9 September 2023 Stragglers of Asia vs Honourable Artillery Company at Armoury House, Finsbury Square
Result: Match Drawn
Match Report:
On the hottest day of 2023, SOA arrived in good time (save for Dr Melhorn who was more than a tad late). It’s always a treat to play at HAC and the opposition and ground did not disappoint. Match manager Allsop won the toss and did not hesitate to elect to bat, leaving Ed Haines (HAC skipper) the unenviable task of telling his side that they would be in the field in the heat.
HAC bowled tightly (Jones and Alauddin) but we were looking good. James Musgrave was unfortunate to be backing up well and a slight miscommunication saw him runout. Jonny McDuell and Ian Salter put on 103 for the second wicket and we lost just 3 more wickets before we declared on 285 for 5 after 45 overs. Both McDuells, Salter and Brown hit excellent fifties. Conor Brown’s cameo at the end saw him reach 49* in just 21 balls. Melhorn retired tired on 49* (Ed: perhaps the lack of sleep and long drive impacted his ability to get to 50). Rarely have I witnessed 5 of our first 6 batsmen score 49+ and it was a pleasure to watch. The over rate was about 15 an hour, which given the heat was fair enough.
Tea was a little extended so we agreed we’d give HAC an extra 15 minutes, meaning 20 overs would be from 545pm. This was to be an excellent decision.
HAC openers (Leyhal and Jha) batted very well and the scoreboard was ticking over a little too fast for the Stragglers’ liking. While it was cooler (and the high rise offices meant we had shade towards the end of the day) it was still very hot and tough for our seamers. Fidler and Dasgupta bowled well, but brief spells was the order of the day (note the scorer gave Dawson a number of Fidler’s overs). Danny Dangerous Dawson stepped up first change to remove Jha’s bails with a full one.
Leyhal was supported well by the likes of Jones and then Kumar, but wickets were falling. We knew that HAC were going to have a similar number of overs (44 as it turned out) and they kept the run rate well up, but they were 46 runs short when we had bowled the last over.
A special mention to James Musgrave who was bowling towards the end of the innings, when the batsman hit the ball back at him very hard. James did well to get his hands up, but the ball hit him square on the upper mouth/nose. A subsequent trip to A&E confirmed he requires surgery on his upper jaw. Go well James.
524 runs were scored on the day, with just 10 wickets taken. A draw was a fair and just result.
Innings of Stragglers of Asia CC
| No. | Batsman
|
How out | Bowler | |
| 1 | J McDuell | Run out (G Singh) | 50 | |
| 2 | J Musgrave | Run out (S Osman) | 3 | |
| 3 | I Salter | St K Jha | G Singh | 54 |
| 4 | Pa McDuell | Ct S Osman | A Leyhal | 58 |
| 5 | J Melhorn | Retired | 49 | |
| 6 | C Brown | Not out | 49 | |
| 7 | R Bell | Ct K Kumar | E Haines | 0 |
| 8 | C Fidler | Not out | 0 | |
| 9 | J Allsop (capt) | Did not bat | ||
| 10 | D Dasgupta | Did not bat | ||
| 11 | D Dawson | Did not bat | ||
| Extras | 22 | |||
| TOTAL | (for 5 wickets dec) | 285 |
FOW 1-14; 2-117; 3-129; 4-216; 5-250
Bowling
| Bowler
|
Overs | Maidens | Runs | Wickets |
| E Jones | 7 | 0 | 22 | 0 |
| R Alauddin | 6 | 1 | 13 | 0 |
| G Singh | 8 | 1 | 60 | 1 |
| A Dewan | 5 | 0 | 45 | 0 |
| K Kumar | 5 | 0 | 24 | 0 |
| S Osman | 5 | 0 | 33 | 0 |
| M Edwards | 5 | 0 | 23 | 0 |
| A Leyhal | 2 | 0 | 18 | 1 |
| E Haines | 2 | 0 | 29 | 1 |
Innings of Honourable Artillery Company
| No | Batsman | How Out | Bowler | Runs
|
| 1 | A Leyhal | Not out | 103 | |
| 2 | K Jha | Bowled | D Dawson | 36 |
| 3 | R Alauddin | Bowled | Pa McDuell | 11 |
| 4 | E Jones | Bowled | Pa McDuell | 29 |
| 5 | K Kumar | LBW | Pa McDuell | 29 |
| 6 | G Datta | Bowled | Pa McDuell | 14 |
| 7 | M Edwards | Not out | 6 | |
| 8 | A Dewan | Did not bat | ||
| 9 | S Osman | Did not bat | ||
| 10 | G Singh | Did not bat | ||
| 11 | E Haines | Did not bat | ||
| Extras | 11 | |||
| TOTAL | For 5 wickets | 239 |
FoW 1-64; 2-85; 3-137; 4-203; 5-233;
Bowling
| Bowler
|
Overs | Maidens | Runs | Wickets |
| D Dasgupta | 4 | 0 | 17 | 0 |
| D Dawson | 12.1 | 2 | 54 | 1 |
| Pa McDuell | 15 | 0 | 85 | 4 |
| J McDuell | 4 | 0 | 33 | 0 |
| J Musgrave | 1.5 | 0 | 9 | 0 |
Umpire: S Mittal & G Leyton
Scorer S Rae.