Archive 31-35
31 Somerset v Durham May 2004
Frizzell County Championship Division Two, 2004
Somerset v Durham County Ground, Taunton
12-15 May 2004
Durham won by 1 wicket Points: Durham 18, Somerset 7
Durham, out for the count on 95 for five on Friday evening, pulled off one of the most extraordinary run chases in championship history when they ran down a target of 451 to win by one wicket. At the end of day three, one supporter on a chat forum refused to give up hope.
“Another terrible start to the innings followed by an excellent partnership between Peng & Breese. So typical of our inconsistent start – Nicky would have been the last player I’d have tipped to score heavily. Heavy defeat looks inevitable but there is still a glimmer of hope-it’ll take a miracle for us to win from this position but there are still 5 wickets to go, Nicky & Gareth will both have to score hundreds and bat for the majority of the day, that’s an unlikely but not impossible scenario.”
The unlikely hero was Gareth Breese, a Jamaican with a Welsh father signed by Durham more on the strength of his off-spin and British passport than batting credentials. Breese’s calm, unbeaten 165 of 224 balls, was only his second first-class century and his career best.
On the evidence of this game – he took one for 164 in 39 innocuous overs – his CV needs to be reassessed. He didn’t even get one of the 6 lbws which umpires Hampshire and Mallender gave in Somerset’s first innings.
Victory was sealed by Breese ‘s 24th four, cut square off Richard Johnson, though he and last man Mark Davies, who joined forces with 19 runs needed, had to survive a clutch of heart-stopping moments.
Davies edged Johnson to third man for a boundary, Breese was presented with four more cheap runs by an embarrassing misfield from James Hildreth at deep extra cover, and Davies won the benefit of the doubt with three runs required when Nixon McLean threw down the stumps as the pair scrambled a single. Somerset thought they had won, but umpire John Hampshire decided the batsman had just made his ground. Finally, Breese’s nerves got the better of him as he played and missed at the first three balls of Johnson’s over before celebrating a wonderful victory.
A measure of Durham’s achievement was that their previous highest fourth-innings score was more than 100 runs fewer. Time was never a factor; Jamie Cox’s declaration had only required them to score at a shade over three an over.
An undisciplined bowling performance on an unhelpful pitch was exemplified by Johnson. Unrecognisable from the seven-wicket destroyer in Durham’s first innings, his 32 wicketless overs cost 141.
When Breese joined the fray on Friday, Andy Caddick was breathing fire and a three-day victory for Somerset was still on the cards. All this was changed by a 131-run stand between Breese and Nicky Peng. There was still no cause for Somerset to panic when Caddick had Peng lbw, who had been unconvincing in adding 18 to his overnight 70.
Andrew Pratt’s tame dismissal, driving off-spinner Keith Dutch to short extra cover, left Durham having to conjure 182 runs from their last three wickets.
Shoaib Akhtar, hitting Caddick for a straight six, contributed 46 to an eighth wicket stand of 88 with Breese, who, bar a couple of edges, continued to play with admirable certainty and composure. Shoaib’s 46 had taken only 57 balls.
In a ninth wicket partnership of 75 Neil Killeen gave excellent support to Breese who drove impeccably off the front foot. It was hard to believe that his previous century was eight years ago.
It was not only the fourth-highest successful fourth-innings run chase in the history of the championship but beat Durham’s previous best fourth-innings total by 111 runs.
Frizzell County Championship Division Two, 2004
Somerset v Durham County Ground, Taunton
12-15 May 2004
Durham won by 1 wicket Points: Durham 18, Somerset 7
Somerset 1st innings
PD Bowler lbw b Collingwood 12
NJ Edwards lbw b Davies 23
MJ Wood lbw b Muchall 5
J Cox c GJ Pratt b Akhtar 66
JC Hildreth c A Pratt b Akhtar 101
KA Parsons lbw b Davies 55
RJ Turner lbw b Akhtar 0
KP Dutch b Killeen 72
RL Johnson lbw b Killeen 1
AR Caddick c Breese b Davies 8 ,
NAM McLean not out 14
Extras (b 1, lb 6, w 9, nb 2) 18
Total (all out, 99 overs) 375
Shoaib Akhtar 14 3 63 3
Killeen 20 5 56 2
Collingwood 14 4 50 1
Davies 22 6 55 3
Muchall 5 0 33 1
Breese 18 3 85 0
North 6 0 26 0
1-42 , 2-42, 3-52, 4-222, 5-223, 6-223, 7-350, 8-352, 9-354
Durham 1st innings
JJB Lewis b Johnson 65
MJ North lbw b Johnson 20
GJ Muchall c Turner b Johnson 0
PD Collingwood c Hildreth b Johnson 9
N Peng lbw b Caddick 0
GJ Pratt c Turner b McLean 1
GR Breese c Turner b Johnson 41
A Pratt not out 46
Shoaib Akhtar b McLean 25
N Killeen lbw b Johnson 3
M Davies c Turner b Johnson 10
Extras (b 2, lb 5, nb 8) 15
Total (all out, 72 overs) 235
Caddick 21 5 53 1
Johnson 23 4 69 7
McLean 19 3 58 2
Parsons 9 2 48 0
1-46, 2-46, 3-60, 4-70, 5-71, 6-136, 7-145, 8-199, 9-209
Somerset 2nd innings
PD Bowler lbw b Davies 25
NJ Edwards c Lewis b Davies 30
MJ Wood c Collingwood b Killeen 7
J Cox c Killeen b North 124
JC Hildreth c Collingwood b Breese 72
KA Parsons not out 36
Extras (b 8, lb 7, w 1) 16
Total (5 wkts dec, 87.4 overs) 310
KP Dutch, RJ Turner, RL Johnson, AR Caddick, NAM McLean dnb
Shoaib Akhtar 13 3 45 0
Killeen 20 3 59 1
Davies 20 3 69 2
Collingwood 12 3 37 0
Breese 21 1 79 1
North 1.4 0 6 1
1-59, 2-62, 3-77, 4-217, 5-310
Durham 2nd innings (target: 451 runs)
JJB Lewis c Turner b Caddick 2
MJ North c Turner b Caddick 33
GJ Muchall b McLean 19
PD Collingwood lbw b Caddick 4
N Peng lbw b Caddick 88
GJ Pratt c Edwards b Caddick 12
GR Breese not out 165
A Pratt c Edwards b Dutch 25
Shoaib Akhtar c Wood b Dutch 46
N Killeen b McLean 35
M Davies not out 4
Extras (lb 16, nb 4) 20
Total (9 wkts, 113.5 overs) 453
Caddick 42 8 149 5
Johnson 31.5 4 141 0
McLean 31 4 93 2
Parsons 2 0 13 0
Hildreth 1 0 4 0
Dutch 6 0 37 2
1-10, 2-57, 3-57, 4-75, 5-95, 6-226, 7-269 , 8-357, 9-433
32 Largo denied by last wicket partnership of 159
Largo v Victoria – July 2006
Small clubs Cup
When Largo’s secretary Dick Dakin arrived late for this semi-final cup match, he thought there wouldn’t be much of the game left to watch since Victoria were 81-9 after twenty-one overs. Twenty-four overs later Victoria were 240-9, the last pair having put on 159! Two wickets in two balls from Safyaan Sharif, followed by two fine stumpings by Kinnear, left Largo in dreamland. The dream however was to turn into a nightmare as Zia Haq who had been stranded at the non-strikers end finally found a partner in Qadooj. The pair, batting sensibly and with lots of skill, turned the game on its head. Haq was outstanding in posting an unbeaten 114 and Qadooj was 61. During their unbroken stand of 159 not one chance was given to the increasingly frustrated Largo bowlers.
Sharif started Largo’s reply as if he intended to get the runs himself stroking four glorious boundaries in quick time, then disaster struck with his run out – 28-1. Two suspect umpiring decisions later and Largo were 42 for 3. Kinnear and Ali briefly had home hopes rising during a 40 run partnership. However upon the fall of these two, wickets fell at regular intervals and eventually Largo were all out for 113. In the final Bon Accord beat Victoria by 24 runs despite having a man given out “obstructing the field”.
Largo v Victoria
July 23rd 2006
Victoria beat Largo by 127 runs
Victoria
M Ahmed c Duncan b M Sharif 10
M Asif lbw b S Sharif 5
N Ali c Kinnear b S Sharif 0
Z Haq not out 114
A Ali lbw b S Sharif 0
A Azeem st Kinnear b Smith 20
W Ghaffour c A Ali b Mowat 0
M Tahir c Robinson b Smith 6
B Raja st Kinnear b Mowat 3
J Iqbal lbw b Smith 0
Qadooj not out 61
Extras (1b, 2lb, 16w, 2 nb) 21
Total (for 9 wickets) 240
M Sharif 9 1 44 1
S Sharif 9 3 14 3
N Ali 4 0 36 0
D Smith 9 0 43 3
R Mowat 9 0 57 2
C Walker 3 0 17 0
A Duncan 2 0 26 0
1-13, 2-13, 3-18, 4-22, 5-67, 6-69, 7-76, 8-80, 9-81
Largo
C Walker c Ghaffour b Ali 10
M Sharif run out 19
G Robinson lbw b Raja 5
G Kinnear c Ahned b Iqbal 32
A Ali b Haq 14
R Mowat lbw b Haq 2
S Sharif b Haq 7
A Duncan not out 7
A Yousaf c Tahir b M Asif 11
N Ali b Haq 1
D Smith b Haq 0
Extras (5 b, 1lb, 3w) 9
Total (all out) 113
B Raja 6 0 28 1
N Ali 9 4 18 1
M Tahir 3 0 11 0
Z Haq 6.4 3 12 5
J Iqbal 5 0 32 1
M Asif 1 0 6 1
1-28, 2-39. 3-42, 4-82, 5-90, 6-90, 7-94, 8-111, 9-113
33 Twenty 20 confusion at the Oval
Surrey v. Warwickshire – July 2005
The Brit Oval: Monday 18 July 2005 (20-over match)
Match tied : Surrey won 4-3 on a bowl out
The first bowl-out in a Twenty20 match was the culmination of a mix-up before the last ball of the game was bowled. Allan Jones, one of the umpires, had communicated to the players that three were needed by Warwickshire off the last ball. Warwickshire scored only two and thought they had lost. Unfortunately, the umpires had made a mistake; the match had required a Duckworth/Lewis calculation and a total one short of the target constituted a tie, not a defeat.
So Surrey had scored 149-8, but, after 4.4 overs of the Warwickshire innings, rain brought a revised target of 118 off 15 overs. The target itself was a matter of doubt when the last over began; the target on the scoreboard was 118 until the start of the last over when it was changed to 117. Warwickshire’s total was then 104-7 and after 5 more balls it was 115-8. Ramprakash spent six minutes establishing the fact that if Warwickshire scored two runs, Surrey would win; the last ball was a full-toss driven by Dewald Pretorius to mid-off, and Surrey allowed no more than two runs to be taken; they thought they had won and celebrated accordingly.
Umpires Constant and Jones then informed Surrey that they had made a mistake and it was a tie. A bowl out was needed but Surrey initially refused to take part. They had a point saying “We would have set a different field otherwise.” Some of the 8890 crowd had drifted away and it was starting to get dark; Alan Fordham of the ECB was contacted as he was driving home from another match at Northampton, and he confirmed that a bowl-out was necessary.
The fact that Mahmood’s last ball appeared to be above waist height – a no-ball – added to the confusion. So too did the fact that Surrey found it impossible to bowl their overs quickly enough with a wet-ball. The umpires decided that the cut-off time for Surrey bowling their overs should be 8.16pm. Surrey started the last over at 8.20pm, but were let off the six-run penalty that would have left Warwickshire needing eight rather than 14 runs off the last over; in the semi-final they were penalised 6 runs for a slow over rate. To add to the confusion the official scores show that Surrey had received one 5 ball over in their innings.
Half an hour of bowling practice ensued, and at 9pm Surrey agreed to take part in the bowl-out which required 5 members of each team to bowl 2 balls each. There were some incredible misses; Dougie Brown began badly, with one commentator perhaps exaggerating the width of the ball “A dreadful ball off a 5 pace run, misses the offstump by about 2 yards!” Then there was a beamer from Neil Carter, of Warwickshire, the joint-leading wicket-taker in the competition. Streak for Warwickshire made it 1-0; Murtagh 1-1; Pretorius 2-1 for Warwickshire; finally Azhar Mahmood made it 2-2 which meant sudden death. Pretorius struck again (3-2), which brought Azhar Mahmood to the crease, who knew that Surrey’s Twenty20 semi-final hopes rested on his shoulders. If he missed, Surrey were out; he didn’t miss (3-3). After Streak missed his next one, Murtagh calmly hit the middle and off stumps and removed his shirt as Surrey celebrated a second time.
Next day the ECB issued a statement apologising for the confusion. It was the first time in Twenty20 Cup history that a match has been decided by a bowl out and the first time Surrey has had a match decided by the controversial method since their win against Oxfordshire in 1991.
Surrey
JGE Benning c Troughton b Anyon 22
AD Brown b Pretorius 4
SA Newman c Knight b Anyon 28
R Clarke c Trott b Loudon 10
JN Batty run out 8
Azhar Mahmood c Anyon b Troughton 13
MR Ramprakash not out 34
IDK Salisbury c Frost b Trott 7
TJ Murtagh st Frost b Trott 4
J Ormond not out 3
Extras (lb 4, nb 2, w 10) 16
Total ( 8 wkts, 20 overs) 149
ND Doshi dnb
Pretorius 3 0 19 1
Brown 2 0 19 0
Anyon 3 0 24 2
Carter 4 0 38 0
Loudon 2 0 9 1
Trott 4 0 19 2
Troughton 2 0 17 1
1-16, 2-43, 3-58, 4-77, 5-77, 6-97, 7-124 , 8-136
Warwickshire (target 118 off 15 overs)
NM Carter c Brown b Azhar 0
NV Knight run out 3
IJL Trott lbw b Doshi 15
JO Troughton c Murtagh b Ormond 21
TL Penney c sub b Clarke 20
HH Streak not out 15
AGR Loudon c Brown b Clarke 5
DR Brown b Murtagh 17
T Frost c Salisbury b Azhar 11
D Pretorius not out 6
Extras (lb 2, w 2) 4
Total (8 wkts, 15 overs) 117
JE Anyon dnb
Azhar 3 0 21 2
Ormond 3 0 18 1
Doshi 2 0 15 1
Murtagh 3 0 24 1
Salisbury 1 0 17 0
Clarke 3 0 20 2
1-0, 2-12, 3-28, 4-61, 5-64, 6-75, 7-99, 8-110
34. Edinburgh Academicals v SMRH – July 2005
When Accies were 70-7 batting first against SMRH in the SNCL Southern section, many people believed the game to be over for the home team, including one of the umpires Martin Flynn, umpiring at the Inverleith Park end. Martin was so confident that Accies were not going to win that he made a bet with the home captain Andrew Moffat, in which he would buy the whole team a beer if they reached 200 – and two beers if they went on to win the game. It was a mistake to make a bet with Accies which included alcohol!
The early loss of Kevin Bunten brought James Pillinger to the crease, who was making his first appearance for 7 years. His innings was cut short when the Comely Bank Road umpire decided that he was out lbw, which Accies felt was somewhat iffy as they thought the ball had hit him outside the line of the off stump. It just seemed to rub salt into the wounds when both the opposing skipper and keeper apologised!
More lbws followed, plus the dismissal of Stuart Moffat, famous for having a first-class average of 169. Accies weren’t impressed by any of the decisions, noting that Stuart was given out ‘caught behind’ when the ball in their opinion hit his pad. One of the lbws was Steve Spoljaric, famous for scoring 275 not out against Clackmannan in a cup match in 2001.
So at 70-7 things looked bleak, and this was the moment for Martin to make his bet with skipper Andrew Moffat who was now at the crease with Ed Black who was making his season’s debut and who claimed to be more of a bowler than batsman. Sensible batting allowed them to put on a valuable 112. Andrew was eventually lbw for 68 and Ed for 59. Smart running by Dave Black and Kean Woodmansey enabled the team to reach the magical 200. The Accies team could now anticipate at least one beer from Martin, while the SMRH team were rather deflated.
After his duck Stuart Moffat was on fire to take the wickets of SMRH’s pro and OA in an excellent spell of 2-17 in 10 overs. Maybe the Accies players would be getting two beers! Skipper Andew Moffat tried to get a breakthrough by having a bowl himself, but his two overs went for 28 with Mark Burgess in good form. His wicket was crucial and Kean Woodmansey got him caught and bowled. Another feature of Accies’ team was the wonderful fielding of Dave Black (their youth policy!) who saved about 25 runs diving around at backward point; his inclusion as a non-bowling No 11 paid off.
Ryan Sales was putting up stubborn resistance and was dropped on 40 off the bowling of Spoljaric. SMRH reached 189-6, only 15 away from victory. It took a moment of madness to give Accies the advantage again. James Pillinger bowled a ball that hit the keeper in the face; the keeper was now Steve Spoljaric – not just a wonderful batsman and bowler – causing many players to refer to Accies as a one-man team. The ball dropped in front of Steve as he turned away in pain. Sales called “Yes, yes, yes” in order to take a run. Steve quickly gathered the ball, threw it to James who whipped off the bails, and Martin Flynn gave the batsman out, much to Sales’ disappointment.
The last three wickets fell quickly, with Accies winning by just 5 runs. I don’t know if their players got their beers, but it makes a good story. It was a great game of cricket with fluctuating fortunes.
Edinburgh Academicals innings
KH Bunten c Atkinson b Coyle 4
+C Schmid lbw b Ranga Yasalal 8
J Pillinger lbw b Coyle 12
S Spoljaric lbw b Ranga Yasalal 10
MF Thomson st Burgess b Baillie 9
*AGH Moffat lbw b Sales 68
JSD Moffat c Burgess b Ranga Yasalal 0
R Allison b Baillie 1
E Black run out 59
KA Woodmansey not out 3
D Black wp-admin
run out 4
Extras (3 b, 3 lb, 4 nb, 15 w) 25
Total (all out, 49.4 overs) 203
Fall of wickets:
1-4, 2-23, 3-42, 4-43, 5-53, 6-55, 7-62, 8-174, 9-197, 10-203 (49.4 ov)
Coyle 8.4 1 52 2
Mitchell 9 1 34 0
Baillie 10 1 31 2
Ranga Yasalal 10 2 17 3
Atkinson 3 0 18 0
Sales 9 0 45 1
Stewart’s Melville Royal High
VJN Coltherd c Spoljaric b Schmid 29
BJ Atkinson c Schmid b JSD Moffat 10
GG Ranga Yasalal c Spoljaric b JSD Moffat 2
RW Sales run out 49
+MR Burgess c and b Woodmansey 47
*GJ Bissett c E Black b Woodmansey 5
RN Baillie lbw b Spoljaric 14
JF Park not out 16
PH Mitchell c Pillinger b Spoljaric 0
MH Coyle lbw b Pillinger 0
AJ McHoul b Spoljaric 0
Extras (2 b, 2 lb, 2 nb, 20 w) 26
Total (all out, 48.2 overs) 198
Fall of wickets:
1-33, 2-39, 3-48, 4-116, 5-140, 6-169, 7-189, 8-189, 9-197, 10-198 (48.2 ov)
Spoljaric 9.2 1 33 3
JSD Moffat 10 5 17 2
Schmid 10 0 49 1
AGH Moffat 2 0 28 0
Pillinger 9 1 35 1
Woodmansey 8 1 32 2
35 Surrey v India May 11th 1946
This match, shortly after the 2nd World War, is still the only time both Nos 10 & 11 have scored a century. Alec Bedser, who was on the brink of an England debut, was in fine form and at 4.03 pm India were 205-9, when Shute Banerjee joined Chandu Sarwate at the crease; Bedser however couldn’t dislodge either of them as they attacked the bowling.
Neither was a real tailender as they both had first class centuries to their names and had actually opened the innings together for East Zone in India the previous February. Sarwate eventually scored 14 centuries with a top score of 246 and Banerjee five centuries. Sarwate recalls how Alf Gover, the Surrey captain, was chatting to the groundsman, telling him which roller he would need. They didn’t waste any time attacking, while Surrey were not helped by their skipper straining a tendon in his heel and going off. Sarwate might have been stumped early on when he danced down the pitch to Parker and Mobey failed to gather the ball cleanly.
By close of play on Saturday Sarwate had reached 107 and Banerjee 87, adding 192 in just two hours. The Sunday newspapers speculated as to whether they could break the world record last wicket stand of 307. Banerjee reached his 100 and they beat the record last wicket stand in England (235 by Woolley and Fielder in 1909), but were still some distance off the world record when Parker spun a ball past Banerjee’s defensive stroke; their partnership was worth 249, scored in 190 minutes.
Banerjee was supposed to open the bowling but was given a rest; Surrey collapsed and were all out for 151 but did much better following on, ending the second day at 172-1. Next day Sarwate was in action again taking 5-54 in Surrey’s total of 338. Left with only 20 to win India let Sarwate open the innings but he was out for a single.
Abbreviated scorecard
VM Merchant b Squires 53
VS Hazare lbw b AV Bedser 0
RS Modi b AV Bedser 0
Gul Mohammad b AV Bedser 89
RB Nimbalkar c Mobey b Parker 18
S Mushtaq Ali lbw b Parker 6
SW Sohoni lbw b Watts 6
MH Mankad c Mobey b AV Bedser 16
CS Nayudu c Bennett b AV Bedser 9
CT Sarwate not out 124
SN Banerjee b Parker 121
Extras (7 b, 4 lb, 1 nb) 12
Total (all out, 147.2 overs) 454
1-2, 2-10, 3-121, 4-143, 5-155, 6-165, 7-188, 8-201, 9-205
Gover 7 2 18 0
AV Bedser 47 8 135 5
Watts 38 7 122 1
Squires 12 1 36 1
Parker 27.2 7 64 3
EA Bedser 8 0 25 0
Gregory 5 1 23 0
Fishlock 3 0 19 0
Surrey 1st innings 135 (51 overs)
Surrey 2nd innings (following on) – Sarwate 5-54
India 2nd innings 20-1 (5.5 overs)