Promotion lift as leaders are beaten
HAWK Green welcomed League leaders Ashley to Rhode Field on Saturday in what was a must-win game if they were to continue their push for promotion.
Normally, the Hawk Green wickets are known for being hard and true but it was difficult to see where the wicket finished and and the square started so it was no surprise that on winning the toss the Ashley skipper elected to field with Mushtaq and Khan bowling to the Greens openers Josh Hampson and Paul Needham.
The decision to bowl first proved right as the ball bit from ball one and reared off a good length, making batting a mockery early on and it was Needham who was to perish first when he nicked one, caught Malik bowled Butt for 4, 9-1.
Next to the crease was Ben Littler and for the next dozen or so overs the pair dug in with Hampson bearing the brunt of it, being struck by the ball on a couple of painful occasions.
Littler eventually fell, caught off the bowling of Mushtaq for a dogged 33, 54-2.
Next to the wicket Dylan Heginbotham is normally a fluent stroke maker but he also struggled to play his normal game and was eventually caught by Butt off the bowling of Khan for 13, 72-3.
It quickly became 78-4 as Hampson eventually fell for an invaluable 33, caught Wimbury bowled Barlow, and two balls later Jack Needham tamely returned a low full toss to be caught and bowled Barlow, 78-5.
Jordan Henderson in his inimitable style struck 26 off 19 balls whilst Peter Richards was struggling to come to terms with the wicket and when he and Henderson were out the score stood at a perilous 111-7.
It has been mentioned many times that the Green have a strong batting lineup and this game showed just how strong as Sam Messih and Brad Holme batted with caution at first and, after coming to terms with the wicket, both started to put bat to ball.
Messih was the main protagonist and the score gradually moved to 160 and maximum batting points. The innings closed on 190-9 after the allocation of overs with Holme out for an excellent 22 in support of Messih who closed not out on a tremendous 48, a truly magnificent effort in the context of the innings.
The Ashley response was led by Rizwan Baig and Sully Malik against the Greens opening attack of Jack Needham and Dylan Heginbotham. Both had the batsmen in trouble from the start.
Heginbotham was the first to strike as he had Baig caught by Sam Messih for a duck, 1-1. Next to the crease was Jahangir Mushtaq and he looked decidedly uncomfortable, falling after being caught by George Ridings for a duck off a ball bowled by Heginbotham, 3-2.
Malik had toughed it out for several overs but when skipper Hampson replaced Heginbotham with spinner Jordan Henderson he fell caught Heginbotham for just 4, 21-3.
New to the crease Imran Butt decided that attack was the best form of defence and carried the fight to the bowlers.
Meanwhile Henderson removed the stubborn Nihad Vaid lbw for 1, 37-4.
Peter Richards replaced Jack Needham and with his first ball had Abdul Wahab trapped lbw for 5, 42-5. It was at this stage that the Buxworth contingents left muttering “it’s all over” but Butt had different ideas as he took the attack to the bowlers, including one huge maximum and eight boundaries before his one man mission ended when he was bowled by Peter Richards for 53, 73-6.
The new batsmen Harry Hatchell and Sabtain Baig realised that they were, realistically, not in with a chance of victory so dug in hoping to gain two extra points.
But the introduction of Mark Richards into the attack paid immediate dividends as he had Baig caught by wicket keeper Ben Littler for 9, 87-7.
Hatchell was looking far more comfortable than the previous batsmen and in partnership with Jibran Khan thwarted the Greens attack until Brad Holme was brought into the attack and he removed Khan for 18 caught Heginbotham, 120-8.
Hatchell eventually fell lbw to Needham for a very stubborn 46 and the innings closed on 152-9 – a great victory for the Green which was again down to a tremendous fielding display.
Next week the 1st XI are at home to Barnton wickets pitched 1pm.
The 2nd XI were away to Brooklands and taking first knock the Brooklands team scored 180 in their allotted overs which the Green surpassed with overs to spare with Lee Hallas and Joe Butler both contributing 70s, cementing their position in the league.
In last week’s 3rd XI game one of the Greens more mature players, Phil Mather, made a comeback and showed that class is always there as he took four wickets.