Wanstead vs Hainault & Clayhall Essex Premier League 9 July
Lou Minnery
In contrast to the corresponding fixture at the beginning of the season, the Herons overwhelmed the opposition by eight wickets with an hour in hand, thereby extending the run of victories to six, eight in all and top position maintained in the league. Not a draw in sight - yet! Next week Brentwood at home.
The victory might well have been much swifter as the home side plunged to 56-5 in the face of Zain Shahzad (14-3-41-4) and Shaheed Saeed (15-3-44-1) with four falling to catches by Jon Das. Only Imran Qadir, in a beautifully controlled knock of 106* kept the home side in the game, though U Sultan helped in a stand of 62 for the ninth wicket. One of Arfan's acrobatic leaps brought proceedings to a halt as Fayyaz Khan cleaned up with 4-45 in over 16 overs.
In contrast to Arfan's policy of leaving bowlers on as long as they can justify their presence, Yasin Patel believes in constant changes. He used seven bowlers in a futile attempt to halt the juggernaut. An opening stand of 63 ended when John Chambers nicked one to the keeper on the stroke of tea, having scored 33. After tea Christian Burgess played and missed a number of times before touching one to slip and then the Akram duo played fast and loose with the attack which deteriorated as the game went on. Suffice to say Arfan carried his bat for an outstanding 116* whilst Adnan, restored to his (almost) proper position in the order, proceeded in ones and twos to 46*, only reaching the boundary once with the final shot of the game. Heartfelt sympathies to Joe who turned up early but was not invited to participate. Perhaps next week.....