Match Report

Saturday 15 August 2009, at Cavendish Sports Ground, Field End Road, Eastcote - Lost by 8 wickets (Ref. 200922)

Debut: Sandip Shah

A disappointing batting performance followed by poor ground fielding handed Priory Park an easy victory with 5 overs to spare. After winning the toss they put the away side in to bat, and the early loss of two of the only three players likely to score a fifty scuppered Corinthians' chances of reaching their lowest score of the season at Cavendish, which stood at 165. Only a resolute knock of 44 from Andy Naylor and the record 10th wicket partnership on the ground by Steve Brown and Martin Beasley gave them a respectable score to defend. Both Priory Park openers were dismissed inside 11 overs, but the run rate was already higher than it should have been. Nitin and Mehul gave few chances in sharing an unbeaten 3rd wicket partnership of 94 in 16 overs that won them the match.

Corinthians 136 (40.2 overs), A Naylor 44 (84 balls), M Beasley 15* (24 balls), C Brown 14 (26 balls), S Shah 13 (19 balls), S Brown 12 (39 balls)

Although Raj Meswani took a single off the first ball of the match he was bowled in the second over by a ball from Bhavin that kept a little low, and his opening partnership with Andy Naylor had been broken in single figures for the first time. Bhavin followed up with three more maidens, whereas the left-armer Hitesh was put away for two fours to the third man boundary by Naylor. Hitesh then dug a ball in short to Dharmik Shah, whose leading edge gave point a simple catch. Chris Brown offered valuable support in a stand of 32, including an excellent on drive for 4 off Bhavin and a pull to the mid wicket boundary off Kunal, though the erratic left-armer held a simple return catch later in the over. Andy Lee found a bit of turn in his miserly 4-over spell, whilst Kunal ended by conceding 6 and 11 from his last two but also bowled Chris Brosnan somewhat fortunately. A high full toss looked as though it would be a no ball, but it dipped sharply to hit off stump six inches from the top, making it difficult for umpire Phil Cundy to judge its height when passing the batsman and he ruled in the bowler's favour. Rahul got off the mark by lofting Kunal just over short mid wicket for 4, and Naylor hooked a full toss for 4 before Parm struck in his first over, trapping Rahul LBW to make it 63-5. Chris Clark baptised his new bat by lofting Jay over mid on for a juicy 4, and Naylor hit two more leg side fours off the inswing bowler before both went in consecutive overs. Clark was caught at slip and Naylor gave a faint edge to the keeper, though he had at least broken Dennis Barrett's 1986 record of 257 runs in a season at Cavendish by taking his tally to 294. On debut Sandip Shah hit some pleasant shots and took the score to 99 before holing out at mid wicket off Jay, who in the same over removed Rohan Meswani when he failed to clear mid off. Sensible batting for 10 overs by the last wicket pair took them past the previous Cavendish last wicket record of 27, with both taking runs off seventh bowler Shilan to get off the mark. All forms of extras were incremented when the opening pair returned, and Beasley greeted Hitesh with two fours, whilst Brown pulled another off Bhavin. Eventually an innocuous delivery from Andy Lee brushed Brown's glove to end the innings and bring on the chocolate cakes.

Priory Park 139-2 (26.4 overs), S Brown 1-13, Rohan Meswani 1-31

Priory Park made a rapid start, reaching 26-0 from 4 overs, and although a couple of Rohan Meswani full tosses were rightly punished his figures were worsened by some slack fielding. At 27 he made the breakthrough when he trapped Lalu LBW on the crease with a well pitched up delivery. He was withdrawn from the attack after his next over went for 10, including a boundary to both the batsmen, Andy Lee and Nitin. Steve Brown continued to beat the outside edge of them both, and was finally rewarded when he induced a faint inside edge from Lee that hit the stumps to make it 45-2. Martin Beasley began with a maiden, and Dharmik Shah generally bowled well, though Nitin lofted him over long off for 6 and 4. The ball had tended to keep low when Corinthians were batting, but the bounce was now truer. Even the surprisingly early call of 20 overs at 6pm, with 86 runs needed, didn't affect the confidence of the Priory Park batsmen. The only real chance given came in the last 10 overs, when Chris Clark had brought himself on. Mehul drove him to the cover boundary for what should have been a comfortable single, and the batsman was adjudged to have beaten a strong throw from Rohan when he came back for a risky second. He soon hit Sandip Shah for two fours to end the match, and a makeshift team was left rueing those fielding lapses that cost over 20 runs, and the lack of a bowler other than Steve Brown who could contain the scoring. More pressure to score could have helped bring the wickets that would have allowed Corinthians to find out if they really were up against an allegedly weak lower order.