Farley Hill 129-9
(all out, 37.4 overs)
Zia 2-10, Ashman 2-23
RUASCC 130-4 (33.4
overs)
Zia 82, J. Singh 32
RUASCC won by 6
wickets
It really didn’t look promising when we arrived at Farley
Hill in pouring rain – rain that persisted until just after the scheduled start
time of 2pm. But as the grey cloud got a
bit whiter and the showers turned to drizzle, Captain Eagle went out to the
middle, lost the toss and was, perhaps surprisingly, asked to field.
Zia, thumb still heavily strapped, showed he can bowl using
just his fingers and took a wicket in his first over. From the other end Withers found plenty of
swing but couldn’t get his lines right so it was down to Zia to make the next
breakthrough, although it owed much to some magnificence from Chan Malde. Jalil flicked a bouncing ball off his legs
and Chan, just backward of square, dived to his left, parried it with one hand
and caught it with the other as he hit the ground. As a team RUASCC can drop a lot of catches
but just recently it feels like we’re taking some real crackers.
Withers got some luck in the next over as Henry attempted a
flick to square leg and ended up being caught behind off the back of his bat,
but it was when Withers was replaced by Dr Ashman that the wickets started to
tumble: first Hussain picked out Greenhalf on the mid-wicket boundary then
Garrod cut a short ball straight to Withers at cover. Meanwhile Jas Singh was bowling a tight spell
from the other end and took 1-12 before injury forced him to come off, and when
Dave Law picked up an LBW the score was 71-7 with just 12 overs remaining.
There followed a strong counter-attack from Khan who hit 35
not out, but he ran out of partners when Law’s second wicket and an
unlikely run out from the lethal arm of Tranter finished the innings on 129.
RUASCC’s opening partnership lasted just three deliveries
because, for the second time this season, Eagle was bowled by Shaw. No one was particularly surprised because the
captain had been explaining just a few minutes earlier how this was going to
happen. Zia batted out a maiden over,
Jas Singh did the same from the other end and the innings got off to rather
sedate start.
In the 11th over Zia decided he’d had enough of
poking around and launched two sixes and two fours to put a dent in Shaw’s
otherwise immaculate figures. Jas continued
to be watchful and when the score reached 44-1 Zia had amassed 40 of them. Remember, he was batting with a fractured
bone in his right hand!
A couple of bowling changes followed but the score continued
to build at five an over. Zia reached
fifty for the first time this season and Jas showed increasing assurance in his
supporting role. Finally in the 25th
over, having just reached the century stand, Jas hit one straight in the air and
was caught by the bowler. Only 29 runs
were needed for victory but RUASCC still managed to make it a bit painful: Young
Sam, playing for the first time since last year’s tour, was bowled for five and
Zia was finally dismissed the same way for 82.
It was left to Dip (2 not out) to hit the winning runs in
the 34th over and avenge our defeat on this ground earlier in the
year.
RUASCC Highlight: Another superb catch this week, Chan’s dive
at leg gully.
RUASCC Man of the
Match: Zia
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