(With thanks to Andy
Eagle for the match report)
Whitchurch 182-8 dec
Zia 2-27, Main 2-30
RUASCC 184-4
Fawaz 57, Zia 47 not out
RUASCC won by 6
wickets
The ground nestles beneath the steepling and wooded slopes
of the Thames valley to the north, whilst giving way to the south to assorted
houses, paddocks and meadows until the river itself is reached.
A dry and hard track…ideal for chasing runs upon! RUASCC duly fielded and opened with the Ul
Haq brothers: Zia with his bowling hand in a cast, Waqar back after a break and
a spell of 14-1-46-1 indicated he’d not lost the knack. Whitchurch scored slowly from occasional
boundaries to the short sides of the ground but tight fielding kept running to
a minimum. Newcomer Adil’s pace was impressive and helped him reach figures of
12-1-41-2. Main’s bounce from a short
run-up caused problems and it was only thanks to some hearty heaves and swipes
from Turner at no. 10 (22 n.o.) which took the opposition to 182-8 declared.
The highlights of the innings involved two club stalwarts.
Firstly Chan, keeping and standing up, received a ball straight to his forehead
from a glancing shot; he was out for few seconds… we could tell because he
wasn’t telling someone about the virtues of some smoked Brie he’d tasted the
night before. He left the field amidst
concerned team mates but he appeared to be soon recovering, sitting amongst the
opposition… we could tell because he was extolling the virtues of a fine bottle
of Pouilly-fume he’d had the night before.
Partridge, back after last year’s annual appearance, took the gloves and
did well.
The other highlight involved Tranter persistently berating a
young batsman for running down the track and abusing the Spirit of the game… so
vehement were the Chairman’s protestations that the Skipper had to intervene to
avoid a Tranter related Incident (TRI) occurring. Meanwhile a Greenhalf Relation Incident was
taking place as Andy’s dad strolled the boundary with Andy’s son; a cue for
Trant to regale his story no. 3 about Greenhalf Senior being the gynaecologist
who delivered his daughter, Philippa, who they all thought was a boy. It was time for tea!
Staff opened with Eagle and Asim, carefully against tight
bowling until Asim swiped across the line for 24. Eagle was joined by Fawaz and
soon after stranded by Fawaz going for an easy single, run out for 19.
Mumblings of “karma” back on the boundary.
At the start of twenty overs, we were 80-3 off 20 needing a
further 102 runs. Zia and Fawaz set about this in forthright fashion and smote
the ball to all corners, thus cleverly avoiding the ruts and veritable potholes
caused by the aforementioned youngster who had so concerned Trant. Fawaz is not a pretty bat to watch but he is
effective and his 57 was yet another big and important innings for RUASCC this
year.
Zia, by now in self-commentary mode, was joined by Chan in
the final chase which now looked pedestrian thanks to the opposition skipper
deciding to bowl and deliver an appetising buffet. Chan’s cameo of 14 not out was a fillip to a
batsman who’d not found his form hitherto and we were delighted by flicks,
drives and cuts whilst Zia played as he does when set a mission.
Indeed we had hit 80 runs from the last 10 overs as we won
easily by 6 wickets. And the RUASCC rampage through the lower echelons of local
cricket continues.
RUASCC Highlight:
Chan’s dismissal whilst keeping.
RUASCC Man of the
Match: Fawaz for his 57 or maybe Zia for batting and bowling in a cast
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