Emmbrook maintain unbeaten run against Hurley
Emmbrook & Bearwood maintained their 100% record against Hurley in all competitions this season with a six-wicket win at Shepherds Lane. This was a much closer contest than the first fixture between the teams earlier in the season. The visitors won the toss and opted to bowl first. The Hurley opening pair of Bali Singh and Shafqat Hussain made a cautious start against good bowling from Cole and Sawyer. It was unusual to see two Hurley openers playing like opening batsmen and building an innings rather than teeing off from the start. They saw off the opening attack and although there were only 34 on the board from the first dozen overs, they had set a good base. The 56-run partnership was broken when Singh (31) edged behind off Healey in the eighteenth over. HaiderAli Baig, making his first team league debut was not overawed by the occasion and made a solid 16 from 44 deliveries. The Bears could consider themselves unlucky not to get a couple of run out decisions in their favour as some poor calling saw Baig and Archie Wild struggling to make their ground having been sent back by their partners. Good contributions from Adil Shaffiq (53) and Jagdeep Singh (65) helped Hurley accelerate towards the end of their innings to post a creditable 215 for 9.
Hurley opted to open the bowing with the spin of Saeed Ajmal and Shafqat Hussain utilising the old ball, which due to the concrete like surface looked as though it had gone through an Aussie sanding machine. This tactic paid dividends when Loxton (5) went for a booming drive but only succeeded in edging Shafqat to Ajmal at slip. Ollie Williams with 65 from 108 deliveries kept his side in the hunt and although the required rate reached over seven per over at one stage, the visitors always looked to be in control. Once again it was Andy Lazenbury who was the thorn in Hurley’s side with an unbeaten 87 from 61 deliveries to see his side home with nearly three overs to spare. It was good to see an improved batting performance from Hurley in a match which was played in a good spirit despite a few controversial umpiring decisions.
Hurley next travel to The Lee where they will hope to emulate their 2nds 300-run win there.