Methlick 2nds mid-season report
Methlick 2nds have played 8 matches this summer and have enjoyed a successful season to date with a win rate of 71.88%. The club has a few new faces available who are all strong players and all have made significant contributions in many of the games so far this season for both firsts and seconds. This has made team selections far easier and allowed skipper Deni Saramifoski to get 11 players on the field every game, selection has been more consistent so the team ethos is growing stronger every game.
The first competitive game of the season was played against 3rd Knightriders at Groats Road, a ground which, in general, doesn’t hold fond memories for Methlick. In a very tight game 3 of the newcomers made contributions, Patrick Obank made a quickfire 24 which was very significant in a low team total of 96. Dr Mekela made 24 runs, took a catch and made a run out. Aamar Mohammed bowled rapidly, taking 2 wickets and taking a catch. 2nds stalwart and increasingly important player for the club Shahid Choudry got a 5 fer. Methlick ran out winners in a very close game where batting 1st they got to 96 ao after 29.1 overs, they skittled the opposition out for only 90 in 23 overs. This game set a great tone for the season, setting a competitive total, and through a combination of tight bowling and much improved fielding all around secured an important win.
Th
e second game of the season was against a new side in the Grades, Fraserburgh 2nds, a very welcome addition to the NE cricket scene, at Lairds. Selecting a strong side, Deni opted to bat first and saw his side post a solid total of 165 for 7, importantly using the entire 40 overs. Big contributions came from Shahid (39 no) and Brian Carr (36). In response Fraserburgh openers got to 72 before losing their 1st and second wickets, thereafter the innings collapsed a bit as a young inexperienced side succumbed to the wily bowling of Brian Anderson (5 for 5 in 0nly 4,3 overs) and Shahid who made the critical breakthrough of 2 wickets in 3 bowls to break open the top order. In the end Methlick won comfortably as Fraserburgh could only get to 118 ao.
Next game up was at Inverdee vs Granite City. Batting first again, opener Rob Fryer made the biggest contribution (27) in a below par total of only 83. Granite City were too strong for Methlick on the day in every department, but had an especially strong bowling line up which contained the scoring rate and took wickets regularly. Methlick performed well in the field as opening bowlers David Low and Amaar Mohammed got 2 wickets apiece. A fantastic piece of fielding, a direct hit from deep mid-on by Dr Mekela made up the 5 wickets Methlick took as Granite City reached the target in only 22 overs. Methlick were 40 to 50 runs short of a competitive total, a lesson well headed for games coming up.
After a two week break Methlick 2nds hosted 2nd Culter at Lairds. With rain all around the captains agreed to a 20 over game. Culter opted to bat first and started disastrously as Shahid took a wicket in each of his first 2 overs to see them reduced to only 4 for 2 wickets at the start of over 3. A very strong recovery of 98 for the next wicket was the basis of a challenging total of 136 off the 20 overs. Rob Fryer took 2 late wickets to stem the flow of runs at the end of the innings. Methlick were always going to struggle to maintain the required run rate of almost 7 an over and so it transpired, Deni and Mark Woodhouse making the only significant contributions of 22 and 21 respectively in getting to 92 for 7 off their 20 overs.
Next game up was again at Lairds as Methlick hosted 3rd Mannofield. Batting first Deni and Rob Fryer made a strong start, getting to 49 before the fall of the first wicket, Deni getting to his maiden 50 for the club. A rapid 22 from Daniel Reeve (off only 19 balls) and typically stubborn resistance by Dave Chalmers in the tail saw Methlick reach a decent total of 142 in the 40th over. Mannofield never really got going in response as they lost their 1st wicket in the 2nd over, the 1st of 5 which David Low claimed in a stunning MoM performance. Wickets fell regularly through the innings as Methlick put in an inspired performance in the field, excellent bowling backed up by great ground field work and a caught behind and a good run out by Dave Chalmers behind the stumps. Methlick were convincing winners by a big margin of 64 runs, David Low with final figures of 5 for 32 off 9.3 overs, plus the fantastic gather and throw for the run out, and Deni (55 runs off 65 balls) were the biggest contributors in a great all round team performance.
Stonehaven 2nds were the next visitors to Lairds, Deni opting to bat first. Methlick lost both openers, Deni and Woody, cheaply before a 38, run partnership between Graeme Fowlie and Shahid steadied the innings making 19 and 25 respectively. Brian Anderson and David Low made important contributions of 16 and 17 runs in partnerships with the obstinate Dave Chalmers again to see Methlick to a decent total of 130. The 29 run 10th wicket partnership between Low and Chalmers would transpire to be crucial later in the game. Stonehaven started poorly in response, losing a wicket in only the 3rd over of their innings, Alan Hill clean bowling Bhuvanendran for only 5 runs. No 3 for Stonehaven Srinivasan made a rapid 27 runs before succumbing to a big inswinger from David Low, that was the last serious score as Stonehaven were all out for 96, 34 runs short of the target. Deni used 6 bowlers and they all contributed at least 1 wicket, the pick being Mikey Bremanason who got a fantastic one-handed caught and bowled to remove Murray. Hill and Fowlie were exceptional in the field, both taking great catches and good work in the field to run out two Stonehaven batters.
At the half-way point in the season Methlick have performed well ahead of expectation and have seen a vast improvement on the previous season to be comfortably mid-table. The key has been much improved batting to set competitive totals, Deni and Shahid have led the way with the bat with strong back-up all the way through the order. Utilising all 40 overs, or very close to it, is also helping set defendable totals. In the field Shahid and David Low have led the way with the ball, both are in the top ten bowlers’ averages for the season to date in Grade 4. Fielding, in all aspects, has been vastly improved this year as catches are being taken more regularly, run outs are more frequent and much less extras being conceded. Let’s finish the season strongly and get into the top half of the table.
J. David Chalmers