We received a very warm welcome at one of the most scenic grounds by the sheep's and the cows which was not something we are accustomed to at the home ground.
We lost the toss to Bellbroughton CC who asked us to bowl first.

The opening bowlers were Sherigha and Peachy both of whom started brilliantly.
Sheri bowled at good pace and passion... while peachy bowled with changes of pace keeping good lines and length. The first breakthrough was provided by Peachy's peach of delivery that took the inside edge of the Belbroughton opener who had no answer to Peachy's mix up fusion deliveries.

Overall it was a very assertive spell of bowling from the opening bowlers who only gave away 34 runs at the end of 12 overs.

Snapchat Sheri also slipped a few bouncers in to keep the batters in check!
This caused the opposition skipper to get out the chest guards, such was his growing reputation in the short space of the match.

Then came the first bowling change brining on the two dazzling spinners Mansoor and young debutant Zain Iqbal - leg spin sensation after Eesa off course! Both spinners continued to bowl brilliantly and produced several chances.

There were two run outs during Zain's overs. Mansoor bowled an amazing delivery which spun back sharply into the right hander, knocking the off stump out the ground... Great sight for a fast spinner!

Haider was then introduced to the attack. He also bowled an amazing spell of fast bowling and created an early chance which was put down at mid-wicket. The fielder did well to get to the ball which popped out of his hands (a close call).

The opposition were short of runs and the pressure was building. This lead to the big shots coming out. Another opportunity was created by Haider which was caught by the safe hands of Peachy who took two exceptional and well-judged catches low down on the boundary.

Skipper sensed an opportunity to completely dismantle the opposition and decided to bring on Eesa AKA Paul Adams to bowl. This proved to be a tactical and well planned move by the skipper as Eesa spun the opposition out of this game by getting 3 wickets to his name and a run out during his overs. All 3 of Eesa's wickets were catches which reminds me to give credit to the CCC fielding.

All of the boys played positive cricket , everyone was on their toes walking in with the bowlers and motivating each other to do well!!! All of this without Ammo's speeches ? There was only one catch put down by the fielder (who may also be writing this report) but he redeemed himself by holding onto two further catches that came his way.

It was indeed the credit to a great bowling and fielding effort that we were able to restrict the opposition to a total of 133 runs.

With the end of the overs came our turn to bat with K Mahmood and M Khan opening the batting. Both of them started solid. However, K Mahmood got unlucky with the early run out. M Khan played well with two brilliant 4's who also guided the batsmen around him and rotated the strike. We lost a further two wickets which brought Sherri onto the field.
As always Sherri was in a hurry to go big and finish the game early hitting two 4's and a beautiful 6 but he also got out trying to hit the big shot. This wicket brought in Haider who batted well and built a partnership alongside M Khan.

Haider had strict instructions from the Skip to play on the ground and underneath his head and that's exactly what he did. He played with grit, focus and sheer determination and took the team to victory. He scored classical shots both on the ground and a big six down the ground.

The partnership between Haider and M Khan soon came to end which yet again bought the star of the day Eesa onto the field. Eesa alongside Haider batted beyond their age and showed the full face of the bat to both the ball and the bowler. Haider ended his innings on 46 not out (deserved a 50 in my opinion but the lack of runs from the opposition meant he couldn't get there). Eesa ended his innings on a hard earned 12 runs.

Overall a very dominant performance by the team who stuck to the basics, restricted the opposition to a low score and then batted well to win the game. Once again a huge shout out to the fielding effort and positive play on the field. It was truly a team effort and everyone shipped into the game. Well done all, let's keep the momentum going and get more wins for the Sunday XI.

Match Report by
Abdul Hannan (old HSBC!)