Club veteran Woodhead gets MDAFS 4 over the line against Clackmannan 2s
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Murrayfield DAFS 4 v Clackmannan County 2
Saturday 7th May 2022Roseburn (Arti)
By Sunny Verma
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Murrayfield DAFS 4 (20) - 146-6 off 30.4 oversWoodhead 72, Narayanasamy 23*, Verma 20, McConchie Jr 2-27
Clackmannan County 2 (7) - 145-5 off 40 oversMcConchie Jnr 59*, Hutchison 33, Bhadra 2-29, Narayanasamy 2-18
Murrayfield DAFS 4 win by 4 wicktes
[/vc_column_text][vc_zigzag][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]On a half sunny and windy day, Skipper Bhaskar, after winning the toss went with the unanimous decision of bowling first. Clackmannan had a good start scoring 50 in first 10 overs with a couple of decisions not going our way. With Subhranil we got our first break through during first 5 over spell with opposition score 21 on the board bowling from stadium end, and Sakib one of the juniors, was unplayable, blowing 5 overs from the river end. Luck favoured the brave, and Clackmannan batsmen were riding their luck against Sakib who deserved more wickets.Skipper was always up for discussion and looking at the match and conditions of the ground made first 2 changes of the match with two more juniors coming in and bowling from both ends. Shreyas from the river end and Patrick from the Stadium end, with Shreyas bowling a great spell only conceding 13 runs in 5 overs for the Match. Clackmannan went into the drinks with 80 for 1 in 20 overs. During the drinks skip had some discussion with club oldies, sorry Veterans! He decided to go with bowling change putting on himself from river end and Harshit from Stadium end. Straight away in 21st over Harshit got us the breakthrough with score 82 with great catch from Dave Woodhead diving to his left toward leg side, even the batsman complimented him and shook his hand. This reminded me of one of the Adam Gilchrist catches against New Zealand during his playing days - top drawer!Skipper bowling from river end got 2 breakthroughs with score 91, and Dave Woodhead taking another brilliant catch behind the stumps stretching out to is right this time. Skipper finished with figure of 18/2 from his 8 overs leading from the front. At 32 overs its time for bringing the opening bowler Subhranil, returning from stadium end giving another break through with Clackmannan 125 for 4 in 32 overs and finishing with match figure of 29/2 from 8 overs. Shakib came back from stadium after bowling his first 5 over from river end bowling 37th and 39th overs gave another breakthrough and finishing with figure of 24/1 from his 7 over from the match a well-deserved wicket with Steve taking the catch at short third man. Patrick came back from River end and bowling 38 and 40th over, going only for 3 runs in last 2 overs and finishing with figure of 37 from his 7 overs with some miss hits landing in middle of the fielders, the figure doesn’t show how well he bowled . At the end of 40 overs Clackmannan finish 145/5 with 4 catches taken behind the stumps by Dave Woodhead and some brilliant fielding display by Patrick, Shreyas, Harshit and Sakib. D McConachie Jnr from Clackmannan scoring 59 of 123 balls with luck favouring most of his inning and couple of decision going in his favour. Not least a top edge not given, which Dave took yet again behind the stumps.Chasing 145 in 40 overs, Dave and Shreyas open the batting for MDAFS. Clackmannan got first breakthrough with score 0 on the board with Shreyas playing a delicate leg glance straight to the hand of the fielder at Square leg. Sagar went in next, building a 29 run Partnership with Dave before getting out for 1. With Dave doing the bulk of the scoring in Partnership with some lovely cover drives, mid-on and pull shots a treat to watch from the side-lines. As fall of wickets came another of the club veterans and good guide & coach to juniors Lindsay Towns scoring cleverly with the fielders on the boundaries by this point, putting on a 34 run Partnership with Dave before holing out at deep midwicket, scoring 8 off 15 balls. This brought Sunny to the crease with score 63 for 2 after 13 overs with Dave on 42. Sunny and Dave built up a Partnership batting sensibly with the field spread out once more putting on 36 for 4th Wicket before Sunny was caught at point with worst ball of the match! Not the usual style of batting we are used to seeing from Sunny, but sensible scoring taking up from where Lindsay left off with 20 from 30 balls and providing good support for Dave who crossed his 50 in 19th over.With score 99/4 in 21.2 over it a was a chance for another of the youngsters Patrick, to come to the crease before getting bowled after scoring 5 of 14 balls with score 110 in 25 overs, this wicket brought Harshit to the crease who unfortunately did not add anything to the total score before being caught by the keeper for 0. The skipper steps to the crease with score on 110/6 after 26 overs and seems to be in a hurry to finish the match! 23 (18) balls with 3 fours and 1 six over cow corner which landed almost inside the stadium wall, Bhaskar almost taking Dave Woodhead’s head off with a straight drive while hitting one of boundaries before Dave Woodhead hitting the winning run scoring 72 (89 balls) with 12 fours. With the game finished in 30.4 overs and 4s winning by 4 wickets. Dave, a fine batting display of class, panache and sensibility, anchoring the innings and scoring half the runs while chasing 146 to win.Special thanks to Raghuram who came on as Sub for Sunny during 11th over and fielding until 20th after the ball hit his knee with uneven bounce and lack of ability while fielding.Lindsay club Veteran was in stitches that even with Sunny warning team about the dangers of the outfield before the game then being the one to bravely get hurt!. Raghuram also fielding for the opposition for 10 overs coming as Sub for K Hutchison was highly appreciated by Clackmannan team. Thanks to Neil Yelland who came twice as club First Aider for Dave Woodhead and Sunny after their injuries to assist with the WD40! Also thanks to Gajanan for scoring of the match.Game was played in true spirit with one or 2 decisions not going our way and compliments from opposition about Juniors stepping up and how Shreyas, Patrick and Shakib performed and Raghuram came as sub fielder. Skipper Bhaskar cool as cucumber, was a fine example of how to lead a team of veterans and Juniors. The day belonged to club Veteran Dave Woodhead for his brilliant batting and wicket keeping. Showing us all how to lead by example.Sunny Verma (Junior Manager/Player Rep) signing off until next time.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]