On a day when both the Orange Order and Celtic were having parades in the city centre things were a lot calmer at Hughenden on Saturday morning. The weather was perfect for cricket and the outfield and square looked magnificent.
Mearns were the visitors today and they won the toss and elected to bat first.
Hillhead opened with K. Patel and K. Soni and both bowled in tight areas. Patel very unlucky not to get the Mearns captain R. Haldar caught behind off a nick but it wasn’t given. Haldar had another reprieve when a second caught behind (this time quite a substantial edge) again wasn’t given, and then to add salt to the wounds Patel put down a difficult caught and bowled chance.
Mearns took advantage of these reprieves and began to up the scoring, taking advantage of some below par bowling and fielding. The breakthrough came with Haldar (48) missing an arm ball off Bartlett when the score was on 93.
Mearns at drinks were 123/1.
R. Kambhampati and A. Hudar both ran aggressively putting the Hillhead fielders under pressure and put away the frequent ‘bad ball’ increasing the scoring rate. J. Lindley-Dawe turned to 7 different bowlers trying to find a break through and S. Rutherford was looking dangerous until he had to leave the field with a back injury.
Kambhampati eventually fell for 86, bowled by a deceptive slower ball from J. Dew. 204/2. Patel picked up the wicket of Hudar shortly after again bowled for a very well made 61. 235/3.
A couple of wickets fell quickly and it looked like Hillhead were beginning to exert some control on the game until the last few overs when S. Akhtar, very strong off his legs put four balls over deep mid wickets head for 6.
Mearns 318/7 off 50 overs
R. Kambhampati 86, A. Hudar 61, R. Haldar 48.
K. Patel 2/57.
In reply Hillhead lost early wickets and were 40/3 in the first 10 overs with only Patel (22) offering much resistance. H. Longrigg (20) and A. Hawley (27) started to rebuild the innings but both got out when they looked like they were going to push on. D. Patel got an unplayable ball which never got above ankle height and Hillhead were 107/5. J. Bartlett was run out after calling through an ambitious single and S. Chatrathi was bowled trying to heave one out of the ground. 124/8.
With Hillhead starting down the barrel of a hefty defeat there wasn’t much cheer to be found. However, K. Soni decided he was going to make the score look somewhat presentable making his maiden 50 in the 1s with 5 fours and 2 beautiful 6s! J. Dew (22*) and S. Rutherford batted out the overs at the end taking the score over 200.
Hillhead 218/9 off 50 overs
- Soni 51, A. Hawley 27.
- Machado 3/27
A disappointing day for the lads however I’m sure we’ll bounce back next week again at the Den against Motherwell. Please note the delayed start time of 1:30 p.m. and reduced overs, owing to the Sports Club hiring out the cricket outfield in the morning for a football training camp.
