The 2's travelled to Indian Gym looking to
bounce back from lasts weeks defeat against Birkbeck College,and
in turn put their own title challenge back on track.
After winning the toss,the rather youthful
home side surprisingly decided to bat first.The young opening
bats struggled to score runs against the T's tight opening
attack.Paul Cassidy,his usual metronomic self,and Ryan Combrinck
managing to extract pace out of a very slow and low track.
Singh was first to go,run out after a terrible
mix up,shortly followed by Jangra,cleaned bowled by Cassidy.This
wicket bought Indian Gyms overseas star Aditya to the crease.He
showed his class straight away,hitting a sumptuous cover drive
for four,off his first ball.
Jimmy Liebenberg was brought on to replace the
unlucky Combrinck,who bowled much better than his 0 for 29
showed.This paid instant dividends,as he cleaned bowled the
stubborn Bahia with a peach of an off cutter.When Cassidy picked
up his second wicket,Rehancy,caught by skipper Paul Johnson at
mid off,the hosts were in a spot of bother at 50 for 4.
This brought home skipper Dhand in to join
Aditya,and these two pushed the score onto 90,before Liebenberg
got another one to cut back and trap Dhand LBW for 28.
As the ball was getting older,it was getting
increasingly more difficult to score runs,as many deliveries
were literally rolling along the ground.T's knew though,that if
they could dislodge Aditya,they would be well into the hosts
tail.
Johnson brought himself into the attack,to
replace the excellent Cassidy,2 for 34 off 17 overs.
And he took the prize wicket of the overseas
star in his 2nd over,having him caught at slip by Aly Vokes for
43.
What followed was reminisant of the Osterley
game two weeks previous,as the home batting order went down like
the preverbial pack of cards,going from 105 for 6 to 116 all
out.
Johnson picking up 2 more wickets,to finish
with figures of 3 for 5 off 4.1 overs.And Liebenberg 1 more,to
finish with 3 for 37 off 13 overs.There was also another run
out.
Word of praise too for keeper Jon Trippett,who
despite not taking any victims,kept superbly on an unforgiving
surface.
After a tea highlighted by some lovely onion
bhargis,the T's knew it was going to be a tricky chase on a
difficult wicket,especially with Adityas bowling taylor made for
this type of track.
Openers Aly Vokes and Stuart Amos were met
with some difficult medium pace to contend with.Vokes though,was
quick to pounce on anything slightly loose,getting the T's off
to a steady start.A turning point in the game happened at the
start of the third over though,when Vokes edged one into the
ground,it bounced off the keepers arm,and sickenly hit Aditya in
the face,breaking his nose! A freakish injury,that probably
ended Indian Gyms chances in the game,as he had to go off to
hospital.
With the home side visibly dejected,Vokes took
full advantage,cracking the ball to all parts of the ground,with
Amos content to watch from the other end,
When Amos was finally bowled for a solid
18,the score had rocketed to 87,with Vokes already passed
50.This proved only a minor blip,as Vokes wasted no time
finishing the job,allowing Dave Barton the honour of cracking
the winning boundary,with a full 22 overs still remaining in the
game.Vokes finished unbeaten with a superb 74.
This was a clinical victory for the T's.And
although Birkbeck have forged a tidy gap at the top,with 6 games
still to play,it's still all to play for!
