Island Community won by 3 wickets
Island Community lost the toss and were put into field
Sky: 105 for 7 in 14.1 overs
Aleem Hussain 39 (24 balls)
Sarfraz Ahmed 25 (32 balls)
Javed Soomro 14 (7 balls)
Tanjeem Chowdhury 3-0-24-4
Jack Stollery 1.1-0-16-1
Dheraj Shamoo 2-0-17-1
Kirk Fleming 4-0-18-1
Island Community: 110 for 4 in 15.4 overs
Robert Jones 30 (19 balls)
Dheraj Shamoo 28 (29 balls)
John Hind 19 (16 balls)
Rizwan Siddiqui 3-0-16-2
Imran Khan 4-0-17-0
Hassan M'hamed 4-0-20-2
ISLAND ON CLOUD 9 AS THEY DOMINATE SKY
In an exciting but low scoring game in the 1st Division (on pitch #1) Island
Community secured their first ever victory over Sky with only 2 balls to
spare.
On a drizzly, dull and damp evening, Sky won the toss and choose to bat,
with Aleem hitting 4 boundaries off the first over. Opening with Sarfraz, he
helped put on 57 for the first wicket off 7 overs and looked to be setting
Sky for a large total.
Kirk Fleming kept it tight though and conceded just
18 off his 4 overs, and having bowled Aleem for 39 he then held on to a
catch in the deep to dismiss Rizwan for just 9. That was the first of
Tanjeem's 4 wickets, Sarfraz Ahmed (25), Imran Khan (10) and Javed Soomro
(14) also falling to Island's captain.
In his first over, Dheraj Shamoo
caused Nozmul Hussain (1) to sky one to the keeper (Joe Tousent) and when
Jack Stollery was brought on for the penultimate over, his first ball saw
redemption from the 16 he'd given away off the first over of the innings as
he clean bowled Hassan Mohammed for 1 to leave Sky 105 all out off 14.1
overs.
Island's reply started nervously with Tanjeem, averaging over 133 at a
strike rate of over 200 in the league before this match , only scoring 2 off
12 balls before being bowled by Hassan, only for fellow opener Kirk Fleming
to fall off the last ball of the same over for 10.
At 14 for 2 entering the
5th over, and batting on a damp and unpredictable pitch, Island were facing
an uphill struggle. At the half way point, they were just 40 for 2, needing
another 65 off the last 8, but the bowling changes were the turning point.
Imran and Hassan had bowled very tightly, but Nozmul and Aleem conceded 32
off the next 2 overs, reducing Island's required rate from over 8 rpo to
under a run a ball. Although Rizwan Siddiqui took wickets in both of hs
first two overs, Robert Jones (30) and Dheraj Shamoo (28) had put on a stand
of 63 fo rthe 3rd wicket, putting Island back in the game.
With John Hind
and Dammika Silva having to go to the middle padded up for the first time
this season, 20 were still needed off the last 19 balls when they came
together. Nudging a run a ball with the occasional 2 and a couple of 3s left
3 needed off Nozmul's last over.
Nerves were jangling as the field was
brought in, and despite a dot - single - dot off the first 3 balls, John's
expansive drive off the 4th ball just cleared deep mid-off hands, clipped
the leaves of the tree and produced a boundary six to give Island a 3 wicket
victory with just 2 balls to spare.
A great game played played in typical good spirits between two sides with
great mutual respect and what a thriller. Both sides are now tied 2nd in the
First Division behind the unbeaten Ducks, and if Island beat Ducks in the
Cup next week, they could be soon facing Sky once again in the Cup
Semi-Finals. Bring it on!
Submitted by Steve Hill of Island Community |