Saturday, 3rd May 2008
CLECKHEATON vs SALTAIRE at Moorend
CLECKHEATON (5-Points)
160 All Out
Ian Nicholson 53, Craig Thornton 32, Iain Wardlaw 19, Louis Aspeling 16.
Tuseif Arshad 15-1-54-4, Javid Umarji 1-1-0-2, Nadim Mohammed 14-4-47-2, Ijaz Khan 14-3-48-2.
SALTAIRE. (17-Points)
163 for 6 Wickets.
Awais Ijaz 50, Aftab Ahmed 20, Javid Umarji 20, Tom Slater 16, George Hicks 15, Tom Forster 14no.
John Wood 6-0-16-2, Craig Wiseman 10-0-46-2.
On paper, Cleckheaton should have won this match. They were playing a team that had been comprehensively beaten the previous week, and still waited the arrival of their overseas man, Indian Rahul Kanwat, a right hand bat and spin bowler. For this match they were also without Tim Lindley, their new signing from Brighouse. Saltaire, a club not unlike ourselves with a wealth of junior talent available, had included three such juniors in their side. The Moorenders, themselves, were without their influential leg spinner Tom Pringle.
In a quest for batting bonus points, Cleckheaton decided to bat on winning the toss and the decision looked a wise one as they raced to 26 from the first 4 overs, but then youngster Tuseif Arshad struck taking 3 wickets in 8 balls to reduce the Moorenders to 34 for 3 with the scalps of openers Mally Nicholson, overseas Louis Aspeling, and Mohammad Zaman. Neil Nicholson then came to the crease to join his son Ian, and together they began to repair the innings. They had doubled the score to 68 before Neil was caught behind. Ian was then joined by Craig Thornton and the pair began to take command of the innings. A hundred came up in the 29th over and with Thornton looking particularly impressive, the home side seemed to be heading towards a 200+ score. Still looking to dominate the bowling, whilst his partner was more careful, it was still a surprise when Thornton played one aggressive shot too many, with the total on 122, and holed out in the deep for 32. His innings contained 3 4's and 2 6's. With both John and Ian Wood still to follow the momentum seemed unlikely to drop, but the situation changed dramatically when Nadim Mohammed took "2-in-2" removing both Wood brothers, and then Ijaz Khan trapped Edward Walmsley in front leaving Cleckheaton on 136 for 8. A brisk 19 from Iain Wardlaw helped push the total to 160 in the 43rd over with still an outside chance of reaching 200. The introduction of Umarji, however, finished off the home team's inning dramatically with both Wardlaw and then Ian Nicholson falling to lofted catches to leave Cleckheaton all out for 160 with 6 overs of the innings still available. Javid finished with 2 wickets for no runs.
Players and spectators alike perceived that Cleckheaton had enough runs to win the match, and this belief was upheld when Wiseman trapped the reliable Wasim Munawar with the 4th ball of his first over with the total on 4, but he was the only Saltaire batsman not to reach double figures. Although Cleckheaton picked up wickets at regular intervals, they were never in a winning position as every batsman contributed. With 56 overs available, there was never any scoring pressures, and as well as the bowlers bowled Saltaire were always totally committed in their approach which inevitably brought them a deserved victory.
The pick of the visitors' batting was Awais Ijaz who looked like he would personally steer his team to victory until Zaman beat and bowled him the ball after he had reached a 57 ball half century, and with no batsman prepared to give up his wicket cheaply they comfortably reached their target with 6 overs and 4 wickets to spare. Whilst Ijaz's fifty, which included 6 fours, was the pick of the batters, Umarji and Ahmed with 20 runs each made important contributions, and young Tom Forster, who hit the winning four, was unbeaten at the end with 14 after a stay at the wicket of almost an hour.
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