Tazz's whirlwind innings rescues Ellerslie

Simon George's report:

Ellerslie CC seems to be incapable of easing its way through a run chase, especially the 1st XI that have had many heroes and villains at the death over recent years. However, miraculously they seems to come out on the right side of them more times than not, which may go some way to explain the club’s relative success in recent years and why the club’s top team currently lies so high in the Belle & Jerome Division A.

Little Bounds was host to Gedling Colliery CC 1s this past Saturday, a team which not too long ago had rolled Ellerslie out for a measly 97. Ellerslie were looking to return the favour and they were given the chance to do just that as the away side won the toss and opted to bat first. Retribution looked like it was on the cards as Dan Footitt and Tariq Mahmood set about the Gedling top order, which crumpled to 62 for 6, including the dangerous Ravi Singh for a modest 17.

At 73-7 calls of “97” echoed around the field as an incentive to wrap up the innings in a timely fashion, Irfan Haider strode to the crease with a slightly different plan. To say Haider “flashed hard” would be an under statement. 4 fours and 3 sixes from the number 9 put some impetus into the Gedling innings. Geoff Curtis’ approach, contrasted that of Haider, as he gritted out 26 from 83 balls to anchor the second half of the innings.

The Ellerslie attack suddenly looked devoid of firepower, as Muhammed Raza and Ollie Taylor along with the returning opening bowlers, were unable to trouble Gedling’s lower order. Young Liam Brown (33*) batting at 10 was next to get in on the act after Simon George caught both Haider and Curtis at long off. From seeming struggling to scrape together 100, Gedling finished on 188, batting out their allotted 50 overs 9 wickets down.

The home side’s disappointment was evident during the lunch break. However, it was pointed out that importantly a score below 200 is probably under par at Little Bounds this year and that the team successfully chased down a much larger total the previous week. Kane Wilson and skipper John Walking were the guys in charge of commencing Ellerslie’s run chase. It started well.

Kane (21) looked in fine fettle as he biffed an extra cover drive over the top and stroked a sumptuous straight drive back down the ground. Unfortunately, a moment of indecision saw him loft the ball straight to cover to trigger a tumble of wickets. Wako (19) gloved it down the leg-side and Simon was trapped LBW for a blob.

At 59-3 Guy Walker and Danny began re-establishing Ellerslie’s position in the game, putting on a partnership of 54 for the 5th wicket. They manipulated the spin that was coming down from both ends and taking the singles on offer. A rush of blood saw Guy (23) spoon an easy catch up in the air, again signaling a cluster of wickets as Danny and Maneesh Mishra were caught behind leaving Ellerslie 122-5.

Ollie (19) and Matthew Footitt (14) both scored crucial runs in pushing the home side’s total up toward 188. Nevertheless, the wickets kept tumbling and thus resulting in Ellerslie’s number 10, Tariq Mahmood marching out to the crease after the dismissal of Sam Miller for 9.

Tariq supposedly told Ollie that he was going to bat “sensibly”. If sensible basting your first two balls through mid-off for consecutive boundaries, then you could say he was being just that. Tariq (19*) did settle down a touch but Ollie, unexpectedly got a leading edge, leaving Tariq and Raza at the crease with the score at 183 for 9. The pair looked calm out in the middle as Gedling surprisingly offered both easy singles until just 2 was needed off the final over.

Tariq nabbed a single off the second ball of the over leaving the scores level, a remarkable effort from a player who has scored so few runs for the club. Raza then faced three dots in a row to leave himself a simple equation of one ball, one run. Later we would find out, to the astonishment of his teammates, that he was unaware that it was the last ball of the innings. However, when Raza (5*) sees short and wide he generally puts a lot into it; thankfully he did just that.

The 1sts now sit 2nd in Div A, with Gedling retaining their place of 4th in the table after the weekend’s result. Ellerslie take on Long Eaton away next Saturday as the season reaches its mid point and the table begins to take in South Notts’ top division.