Zed's Diary
Follow our new A Team skipper through the trials and tribulations, heartache and pain, during his first season in charge

ACCRINGTON A (107 all out) v ALL STARS (107 all out): June 28th

What a match to play in, the game began with me losing the toss (now adays its just a pre requisite for me loosing the toss...the 5th in a row ) and the All Stars (yep that's what there called and no its not a basket ball team!) captain decided to bat ...obviously. Bowling first ended up being a blessing in disguise as the pitch we played on at our home ground was more like a snake pit. Our opening bowlers were made to look like Michael Holding (Immy...not quite whispering death more like whining hippo) and Joel Garner (Tom Pendergast...not quite big bird more like the builder from the YMCA tune from 'yesteryear').

The 'deadly' duo managed to put the ball in the right place. They managed to make the bowl seam, bounce, move and swing all over the place (In Immy's case I'm sure it was all by accident and never by design!). Both bowlers put in a fantastic performance reducing All Stars to 36-6 inside the first 12 overs. At this stage the opposition, if they were lucky would limp to about 80 all out. But all credit to their lower order as they fought back to finish on 107 all out, Kizar (25), Rashid (15) and Sher (12) all chipped in with valuable contributions. Imran led with the bowling honours with his final figures of 3-26 off 10 overs closely followed by Tom (3-44), Arif chipped in with two and Paul Young 1. The bowlers were superbly backed up by the fielding (only two chances went down). It was definitely our best display of the season.

When it comes to lip licking natural enthusiasm (especially appealing), there is no one quite like the yelping, bounding, boisterous 11 known as the All Stars, ably led by their captain (Riaz Mohammed), they definitely give your ear drums a working over. But in one respect this is exactly what we need in our league, A game of cricket played fairly, in good harmony, humour, commitment and unbounded passion for the game. 10 out of 10 for All Stars here.

Our reply started off on a sound but cautious note and at 39-3 off 13 overs the match was still in the balance, with the target of 108 to win not far off. However the balance tilted in the favour of the opposition when we were reduced to 75-8 after I departed for 11 edging on to my stumps. Players who had returned back to the dressing room included Ijaz the stand in player who made a gritty 19. Arif 1, P Young 10, D Hargreaves 3, M Ashton 0 and not least Immy Hussain who scored 9, apparently he claims he couldn't see the ball at all in this match while he's batting! (it wouldn't surprise me that next week he'll be complaining that the G-string he's wearing is causing him constipation!) There was some hearty bowling from K Hayat (match figures of 5-44) arguably the fastest bowler in our league, his bounce and extra pace had some of our batters in a 'pickle'. He was ably assisted by the wicketkeeper captain Riaz who did some fine glove work behind the stumps to the pacemen.

However the match took another dramatic twist when our overseas player (Bernard) came to the crease. He is an absolute bundle of energy and enthusiasm with a keen eye infused with a somewhat chaotic ,confused and scattery cricket brain which reflects in his running between the wickets. He scored a fine 19 and when we were 2 away from victory he had a rush of blood and was bowled. 106-9 soon became 107-9 with the last man Arshad scampering for a bye in partnership with Tom Pendergast.

Scores were level, we needed 1 to win off the final over of the match being bowled by K Hayat and at this stage T Pendergast who with Berny took us this far, wisely blocked the first four balls as the fielders moved in. It was now or never I dare not look...Tom went for it as he hit the penultimate bowl as hard as he could to what almost would have been a fine drive past the stumps for 4 but........guess what the bowl hit Arshad on the foot and went straight to mid off and in the ensuing chaos Tom was at the same end as Arshad (a.k.a the mango, a.k.a the mongoose. a.k.a wildchild, a.k.a aint got the time and space for all his nick names and other curses I can think of).. he was run out and the match tied. All credit to Tom and the lads for a hearty effort it just wasn't to be, it was a fantastic effort from all the lads and brilliant match for the 22 players who participated. With the 3 points gained from this match we managed to double our points tally for the season.

Don't miss the other installments
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8