BackSun 03 Sep 2023
Didsbury Friendly XI
13:00
Lymm Cricket Club
Didsbury Friendlies take down Overseas Pro!
Chris Edwards
A complete team performance even a pro couldn't handle
Up against Lymm on a very slow and soft pitch at Glazebury, Didsbury won the toss and batted first.
Tom and Qasim opened the batting, quickly getting the pace of the pitch and rotating the strike well, running hard and challenging the fielders by pushing quick ones and twos. Once Qasim was set, he set those long leavers to work, starting to regularly clear the boundary including some massive sixes into the school next door. When Tom fell caught out, the opening partnership was 70 and had been scored at an excellent run rate.
With Qasim bringing up his first Didsbury fifty in style with another huge six and retiring, Lymm probably thought that this was their chance with a relatively new batter in Giles at one end and Roland at the other. Although Roland fell early, Giles rotated the strike well as a variety of partners came and went, finding the boundary with regularity as his innings developed. In Henrik he found a partner to stick around with, and Giles continued an excellent Didsbury effort with his own fifty.
After a few more quick wickets, Qasim came back out to find a few more boundaries before finally being caught out. Matthew Smith, returning to Sunday cricket for the first time in years, looked competent with the bat, adding some valuable runs with the returning Giles. The only weakness in his batting appeared to be in his running, as after several attempts to run himself out finally succeeded. Didsbury failed to bat out the overs but hit a very competitive 190 all out from 31.2 overs.
Despite the best efforts of the captain who had taken the gloves for the day and looked less than confident behind the stumps, Didsbury excelled with the ball. As he has all season, Ralph’s relentless line and length kept the run rate right down, bowling two maidens and picking up two wickets in his opening spell. He was ably supported by Qasim at the other end, backing up his batting performance with pace which was far too quick for the Lymm number three. Sam grew into his spell and ended up with a wicket to show for his efforts with a good catch from Giles.
Having got Lymm 19-4, the real challenge became apparent to the Friendlies as their overseas pro got stuck into his work. For context, he was the top run scorer for Lymm’s first team by several hundred runs, not to mention being their second leading wicket taker and an absolute gun in the field. Despite Didsbury’s best efforts, he quickly made his 50 and retired back out to renew Didsbury’s progress through the Lymm middle order.
Harry and Tom both bowled brilliantly, giving very little away, both bowling maidens and picking up a wicket a piece for their efforts. Side note, I actually took a catch behind the stumps! Anthony got in on the fun with a wicket and Ralph tidied up their number ten, but this led to a problem, the overseas was back!
Ralph continued to bowl well but started going for some runs as the batsman hit a very hard ball. However, it was Henrik who was to do most of the work against the dangerman. Henrik’s figures are a classic case of the stats in no way reflecting the performance. Against someone getting a long way down the crease, Henrik quickly found his length and created changes. A couple of very tricky chances went down on the boundary, and if a real keeper had been on the field, he should have been stumped at least ones. In Henrik’s final over, he beat the edge four times in a row before the batsman finally got one away. However, it was Qasim who finally managed to dismiss him, a fast yorker knocked his stumps out of the ground to remove any chance of a great escape for Lymm, with the batter departing for 94 from 46 with 11 fours and 7 (seven!) sixes.
Didsbury successfully saw out the game for an 18-run victory, a scoreline which does not reflect how good the team were in all aspects of the game. Player of the match was not a tricky one on this occasion, with Qasim putting in a brilliant performance with both bat and ball. That said, this was a performance built on excellent standards in the field and some excellent spells from multiple individuals with both bat and ball.
Tom and Qasim opened the batting, quickly getting the pace of the pitch and rotating the strike well, running hard and challenging the fielders by pushing quick ones and twos. Once Qasim was set, he set those long leavers to work, starting to regularly clear the boundary including some massive sixes into the school next door. When Tom fell caught out, the opening partnership was 70 and had been scored at an excellent run rate.
With Qasim bringing up his first Didsbury fifty in style with another huge six and retiring, Lymm probably thought that this was their chance with a relatively new batter in Giles at one end and Roland at the other. Although Roland fell early, Giles rotated the strike well as a variety of partners came and went, finding the boundary with regularity as his innings developed. In Henrik he found a partner to stick around with, and Giles continued an excellent Didsbury effort with his own fifty.
After a few more quick wickets, Qasim came back out to find a few more boundaries before finally being caught out. Matthew Smith, returning to Sunday cricket for the first time in years, looked competent with the bat, adding some valuable runs with the returning Giles. The only weakness in his batting appeared to be in his running, as after several attempts to run himself out finally succeeded. Didsbury failed to bat out the overs but hit a very competitive 190 all out from 31.2 overs.
Despite the best efforts of the captain who had taken the gloves for the day and looked less than confident behind the stumps, Didsbury excelled with the ball. As he has all season, Ralph’s relentless line and length kept the run rate right down, bowling two maidens and picking up two wickets in his opening spell. He was ably supported by Qasim at the other end, backing up his batting performance with pace which was far too quick for the Lymm number three. Sam grew into his spell and ended up with a wicket to show for his efforts with a good catch from Giles.
Having got Lymm 19-4, the real challenge became apparent to the Friendlies as their overseas pro got stuck into his work. For context, he was the top run scorer for Lymm’s first team by several hundred runs, not to mention being their second leading wicket taker and an absolute gun in the field. Despite Didsbury’s best efforts, he quickly made his 50 and retired back out to renew Didsbury’s progress through the Lymm middle order.
Harry and Tom both bowled brilliantly, giving very little away, both bowling maidens and picking up a wicket a piece for their efforts. Side note, I actually took a catch behind the stumps! Anthony got in on the fun with a wicket and Ralph tidied up their number ten, but this led to a problem, the overseas was back!
Ralph continued to bowl well but started going for some runs as the batsman hit a very hard ball. However, it was Henrik who was to do most of the work against the dangerman. Henrik’s figures are a classic case of the stats in no way reflecting the performance. Against someone getting a long way down the crease, Henrik quickly found his length and created changes. A couple of very tricky chances went down on the boundary, and if a real keeper had been on the field, he should have been stumped at least ones. In Henrik’s final over, he beat the edge four times in a row before the batsman finally got one away. However, it was Qasim who finally managed to dismiss him, a fast yorker knocked his stumps out of the ground to remove any chance of a great escape for Lymm, with the batter departing for 94 from 46 with 11 fours and 7 (seven!) sixes.
Didsbury successfully saw out the game for an 18-run victory, a scoreline which does not reflect how good the team were in all aspects of the game. Player of the match was not a tricky one on this occasion, with Qasim putting in a brilliant performance with both bat and ball. That said, this was a performance built on excellent standards in the field and some excellent spells from multiple individuals with both bat and ball.
Further reading