Defeat from the Jaws of Victory

The Saturday XI welcomed Copford to Mill Road today.

After losing the toss, the Cavaliers were invited to bat first and added 68 runs for the first wicket before F Murtaza (47) was caught on the boundary. Murtaza's wicket lead to a mini-collapse as D Dellar (17) was dismissed, followed by K Chowdhury (2) and R Akhlaq (1) who both struggled on a tricky wicket. A fourth wicket partnership of 27 helped start the Cavs recovery, seeing the Cavaliers pass 100 before S Hussain was out for 18 on debut. A sixth wicket partnership of 46 (a 2017 season best for the sixth wicket) between R Rasheed and N Hussain saw the Cavs score reach 157/5 before Rasheed was caught for 35. With N Davidson (10) and P Johnson (1) out cheaply, the Cavs were 190/8 after 41 overs, but an unbeaten partnership between N Hussain (46*) and D Young (15*) saw the Cavs up to their final total of 215/8 from 45 overs.

The Cavaliers defence of their target saw some good early bowling from R Rasheed and N Davidson (5-0-25-0), but the Copford openers added 43 for the first wicket despite some close calls. With Rasheed claiming the first wicket via a wonder delivery that swung in massively, both he and S Riaz (6-3-18-3) combined to dismiss five Copford batsmen within 5 overs as the opposition collapsed to 64/5. With chances failing to go to hand, dropped catches and the fielding becoming more ragged, Copford added 57 for the sixth wicket before spinners N Hussain an K Chowdhury (6-1-40-1) both claimed wickets to leave Copford 132/7 with 13 overs left. As the game got closer to a conclusion, dropped catches and sloppy fielding saw the Cavs lose their grip on the game, despite R Rasheed (14-2-57-3) striking once more in the closing overs. With one over left, Copford required 9 to win, and got there with a ball to spare, despite the best efforts of N Hussain (13.5-2-59-1) - Copford winning by 2 wickets with a total of 216/8 from 44.5 overs.