Cavs Hold Their Nerve

The Saturday XI travelled to Promenade Park to play Maldon III yesterday, and batted first after winning the toss.

The Cavaliers innings got off to a great start, with F Murtaza hitting the first ball of the match through cover point for four, but the Cavs were soon 7/1 as Murtaza (6) was bowled. The second wicket partnership then made steady progress, reaching 49/1 in 14 overs before D Dellar was forced to retire not out (hurt) with a back injury, bring K Chowdhury to the crease (1), though he was out in the 18th over. A promising stand of 24 for the third wicket saw the Cavaliers up to 81/2, but that soon became 81/4 as M Vinter (44) and S Riaz (0) fell in quick succession. P Kannan and D Young then got the Cavaliers up to 98, but two wicket in two balls saw Young (10) caught at slip and B Aslam (0) bowled. With T Hijazi (2) out soon afterwards, the Cavaliers were 104/7 after 34 overs. A superb eighth wicket partnership between Kannan and H Ahamed then saw the paid add 43 runs together in eight overs, raising the score to 147/8 upon the dismissal of Ahamed (15). The returning Dellar (16*) then held up an end as Kannan brought up his fifty from 70 balls via a towering six back over the pavillion (his third six of the innings). The Cavaliers ended their 45 overs on a respectable 159/8, with Kannan on 55 not out.

The Maldon reply started steadily, adding 28 in 10 overs before S Riaz claimed the first wicket of the innings, trapping the opener LBW, while B Aslam (6-1-14-0) went wicketless. A further 24 runs were added before Riaz added a second wicket to his tally during his opening spell of 10-3-20-2, then A Khaliq struck soon after as Maldon reached 54/3 after 20 overs. The Cavaliers kept breaking partnerships as they were forming though; Kannan (11-1-38-1) and Kahliq taking two quick wickets in the 27th and 28th overs as Maldon slipped to 76/5. The score passed 100 before the Cavaliers struck again - Khaliq (12-2-51-3) claiming his third. The introduction of F Murtaza to the attack then turned the game in the Cavaliers favour - Before he entered the attack, Maldon were 134/6, and by the time Murtaza (4-0-9-3) ended his spell, they were 150/9 with just one over left. With Riaz into his return spell, it fell to him to see the innings out; the first ball going for four and the second for two to make the score 156/9 with four balls left, only for the Maldon skipper to hit a ball to long-off, where Murtaza took a steepling pressure catch on the boundary to seal a tense 3 run win after 44.3 overs of the second innings, Riaz ending with figures of 11.3-3-30-3.

Scorecard