Match Report

Sunday 28 June 2009, at Church Walk, Hayes - Won by 46 runs (Ref. 200911)

A fine team performance from Wealdstone Corinthians earned them one of their best limited overs victories ever against a useful Hayes side. The visitors chose to bat first and knew they would need to top the 178 made in the April fixture. They achieved this with the powerful hitting of Shafi Ullah, who clocked up 14 boundaries and was given good support in two partnerships of over 50 by the only other players who reached 20. Having reached 171-5 in the 29th over a score approaching 250 looked possible, but the last five wickets went quickly with 6 overs unused. A tight start from Steve Brown and Akshay Samarth with a wicket apiece set the tone for the Hayes reply, and the rate required grew steadily. All seven of the bowlers used were economical, with six of them taking a wicket. The pick was Phil Cundy, closely followed by Martin Beasley, who shared 15 overs for 56 runs and took half the Hayes wickets.

Corinthians 190 (34 overs), S Ullah 88 (77 balls), D Shah 22 (19 balls), A Naylor 21 (43 balls), C Wayland 4-27

The first ball of the match was turned for 3 to long leg by Andy Naylor, and Wakeel Shah got off the mark with 2 in the same over. At the other he hit 2 and 4 off Sumit but after cutting Wayland for 4 he tried another attacking shot and was caught by the bowler for 13. Although John Wakeling cut Sumit beautifully for 4 he was bowled in the next over and it was 33-3 when Steve Stratford was in two minds against Wayland and offered a simple return catch. The new batsman Shafi Ullah drove Sumit for 4 to open his account, and the change bowlers of Anuj and Sunil only lasted 4 overs each after he straight drove them for 6. In fact Sunil went for another 6 next ball in an over costing 22 that brought up the 50 partnership. Naylor drove Tac's first ball into the hands of mid off, whereupon Wayland returned for his last 3 overs. It was 93-4 at the halfway point, and Shafi hit Wayland for two fours before the fast bowler removed Akshay to make it 106-5. The next over from Tac proved to be his last when it went for 21, including a big 6 over mid wicket, and Sumit's second spell of 3 overs went for 27 as Dharmik Shah helped Shafi add 50 in 5 overs. Then he failed to clear mid on, and with his last possible delivery Shafi took a big swing and was bowled for 88, a disappointing end to a magnificent innings. Anuj improved in his second spell, bowling Phil Cundy for a duck in his last over to make it 182-8. Without addition Narendra Shah was caught at mid wicket for 5, although last man Martin Beasley hit him for 4 and 2. A single to Steve Brown and a wide brought up 190 but the third wicket in as many overs went when Beasley was LBW to Sumner. As in the April fixture only 19 runs had been scored in the last 5 overs when many more were promised.

Hayes 144 (37.2 overs), P Cundy 4-23, N Shah 2-19, S Ullah 1-2, A Samarth 1-12, S Brown 1-17, M Beasley 1-33, Wayland 47

Hayes made a poor start when Akshay had Umar caught by Dharmik in the 2nd over. It became 6-2 in the 5th over when Sunil was deceived by Steve Brown, who hit the stumps with a slower ball. It was 30-2 after 10 overs and a double change brought into the attack Dharmik Shah and Martin Beasley, who began with a maiden. Sumit and Wayland took 13 off Dharmik's second over but were otherwise contained, and Sumit was then bowled for 36 by Beasley. Hayes were 85-3 after 20 overs and much depended on their Caribbean hitter, Claudius Wayland. The bowlers were conceding under 4 an over, and the pressure mounted. Beasley should have had Wayland caught at mid off but three fielders within range didn't communicate, though the bowler did hold the all important catch at square leg off Narendra Shah's first ball. It was now 101-4 in the 28th over, and worse followed for Hayes when Phil Cundy replaced Dharmik. He hit the stumps twice in two balls and Narendra took another wicket next over to make it 109-7. Tac showed some resistance but lost Anuj when Cundy hit the stumps again in a wicket maiden and the wily bowler grabbed his 4th wicket when Tac was stumped for 26. The only question now was whether he could complete a 5-for in his last over. This was soon answered in the negative when Shafi Ullah was much too quick for the last man and the shattered stumps summed up the result for Hayes.