Winning Start For The E-Men

The day has finally arrived to put all the learnings of pre season to the test as we arrived at Hampstead for the first game of the season and to the new format. There was a sense of expectation for this first game, with a new leader at the helm and many people performing at various times in pre season.

The warm up and football put butterflies to bed as we focussed on the game. The toss again went to the opposition as we were put into bat on a seemingly bowler friendly track with plenty of grass to be seen.

Opening up was the Jekyll and Hyde of the ealing batsmen, with the legendary brother Mylo and his less talented brother Oliver. After all the belief put into the side, it wasn’t the greatest start for Oli as he was caught cheaply for 4 in the second over. Mylo then partnered up with Robbie White as they looked to build a platform for the team. The ball looked to be moving around quite a lot as Mylo played and missed at quite a few deliveries. Both batsmen managed to tick the scoreboard along as they built a partnership of 44 before Mylo was caught behind for 21 off 39 deliveries.

David Holt then joined White as they looked to again steady the ship. The first no ball of the season then got Holt going as he smashed the ball over the ropes for 6, propelling himself to the top of the sixes league… a position that many believed would be the highest he would achieve for the rest of the season. After another partnership of 44, Holt departed for 20 off 30 after edging the ball behind, which included that magical 6 and another boundary.

The hero of pre season; Ahmed Elech was the next to stride to the crease, but his pre season form wasn’t quite there as he was stumped advancing down the track for 1. Captain Jones then joined white who was looking in great form as he found himself gently moving through to a well made 50, which included 7 boundaries. However after reaching the milestone, his concentration went as his was dismissed the very next ball, another edging behind.

After being reduced to 123-5, Jones built a partnership with Parry and both men looked to accelerate the innings which saw 4 boundaries from Jones and some huge hitting from Parry. He hit successive deliveries to the longest part of the boundary off the spinner to push the run rate up. Jones, making an impressive 37 was dismissed in the 43rd over as he was bowled by Hassan.
Parry continued to push the run rate up as he hit another 6, but was dismissed in the 46th over for 42 including 2 fours and 3 sixes.

With 4 overs left and the score around a par 207, the target was 220-230. Glasper then came to the crease and made use of the remaining overs as the “Glasper Flick” was again in full force as he hit the ball for 6, followed by successive boundaries to clock up 21 from 11 balls before holing out to long on off a full toss.

Opie at the other end, was using some inventive shots as he ramped the seamers off a free hit to push the score past a par score. Opie finishing 28* from 21 balls and the score ending on 255-8 from the 50 overs, a score that would please the Ealing skipper and team.

A tremendous Tea interval ensued, with Glaspers only criticism being te amount of food on offer… ending in a 6.5/10 for the tea ladies efforts. Then we were onto the fielding!

It didn’t start great for the E-men as a bad start meant that Hampstead rocketed to 76 off 15 overs as Opie and Elech opened the bowling. Glasper then came on, but pre season no balls again followed, with both being punished for 4 and 6. There were lots of early changes to the bowling and in fact 6 bowlers had been used before the breakthrough came from Parry as the opener hit the ball to Opie at mid on for a simple catch and the first wicket.

20 runs later and it was that man Parry again as Jones clung on to a lovely low catch to dismiss the other opener. Parry and Martin both working in tandem at this point to great effect as K-Mart chipped in himself with the next two wickets; a great catch from Elech and then a simpler catch from Holt.

Elech back for a second spell with Opie, then allowed the e-man to take control of the game as another 2 wickets fell quickly as both batsmen edged behind to Robbie, which turned the score from 76-0 to 135-5. Opie then bagged his second as he bowled their number 8 to leave hampstead teetering at 155-7 and victory staring Ealing in the face.

It was a partnership then of 47 which caused some concern before Elech managed to get the breakthrough, bowling the number 9 for 21 in the 45th over. Opie at the other end managed to bag his 3rd on his league debut and finish with figures of 3-59 as he took the final wicket and wrap up a solid opening win for the e-men. Although Opie took the final wickets, praise must be put on the middle overs of spin from Parry and Martin which massively contributed to the win after controlling that period of the game.

The Angel award this week is again Leigh Parry for a superb pressure knock of 42 and bowling figures of 2-29 off his 10.
Tomorrow is the second round of the national against North Middlesex and then the next league match sees tough opposition Twickenham arrive at Corfton Road.

So that’s all for this week! Much love to all!