WEST MALVERN v OLD HILL III

ON yet another warm and sunny afternoon, on a pitch perfectly suited for batting, it was the ball that conquered the bat in the first WCL Division Six encounter of the season at Mathon Court.

On being asked to bat first, the Old Hill openers progressed steadily to 30 off 11 overs against some accurate and aggressive bowling from strike duo Pete O'Connell and James Blackshaw (5-1-12-0).

Steve Wright, replacing O'Connell soon struck removing Abbi Ali for 11 in his first over. Sam Ward (16) who had batted sensibly was Wright's next victim being trapped leg before and when keeper Kevin Gilbert took a low catch to dismiss Adnan for a duck three wickets had fallen in as many overs. Old Hill's plight was worsened when Brian Pleass took a sharp chance at slip off Rowan Dakin to remove visiting skipper Ahmed.

Farhad and Kashif tried to steady the ship but Wright struck again with his deadly away swingers removing the pair in successive overs leaving Old Hill struggling at 70-6 at the 30 overs stage.

Tom Rock, batting with great maturity and Steve Ward whose aggressive intentions caused the West some concerns gave the innings some much-needed impetus.

The excellent Wright (8-2-26-5) and Dakin (10-0-37-1) were replaced by slow bowlers Tim Millis and Pleass. The change had its reward when Ward (6) pouched at mid-wicket and two balls later Rock (24) was brilliantly caught at short extra, both batsmen falling to the Williams and Pleass combination.

O'Connell's (8-2-15-0) return had the tail jumping but it was Shailly Badra who provided the coup de grace bowling Waqaas with his first ball.

Chasing a target of 114 on a flat pacey wicket should not have been a problem, but when Tom Taylor found Mohammed at square leg off Abbi and Smith was bowled by Farhad for four the innings was had taken on a different complexion.

Badra and Wright came together at 7-2 in the fifth over, their partnership appeared to be steering the West to an easy victory until Wright (39) smashed the ball to Farhad off the returning Abbi who then bowled Pleass first ball to set the nerves a-jangling.

Badra and Williams (three) took the score on to 100 and within sight of the target but then Farhad struck three times in his next two overs removing Williams and O'Connell with consecutive balls and then clean bowling Dakin with 12 still required.

Old Hill could now sense a dramatic victory, bowling and fielding with renewed vigour. Skipper Gilbert came to the crease with both sides feeling the pressure, together with the resilient Badra they eased towards the victory target. Gilbert hitting the first boundary in 10 overs and then glancing the two required off Farhad in the 34th over.