N2 v Arkley
Ground: Tudor
Date: 18/9/10
Pitch condition: slow and spongy.

N2CC drew with Arkley. Arkley 176 for 9. N2CC 141 for 8.

The teams met for combat on a fairly warm sunny day, a bit chilly when the clouds passed over. Bhatt won the toss (easier than winning a match, or at least quicker) and to everyone’s surprise we were fielding.

Bhatt and Butler opened the attack but this was not a B formation it was A double plus and after just 7 overs it was 16 for 4 with Bhatt and Butler sharing the spoils. Were we heading for a beer match?

Arkley fought back with their middle order with batsman 5 and 6 both regularly finding the boundary and scoring 64 and 63. Both were dropped early on which just goes to show the truth of the old adage that catches win matches. Finally these stalwarts fell and Qawi came on with a neat spell of 3 wickets in 3 overs to finish off their innings. Their final score with a valuable contribution from J. Extra was 176. A good score on a soft pitch with slow outfield and N2 had a challenge.

Time for tea. Quality sandwiches and cakes etc.

N2 lost a quick wicket but Parker and Shahzeb got together and pushed the score along and it was going well. Shahzeb was going really well and had soon marked up 8 boundaries. It looked like a half century coming up but it was not to be. Shahzeb battling against a shoulder injury went for another big hit and the timbers crumbled. Dodd went in and continued the fight. But on 110 Parker was caught by the keeper and from then the run rate fell away and the wickets began to fall.

Was this defeat? With a few overs to go N2 were 40 runs short and only 2 wickets in hand. Were Dyer, Newbery and Butler going to save the day? The script has been written many times and the answer was yes. Dyer and Newbery batted out and the club remained unbeaten on the day.

Batting:
Parker 45
Qawi 0
Shahzeb 47
Dodd 19
Shah 0
R Vadgama 9
J Vadgama 6
Bhatt 1
D Dyer 2*
Newbery 1*
Butler DNB

Bowling:
Bhatt 9-3-22-4
Butler 7-1-29-1
Newbery 5-0-30-0
A Shah 3-0-13-0
R Vadgama 6-0-33-1
J Vadgama 5-1-34-0
Qawi 2.5-1-5-3