Skipper Sharma inspires Glenpark XI to fine success

Langloan XI v Glenpark XI

It was a young team with many new faces for 2011 that traveled to face Langloan this weekend, but a fine team performance meant they returned back with the win points.

Before play even began, the visitors were off to a rocky start arriving with just ten players and then stand-in skipper Dave Sharma losing the toss and being put into bat. However, openers Dave and Neil Flack put their heads down and, with the help of some wayward bowling, put on a half-century at four-an-over. Two quick wickets then pegged Glenpark back. Ben Peterson came in to set things back on track, continued by Sam Sanghera in his usual flamboyant style – whilst Neil played steadily at the other end to preserve the left-right combination that caused the Langloan bowlers so much trouble. Unfortunately a batting collapse ensued as the score went from 123-3 to 148-8, but fortunately Mark Farrell had turned up to watch and was able to fill the eleventh spot. He held the strike well and contributed crucial late runs as the team was finally dismissed for 173.

Defence of this total began well as Dave and Kenny Diffenthal opened with three maidens. Dave picked up an early wicket as Kenny continued to keep the runs down. Mark relieved Dave and struggled to control his outswing, but beat the bat frequently when he got it right – finally getting an edge to carry to first slip. However Ben and Stuart Anderson, who replaced Mark as he left the field, struggled to find their line. Glenpark were now down to ten men, the wides were building up to embellish Langloan’s reply and at the halfway stage the home team were on top. Needing less than four-an-over with wickets in hand they continued to eat into their target, but then a series of events conspired to create an even more dramatic collapse than that seen in the first innings. An inspired stumping by Neil off medium-pacer Greg McDougall, a fine high catch by Jamie Terris, the safest hands in cricket, the return of Dave to take 1 for 1 in three overs to peg back the scoring rate, and a fine spell by Kieran Wylie taking the pace off the ball. All that was left was for Kenny and Sam to destroy the stumps of the last two batsmen to see Langloan lose their last seven wickets for 25 runs.

It was a fantastic effort and an exciting game, and I thank all the players for their combined effort and never give up approach to allow this guest captain to come away with a win.

Glenpark XI (12 pts) 173 (44.2 overs) SS Sanghera 28, ND Flack 26, MI Farrell 22

Langloan XI (5 pts) 149 (45.3 overs) Hamilton 32

Glenpark XI Man of the Match:  Dave Sharma – for his part in the opening stand, two wickets, a catch and losing the toss!

Scooby Award: Kieran Wylie - for attempting to take an opponents’ head off with a return throw, wearing an Australian cap when he owned a team one, and for making a mess of the scorebook by using the opponents’ team sheet as the batting line up!

scorecard

'The Snake'