After the drubbing at the hands of Kemnay-Kintore 1st XI last week, Grammar 2nd XI were looking to turn things around and a sunny day at Methlick was the perfect setting to do just that.
The skipper had taken the feedback from the team very seriously after last week’s defeat and was busily jotting down stuff on stickies through the drive down to Methlick. Just before the start of the match each team member was handed a stickie with a description of the role he was expected to perform.
Put in to bat, the openers Clelland and Mantha, managed to stick to the ‘stickie roles’. Mantha got off mark through a chance put down at square leg off the bowling of Addison. His partner Clelland was looking solid at the other end and settling in well. Methlick bowlers were bowling a good line and length and denying any free runs. A few vocal LBW appeals from the supporters in the pavilion had to be turned down during this period.
T Duffy managed to extract a mistimed drive from Clelland but failed to hold on to the return catch. Mantha and Clelland managed to add 39 in 13 overs for the first wicket before R Mantha was adjudged LBW for 20 (2X4) to a low full toss from B Carr. The new batsman R Mohammed and Clelland kept the momentum going with Mohammed in particularly aggressive mood. R Fryer, a former FPs player, was brought on to bowl the 14th over and off the 5th delivery Clelland played a beautiful drive over covers to get a boundary. In the 15th over bowled by B Carr, Mohammed opened his account by depositing a low full toss behind the square leg boundary and repeated the shot off the 5th delivery to get another boundary.
Runs were coming thick and fast with both batsman finding the boundary regularly. The first ball of the 19th over was deposited over the square leg boundary by Mohammed to bring up the first 6 of the match. FPs score had crossed 100 in the 24th over and they looked set for more. But T Duffy had other plans as he clean bowled Clelland with a delivery that pitched on the middle and swung in slightly to beat the bat and took out the leg stump. Clelland played a very good knock of 36 (6X4) which laid the foundation for the eventual score of the FPs.
MacDonald was the new batsman in. The partnership for the 3rd wicket was worth only 12 with both batsmen picking up boundaries before Carr had MacDonald chipping the ball in the air to be caught by Duffy. FPs 112/3. Carr bowled the 29th over of the innings which was action filled. Mohammed reached his 50 by getting boundaries of the first two deliveries of the over, with a pull off the first and a drive straight past the bowler off the second. But trying to go for a repeat he only managed to top edge the 4th delivery with the ball lobbing straight up in the air to Duffy. Mohammed out for an excellent 50 (1X6, 6X4). FPs 124/4. A faint inside edge helped the new batsman Whyte survive the first over. But there was to be no repeat as he was adjudged LBW off the 2nd delivery of the 30th over by Duffy. Lord couldn’t last long as he played on off the 4th delivery of the same over. FPs 125/6.
Devendran also didn’t survive long and was caught by Duffy off the bowling of Carr. FPs 130/7. Gopal provided good support to Campbell as the pair added 31 runs for the 8th wicket. Campbell initially found it difficult to counter the swing that Duffy was managing to derive. But once settled in, he hit some aggressive shots to get boundaries with one of the shots sailing over long on for a six. Gopal also managed to get a boundary with a sweetly timed sweep to the fine leg boundary. Gopal was out caught by Fryer off the bowling of C Addison finishing with 8 (1X4). FPs 161/8 off 38 overs. The new batsman Chovatiya blocked the remaining deliveries out and was defending well before being caught at mid-on in the 39th over off the bowling of Fryer. Campbell was left stranded at 31 n.o. (1X6, 4X4) as it was all over for FPs with Fryer getting Keshavamurthy LBW off the last ball of the over. FPs finished with 167 a.o., R.Mohammed top scoring with 50, C.Clelland a solid 36, M.Campbell an attacking 31 n.o. and Mantha a well paced 20 were the notable scorers of the innings. T Duffy (3-34), B Carr (3-62) and R Fryer (2-30) were the top wicket takers for Methlick.
Methlick are known to serve lovely tea and there were mentions of the sausage rolls provided rivalling those from Greggs.
Methlick opened the batting with Fryer and Gerrie. Whyte opened the bowling for the FPs and started off with a maiden. The next over by Chovatiya, playing his first match for the 2nd XI, was to be eventful. He deceived Gerrie with his quick pace as the batsmen was beaten all ends up to be bowled off the first delivery. The bowler broke into a celebratory run that Shoiab Akthar or even Dwayne Bravo would be jealous of. Unluckily for Methlick, there was to be a repeat off the last ball of the over. B Carr this time at the receiving end. Methlick 0-2 off 2 overs. It was always going to be tough recovering from such a position. But the new batsman Chalmers along with Fryer set about reviving the innings. Fryer had luck on his side as Mantha put down a straight forward chance at gully off the bowling of Whyte. Both Whyte and Chovatiya bowled well and were economical in their opening spells.
Methlick’s progress was slow but steady. Both batsmen were batting cautiously while putting away the bad balls to the boundary. They were able to raise 50 in the 22nd over. But there weren’t that many bad balls on offer which meant the pressure was always on. Mohammed, who was bowling in tandem with the captain Devendran, started with two maiden overs. And then in his 5th over he bowled Fryer to provide the much needed breakthrough. Fryer played a composed knock of 24 (4X4). Mohammed struck again in his next over, this time bowling C Addison for 0. Methlick 53/4 off 24 overs.
Wickets kept falling at regular intervals with Mohammed bowling T Duffy in the 28th over for 7. Devendran bowled an economic spell of 6 overs for 9 runs. Whyte returned, replacing Mohammed, and struck with the last ball of the over bowling Chalmers for a well compiled 22 (2X4).
Whyte, who bowled a good opening spell without much reward, struck again in his 9th over to get rid of G Anderson for 2. Campbell was brought into the attack who completed an all-round performance of his own, by bowling Coulson and Hyde off successive overs. Allan was the only batsman offering some resistance. Chovatiya returned to finish things off, bowling him for 12 (1X4).
Best bowling figures for FPs Chovatiya (3-14), R Mohammed (3-13), K Whyte (2-18) and M Campbell (2-3). Top scorers for Methlick R Fryer (24) and P Chalmers (22). FPs will be very happy to get the first victory under their belt and will hope to continue their winning ways next week against 2nd Ellon.
The evening ended with both teams heading to the local bar for a drink and R Fryer buying a round of drinks for his ex team mates.