Match Report

Sunday 02 August 2009, at Metropolitan Police Sports Ground, Bushey - Won by 67 runs (Ref. 200919)

Debuts: Sami, Gurupal Chabbri

In the 13th match between these two sides Wealdstone Corinthians finally struck it lucky with the first ever victory for the side batting first, which has usually been Corinthians. They built on a steady start of 46 in 9 overs with an even quicker stand of 62 between top scorer Sami and number 3 Narendra. Despite a mid-innings wobble between overs 17 and 27, in which three wickets fell for only 22 runs, the customary big hitting from Shafi helped add 88 in the final 10 overs. He was well supported by Chris Brown, who featured in his first 50 partnership of the season, and when he was out a cameo from debutant Gurupal ensured Roxbourne would need more than a run a ball. The opening bowlers Akshay and Rohan put them behind the clock and dismissed the first three batsmen, and despite a valiant attempt from the middle order the next three were all dismissed in a late 5-over burst from Shafi. Skipper for the day Dharmik Shah had the satisfaction of seeing Corinthians to their 5th consecutive limited overs victory, a feat never previously achieved.

Corinthians 243-8 (40 overs), Sami 80, Shafi 75, Gurupal 24*, A Mead 4-47

With 8 club members touring in Devon the visitors did well to raise a team at all, especially one containing 7 members. For once regular opener Raj Meswani was upstaged by Sami, who struck 2 off the first ball of the match from D Fabray and the first boundary in the 2nd over off Andrew. He added two more boundaries off Fabray in his next two overs, and Raj hit two fours in his 4th before giving the bowler a return catch in his next. A double bowling change only increased the tempo, as the score doubled in the 6 overs shared by S Fabray and N Read. Sami hit two fours off each, then the first six of the match in Read's 2nd over, and by the time he repeated the feat in his next Narendra had notched his first boundary off Fabray. The 100 came up with another Sami 6 off Fabray, who had changed ends, before a sticky spell induced by Hunt, the most economical bowler. He had Sami caught in the deep for 80 made out of 108-2, then Narendra caught for 9, and bowled the only two maidens of the innings to begin his spell with figures of 4-2-5-2. Shafi got off the mark with a trademark 6 off Fabray, though lost Chris Brosnan for 2 in Mead's first over, the sixth bowler used. Hunt's last two overs went for 14, including a 4 and 6 to Shafi, who soon reached his 50 from 39 balls which was two quicker than Sami. The valuable 5th wicket stand ended at 52 when Chris gave Mead a return catch to make it 170-5 in the 33rd over. There were few dot balls for the rest of the innings. Shafi greeted the return of D Fabray with a 6 to bring up the 200, and although Dharmik and Wakeel were both bowled by Mead they had also added useful runs. The home side were further dispirited to find quality batting still coming in at 9 and 10, with Gurupal hitting four boundaries in all off both Fabrays to end unbeaten on 24 from only 15 deliveries.

Roxbourne 176-6 (40 overs), S Ullah 3-10, A Samarth 2-23, Rohan Meswani 1-30, N Read 52

Roxbourne opened with P Read and Skully, one of the batsmen who had inflicted a 10-wicket defeat on Corinthians the previous season, so it was a great start for the visitors when he was caught for a duck by Gurupal off Akshay with the score on 3. Without addition the other opener was bowled by Akshay, who was rested after 5 overs with 2-23. Rohan bowled out his 8 overs, and towards the end induced a simple catch to Wakeel to remove Tray. The other Roxbourne batsman who had reached the middle last year, Dischamps, was joined by N Read and although they added 93 for the 4th wicket the asking rate was growing steadily thanks to Dharmik and Wakeel, who bowled 7 overs for 26 and 8 overs for 20 respectively. Even the 43 scored off Gurupal in 6 overs didn't threaten the result, neither did the experimental first over for the club from Chris Brosnan that went for 9. The last rites were administered by Shafi, who hit the stumps three times in 5 overs, to remove the obdurate Dischamps for 42, Read for 52 and S Fabray for 6. Baker and D Fabray added 16 consolation runs before Corinthians clinched only their second ever victory over Roxbourne, and their first for 21 years.