, Torre edging towards the next batting point and Alfas looking like missing out on the full 20 points.

Then, Angus, getting carried away, advanced down the wicket and Byrne was able to whip the bails off. C. Wood, last man in, needed 1 for the last batting point, Alfas had 3 balls to get him. Dot ball….

Then, Wood drove one through the covers, Walker went scrampering after the ball, Shelton called Wood through for a second, Walker threw it to the bowler who managed to swivel and crack the stumps before Shelton could ground his bat!

Alfas managing to get the last wicket with a ball to spare, Torre able to get to 200 for another batting point and an enjoyable, exciting end to a strange match!