Glenpark XI come up just short against league leaders

Glenpark XI vs Woodfarm
WDCU Championship Three
Saturday 29th July 2023

 Scorecard       

With Saturday's forecast, Glenpark were lucky to get a complete game, but unlucky not to come away with a win against the league leaders.

Choosing to field first, openers Dave Sharma and Asad Farooq got the team off to an great start. Dave's first wicket was courtesy of a superb catch by Adnan Afzal; the second was clean bowled, and an LBW to Asad reduced Woodfarm to 16 for 3.

Dave had to come off due to a recurring injury, but Adnan kept up the good work, his second ball generating an excellent boundary catch by Vishal Yadav. Soon after this feat was repeated, followed by Adnan hitting the stumps to have the visitors six down. Asad completed his tidy spell to be replaced by Hamidullah Safi, then Emily Norris - but Glenpark struggled to get another breakthrough as the batters rallied.

86 runs were added before the next wicket - a fast throw from Ewan Stewart resulting in a run out. Vishal Yadav also had late success with Patrick (PJ) Bryceland completing the catch; the innings closing on 153 - much less than Woodfarm were accustomed to scoring after a good performance from the home team.

Like many sports though, cricket is a game of two halves. Asad and Sudeep Chaudhary made a decent start before Asad picked out the cover fielder. Three balls later the ball ricocheted off Dave's pads into his stumps to put the side two down.

Ewan Stewart then shared mini partnerships with Sudeep and PJ, but their wickets, followed quickly by Eddie Ahmed and an unfortunate careless run out to remove Vishal, had the innings going the same way as Woodfarm's. Ewan continued to hold on with the lower order but, as the required rate climbed, he fell going for an ambitious second run.

This brought Adnan and Hamidullah together, who made good progress and must have caused some nerves amongst the fielding team, as they shared the biggest partnership of the innings. Unfortunately they couldn't get over the line, both falling and leaving Glenpark 17 runs short with 21 balls to go.

Although this was a creditable performance, Glenpark will feel they should have won this match, but more runs were needed from the top order batters. With that in mind, the team should take consolation in showing they have the ability to beat any team in the league. Hopefully they can take that belief into the final three matches of the season.

Sponsor watch:
Adnan: 3-36
Dave: 2-12
Vishal: 2 catches