Shenfield frustrated by draw (From Brentwood Weekly News)

Shenfield frustrated by draw

12:41pm Thursday 21st June 2012 in Sport

CRICKET: Shenfield’s first XI started their weekend double header against bottom of the league Ardleigh Green on Saturday.

Shenfield got off to a suspect start with John Walter getting dismissed for just two.

After this a partnership developed between Arshad Ali and Australian overseas player Dan Jacob.

Ali looked in dominant form, hitting numerous sixes before being bowled for a quick fire 48.

After this opening gambit Ardleigh Green introduced spin from both ends on what was a wicket which was favourable for the slower bowlers. After getting a start and looking settled at the crease Jacob was out for 27. Another wicket fell as Charlie Sutherland was removed without scoring.

This bought Matt Salisbury to the crease to join Suhaib Sawar. The two Ardleigh Green spinners continued to operate effectively restricting the scoring of Salisbury and Sawar.

After this period of pressure the Shenfield batsmen began to score more freely.

After hitting a towering six, Salisbury was caught behind off Mudalige for 39.

Another quick wicket led to captain Jack Kliber joining Sawar at the crease. The Ardleigh Green spin duo continued to operate and kept the bowling tight well into the second half of the Shenfield innings.

After striking numerous boundaries Kliber was caught and bowled for 37.

Sawar got out for 72 on the penultimate delivery of the innings as Shenfield were bowled out for 246.

Chamikara Mudalige was the pick of the bowlers, taking 4 for just 46 in his 18 overs.

The Ardleigh Green openers started in a similar vein to the Shenfield batsmen as they tried to score heavily off the seamers.

After a quick 24, Hurworth was dismissed by Arshad Ali. This led to a cluster of three wickets for Shenfield’s own spin pair of Ali and the left arm spin of Suhaib Sawar. As the two continued to bowl economically the Ardliegh Green batsmen continued to lose patience on the slow wicket as the bowlers remained on top by taking regular wickets. As the Shenfield target continued to look further and further away the Ardleigh Green batsmen made their intentions clear that they were happy to draw.

As Shenfield introduced a third spinner into the attack the batting team seemed more than content to block out for the draw.

Despite two late wickets from John Hammond, Shenfield could not bowl out Ardleigh Green, coming up two wickets short, with Ardleigh Green finishing 179 for 8 off 59 overs.

The pick of the Shenfield bowlers was Suhaib Sawar, who took 4 for 47 and a mention for Arshad Ali who took 2 for 36 from 18 overs.

After a dry evening conditions were much improved Sunday afternoon for the clash with Amersham in the Conference Cup Competition.

Amersham were bowled out for 129 with Ben Langley top scoring with 33.

Shenfield’s chase started with a bang as Arshad Ali yet again scored freely off the new ball hitting numerous sixes.

He finished 89 not out and he was capably supported by John Walter who finished unbeaten on 33. After the blazing innings of Ali, Shenfield won in just 14.5 overs. They could face local rivals Brentwood in the third round of the Conference Cup.