Disclaimer: Facts and figures are estimates until the scorecard appears on play cricket. Events in this report may or may not have been enhanced or invented for your entertainment. Joe Ingham did not drop a catch at any point during the game.

The game almost descended into farce before a ball had even been bowled, Sanjay Shah in a desparate attempt to secure his first DOTD award of the season, foolishly left his trousers at home. With only minutes to go before the game began, Shabbaz stepped up and saved Sanjay’s blushes by providing him with a spare pair of trousers, much to the disappointment of everyone at the ground. This did however give every Mersey player a free licence to enjoy their day free from the threat of being made DOTD.

On another glorious April afternoon, Mersey were asked to bowl first and opened up with the usual pair of Syed Hassan and Usman Rashid. Hale Barns’ opener was in no mood to hang around however and punished any bowling that was slightly too full with some powerful, flowing cover drives, taking the total to 25 off the first 2 overs. This only provided a wake up call to the Mersey bowlers and they readjusted the lengths and began restricting the runs and building pressure, which eventually turned into wickets.

Mo Iqbal was introduced into the attack and picked up from where he left off the week before, bowling with great control and mixing up his pace beautifully to confuse the Hale Barns batsmen, restricting the runs whilst also picking up wickets at regular to finish with 3 big wickets. If catches had been held Iqbal would have no doubt picked up a five-for. Whilst we don’t want to dwell on dropped catches, one attempt deserves a special mention; where at deep mid-on, Dipan swirled and danced as a ball came hurtling towards him, upon reaching him Dipan managed to tip the ball over the crossbar, saving a certain goal but conceding a six in the process. As he dusted himself down he pointed sheepishly towards the sun, all would have been forgiven had his brother not hastily pointed out he was wearing sunglasses… on the top of his head. Functionality comes before style in cricket. A lesson for all.

Faisal Bokhari was another player making his Mersey return on Sunday and was introduced into the attack, taking no time to find his rhythm, constantly asking questions of the batsman and taking some vital wickets in the process. Sanjay Shah also got his first opportunity with the ball and looked threatening adding pace and bounce to the Mersey attack.

Faisal could have had another wicket had our selfless captain, Tom Webb, not refused to make an effort to catch one in the deep, instead opting to let the ball bounce before claiming the wicket for himself with an annoyingly good direct hit from a long way out, to run out the unsuspecting batsman. A late charge however from the Hale Barns lower order dragged the home side to a very respectable 136 off their 20 overs.

After a quick snack and drinks gratefully supplied by our hosts, Mersey’s tried and trusted opening duo, Humpage and Hassan, marched out to make an assault on the total. Just like the previous week however, an early wicket fell, only this week it was Hassan to go, plumb LBW.

This brought last week’s star man with the bat, youngster Ben Haspell to the crease, retaining his number 3 spot. Humapge and Haspell took little time to settle in and took the game to the Hale Barns bowlers with some delightful strokeplay. Haspell continued to show what he has to offer with a series of elegant drives, including the shot of the day, a crisp straight drive that whistled to the boundary. The two batsmen built a strong partnership taking Mersey to within 40 runs of the target with only 13(ish??) overs gone, before Haspell fell on 30(odd??).

From here Mersey suffered a mini collapse, as Joe Ingham came and went for only 5, and then Faisal Bokhari was run out with minimal impact on the scoreboard. From a commanding position, Mersey’s nerves began to grow, however Humpage was clearly focussed on making amends for last weeks low total, getting on top of the bowlers and racing to his 50, including two larges sixes. From here Humpage, ably assisted by Dipan Shah, closed down on the total and the game finished with a couple of overs and 6 wickets in hand, Humpage finishing with a sensational 66 not out.

A great contest throughout, played in great spirits and we look forward to playing Hale Barns as they join us in Division 1 East for 2015, they will be a great addition to the league.

MOTM
Jack Humpage
An easy decision, unbeaten 66 to win the game, carrying his bat from the first over to win the game

DOTD
Sanjay Shah
Even easier than awarding the MOTM, as village as it gets, forgetting your whites. He won’t be living this one down for a while, it’s probably best he’s now retreated back to Sheffield for exams.

Scorecard to follow