Energy Exiles Cricket Club

Match Summary: vs. Merton, Sunday, 19 Jun 2022

Ground: Nursery Road
Captain: Jibran Ahmed
Match type: 35 overs
Toss: Merton elected to bowl
Weather: Cloudy
Opposition: Merton scored: 173 all out (34.4 overs)
Exiles Score: 200 for 3 (35 overs)
Result: Won by 27 runs
Man of the match: Ajmal Safi 87 & 3 for 12

It wasn’t the best of starts for debut captain Jibran Ahmed, who turned up to a cloud covered Nursery Road ground to find a wicket hadn’t been prepared and subsequently lost the loss. Fortunately though, Merton opted to field first, which suited the Exiles just fine.

Exiles got off to a strong but slow start. The Merton attack demonstrated accuracy, swing and spin of the likes rarely seen in Sunday cricket. Runs were hard to come by for the first 10 overs, however wickets remained intact as Keith and Ajmal played sensibly, picking off the occasional bad ball. Merton would consider themselves unlucky, with a dropped catch off Ajmal and a number of excellent deliveries narrowly missing the stumps.

The tide soon turned though as Ajmal and Keith picked up the pace with boundaries beginning to flow as the Merton bowling attack dried up. An impressive 152 partnership was built before Ajmal was eventually caught on the boundary on 87. Keith continued to anchor the innings, demonstrating excellent use of the sweep shot, reaching 71 before falling victim to an LBW appeal.

Shahid, Johnny and Exiles debutant Behzad all contributed to get Exiles to 200 for 3 at the end of the innings; a challenging target had been set.

During the innings break, another debutant - our new supplier of teas – proved a big hit with both sides and hopefully will be making a return for future home games.

With 8 bowlers to choose from confidence was high as the Exiles took the field. Having seen the Merton spinners turning the ball sideways, captain Jibran took a gamble and opened with spinner Wasim alongside Naren. The gamble almost paid off as his first ball was chipped to mid-on, who unfortunately couldn’t quite keep hold of the ball.

Luck sharply turned in Merton’s favour and runs accumulated quickly as Imran Raja, the batsman dropped off Wasim’s first ball scored an onslaught of boundaries, though most were aerial and only just avoided being caught a number of times. Having scored 50 in 7 overs, the gamble hadn’t paid off and it was time for bowling changes.

The flow of runs acme to a grinding halt as Shahid and Jibran bowled accurately and aggressively. Jibran drew first blood, clean bowling Imran Raja on 61 as he charged down the wicket. The second wicket soon followed as Johnny held on to a mis-cued drive at gully. Shahid continued to bowl economically, eventually picking up a run out.

Top order disassembled and the run rate about par, Zabi and Ajmal entered the attack and caused devastation, picking up 5 wickets between them for a mere 27 runs. Catches seemed to stick like glue as the variation in pace and swing left the Merton batsman struggling to strike the ball clean.

Johnny picked up the last couple of wickets, again thanks to safe hands in the field; of particular note, a one-handed blinder from Evan at short mid on.

Merton finished 173 all out, with just two balls to spare. Man of the match went to Ajmal Safi, scoring 87 and taking 3 wickets for 12 only runs in his 4 overs.

A great day out for the Exiles, demonstrating patience with the bat and persistence in the field at a time when the game could have run away from us.

Report By: Jibran Ahmed

Last modified: 11 March 2018 14:31:46. Top of the page