Excellent bowling gives Shenfield victory (From Brentwood Weekly News)

Excellent bowling gives Shenfield victory

4:03pm Wednesday 13th June 2012 in Sport

CRICKET: Shenfield secured their second win of the season on Saturday against Ilford thanks to some excellent bowling at Valentines Park, Shenfield bowling Ilford out for 116.

Shenfield travelled to Ilford for the final 50-over format before the longer form games would start. On an overcast day and damp pitch the toss would be crucial and fortunately for Shenfield captain Jack delivered and asked Ilford to bat.

Ilford found it difficult to get runs and the start of the innings due to some excellent bowling from Matthew Salisbury and Michael Hindley, with Hindley also picking up two decent wickets to cap of a brilliant spell.

Shenfield continued to bowl tightly throughout the day and the Ilford batsmen found it hard to penetrate the infield and at drinks Shenfield were in a commanding position.

Bowling changes strengthened Shenfield’s position with Lugg and Ali both producing super spells to put the batsmen under a lot of pressure. Pressure which eventually told with Lugg claiming two wickets and Ali getting three. Shenfield also capped off an excellent day in the field with two run outs to leave Ilford all out for 116.

On a tough deck it was important to get a couple of well built partnerships and both opening batsmen did well to see off the first few over’s and get the score ticking the in the right direction. The balance of power soon changed with Ilford picking up some quick wickets and putting Shenfield under a lot of pressure.

But Salisbury and Sarwar battled through a tough spell and put on a great partnership to steer Shenfield within ten runs off victory.

Shaid was the unfortunate batsmen to miss out on a not out score.

Matthew Salisbury showed his class with the bat again with a superb innings, finishing the game with a cracking drive over mid off.

After the match, the captain Jack Kliber commented on how pleased he was with victory but would like to feel more safe and make sure Shenfield win more easily when in a commanding position.

Shenfield’s next match is at home to Ardleigh Green.