On a glorious Tuesday evening, the sun shining and the ground looking as good as it has all season, Coleshill captain Umang won the toss and asked HSBC to bat on what looked a belter!

Play was initially held up by Saturday skip Dave Phillips who couldn’t find his keeping gear, but once underway Coleshill opening bowlers Dave Peachey (4-0-19-1) and Khurum Pfiefer (4-0-29-0) made a good start, bowling a tight line and length, restricting the batsmen to only the odd boundary ball. When the real DP stood up and pressured the opening bat into a false shot, Umang took the catch at mid-on, and Coleshill looked in the driving seat at 30-1 off the first 6 overs.

HSBC soon got into their stride, and they looked to put their foot on the gas with the change bowlers of Sheragha and Mohsin struggling to keep the boundaries down on what was proving to be an excellent batting pitch. Although they bowled well, the wicket was true, and the batsmen took full advantage of the let offs they were continually given with dropped catches starting to mount up. Khurum in particular was struggling after forgetting to take his bucket out with him (although he did have the sunshine directly in his line of sight which was causing issues…). Opener Beardsmore finally departed after making a brutal 51, showing the home side what they were missing out on of a weekend, dispatching 2 sixes into the Morrisons car park before being run out by a well-judged throw at mid-off by The Doc. Aminul (1-12) and a tired looking Dr Ali (1-14) who had been asked to field deep mid-off at both ends for 16 overs to help him with his fitness, finished off the bowling. They bowled well with a mixture of quick and slower balls, both taking late wickets to stem the flow of runs, keeper Phillips taking a sharp stumping to dismiss the dangerous Malik (55). Both bowlers used their experience to restrict the total at the end to a par score of 144.

Sheraz (6) and Dr Ali (11) strode confidentially to the crease and made a solid start, hitting some lusty blows and jumped on any bad ball bowled. 2 wickets fell together, and new batsmen Phillips (9) and Akhtar continued to make good progress until Phillips fell to the wily Dan Price, who bamboozled him with a slower floaty full toss that pinned back his middle stump! Runs and wickets continued to flow, Aminul (23) taking a liking to one over from Ammo (1-17) but Sheragha (4) was unable to repeat his heroics of last week and their dismissals left the home team in trouble at 70-5 at the half way point. Captain Umang and Akhtar, who was playing beautifully, controlling the pace of the innings, took the score along nicely, and with the run rate under control and needing 30 off 30 balls, Umang (21) hit a lusty blow over cow corner for 6, before having a rush of blood to the head and trying to repeat the feat, lost his middle stump and the game was again in the balance. HSBC turned the screw, and some excellent death bowling being backed up in the field meant Coleshill needed 18 off the final 2 overs. Coleshill hopes took another blow in the penultimate over with Akhtar (41) being run out trying to get back to the strikers end. Enter Michelle ‘Khurum’ Pfifer… with 8 balls remaining and 12 still needed, he knew exactly what to do… unfortunately knowing what to do and executing it are 2 different things and he was soon making his way back to the pavilion after a failed Dilscoop attempt. HSBC soon wrapped up the innings with Dave Peachey the final man to go, HSBC deservedly winning an entertaining game by 9 runs.

Another midweek game that provided a good challenge and some excellent performances. Next week there are 2 midweek games including the Warwickshire T20 Cup competition so hopefully Coleshill can look to get back on the wining trail.