BOOTH CRICKET CLUB Triangle sunday 27 July

Booth v Triangle 27^th July

On one of the hottest days of the year captain Mike Barnett lost the toss for the fifth time in a row and Triangle chose to bat first.

Booth’s opening bowlers Gavin O’Brien and Lewis Finney kept things tight early on, with Gavin also achieving an early breakthrough. There then followed a hundred partnership between Wood and Uttley, and at the half way stage, with Triangle over 100-1 a large total seemed likely.

With the introduction of Gulbaz for his first bowl in over three years things started to change. Gulbaz soon showed that the old magic is still there, taking 4-30 in his 10 over spell. This was followed by some tight bowling at the death from Louis Weatherill and Gavin O’Brien, combined with some excellent catching and fielding from the Booth side. As a result Triangle were restricted to a final total of 197-5, with Uttley batting through the innings for 102 not out..

The umpires awarded the fielding mark to 13 year old Seamus Barnett for an excellent all round fielding performance, including a superb catch from a skier at deep mid wicket.

In order to have a chance of victory it needed Booth’s top four to bat well. The innings started well, but then wickets started to fall and only Mohammed Jamil in the top four reached double figures, scoring 24. O’Neill opening the bowling for Triangle took the first 4 wickets and finished with 4-21 from his 10 over spell. With the score at 60-5 and only very young players to bat a heavy defeat looked likely. However, some superb batting by 14 year old Hasnain Wajid, ably supported by double figure innings from Lewis Finney, Chris Greenwood and Sebastian Holmes kept Booth in with a chance of an unlikely victory.

Hasnain went on to score his first 50 in adult cricket, eventually being 9^th man out for a fine 63. Even the legendary Wajid Ali seemed in awe of some of the shots being played by his young son.

Booth were eventually all out for 168. However, considering the youthfulness of the side that contained seven juniors (2 under 17’s, 3 under 15’s and 2 under 13’s) we put up a very encouraging performance to match a much more experienced Triangle side for most of the game.

Booth 5 points

Triangle 20 points

Booth v Triangle

Triangle won by 29 runs Booth 5 pts, Triangle 20 pts

Triangle 197 for five

N. Uttley not out

A. Heaton b O'Brien

S. Wood c Greenwood b Gulbaz

M. Turner c Weatherill b Gulbaz

M. Uttley c S. Barnett b Gulbaz

P.Milosovic not out

Extras