Ellerslie beat next-door neighbours in Miller time

Full Scorecard - http://ellerslie.play-cricket.com/view_results_details?id=11912667#summary

Having, perhaps somewhat fortuitously, found themselves playing in Division D this year (due to team dropouts and general restructuring), Ellerslie’s Second XI squared up against across town rivals West Bridgfordians CC in week one of the SNCL. Fordians Second XI could be considered promotion candidates and at the very least one can always expect a solid side to represent the team from east West Bridgford.

Ellerslie’s side was mostly made-up of familiar faces with a few notable exceptions. Paceman Taimoor Safdar was making his debut after moving to Nottingham from Aberdeen (I think), Scotland and Nasser Hussain was back for his third… no, fourth… maybe fifth stint at the club. Possibly the biggest change for the side over the off season was the installment of ‘veteran’ bowling all-rounder Eddie George as Captain, taking over from Nadeem Akhtar.

Edward’s first task was to win the coin toss and elect to bat on a scorcher of a day. The deck looked of a typically good standard, the outfield looked hard and fast and the temperature was uncharacteristically high for the time of year. He did not win the toss. Ellerslie’s bowling attack, which was about to take the field, looked to be strong and varied as MT Raza and Phil Lafbery were the two additions to the three already mentioned. Nevertheless, Fordians got off to a flyer.

John Spragg raced his way to a half century, latching onto anything with width and for the first 15 or so overs the home side cantered along at six runs an over. The debutant, Taimoor, soon put a stop to that. Bowling wicket to wicket, he struck twice for no runs opening the game up with Fordians on 76-2. Eddie George then bagged his first wicket of the campaign and Taimoor then took out John Grimes, who was looking dangerous for his 22.

At the half way stage in the innings Fordians were going at around five an over with 4 wickets down and ex-Ellerslie Batsman Kwesi Spencer at the crease. Wiley veteran Phil Lafbery replaced Taimoor and began to tie up one end. Nasser replaced Eddie and despite appearing to be shaking off some early season rust, he was keeping it equally tight. The squeeze was on as the visitors began to peg back the once impressive run rate.

Raza, switching ends, came on for Nasser and found his rhythm, taking two wickets at his end while Phil picked up one for his hard work at the other. Kwesi, on his way to making an unbeaten 46, was still there but was lacking the support needed for West Bridgford to get over the 200 mark. In the end, Fordians got up to 178, 2 short of full batting points, while Ellerslie picked up 8 wickets, with a run out off the very last ball, to give them 3 bonus points also.

Tea Report: Highlights include the ham sarnys (with propa’ thick ham), the chicken pasta salad and caramel digestive wafer bars, which had Tricky Day raving.

The second innings did not start well as Alan Lewis fell LBW for a blob and Simon George and Sam Miller struggled to get the scoring ticking over. In the eighth over Simon then put his foot down, taking 14 off one Freddie Towne over to take the initiative. He continued to play in a positive manner on his way to 61 off 70 balls before being stumped, in a somewhat freakish manner, off the bowling of Dave Terrill.

Neither Michael Day nor Nasser lasted too long with Sam. Danny, sandwiched in between those two looked in decent touch before some poor calling and running saw stand-in square-leg umpire Alan Lewis send Danny on his way. However, Sam was beginning to pierce the field after looking his fluent self all the way through his innings. He reached the half-century landmark but got a grubber and was bowled shortly after for 55 off 103 deliveries.

With around seven overs left in the innings Ryan Glossop and Raza were in the middle, needing just over a run-a-ball to see the game home. It simply would not be Ellerslie CC cricket if Simon and Sam had knocked it off just one wicket down. Raza blasted a couple of boundaries before spooning an easy catch. Ryan, despite his diminutive size, surprised Fortians by taking to the air, smearing the ball over the offside to take Ellerslie down to 4 from 2 overs.

Skipper, Eddie George, sliced two runs over point and Ryan picked up a single to leave just one from one over. Glossop (21*) had no trouble putting away a juicy full-toss to win the game. Finding wins early in the season has been the 2nd XI’s downfall in recent years. It was the reason they dropped out of D a couple of seasons back and this win should go some way to forgetting the tie at West Bridgfordians, which put them down at the end of that year. Eddie and the boys will now go into next week’s fixture against Bramcote full of confidence and looking to make it 2 and 0 for the year.

Thanks to for Julie for scoring, Ian for umpiring and the fine folks at West Bridgfordians CC for the good game and halfway munch!

Here is a link in case you don’t understand the headline… (http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs48/i/2010/215/8/0/It__s_Miller_Time_by_eKBS.jpg)

Simon George (@SGeorge87)