New Rover Need More Runs!

Setting a target of 151 runs not enough to beat Calverley at home.

Putting themselves into bat first, New Rover had some bright moments but some bad luck and a lack of comfort on the slow wicket got in the way of setting a truly competitive target. At number two in the order, Adil Mehmood played very well and started to build a strong partnership with number five in the order, Matthew De Araujo. Between the start of the seventeenth over and the fall of the fourth wicket in the twenty-ninth, these two added 41 runs and were looking comfortable. 

Matthew De Araujo looks for a run

Unfortunately, the fourth wicket (Adil Mehmood, 29) came through the most unlucky sort of run out you can get in cricket. Araujo absolutely creamed the ball back down the wicket, only for the bowler to get a hand on it and direct it on to the non-strikers stumps. Preparing for a run as you always should at the non-striker’s end, Adil Mehmood was out his crease and could not have avoided the run out. 

Araujo went on to score 59 before being bowled by Nav Panesar in the forty-fifth over, but no-one else left in the order reached double-digits and the bowling side conceded only 7 extras. By the end of the forty-seventh over, New Rover found themselves all out for 151. This is of course theoretically defendable and New Rover did indeed win last week with a score of 157 in the second innings. Nonetheless, they would likely win more games when batting first if they were consistently and comfortably passing 200 runs.

Up until the fifteenth over in the field, the home side managed to restrict Calverley to 47 runs and take 2 wickets. But, from this point onwards, the visitors accelerated. Calverley’s opener, Ahmad Raja reached his half-century in the twenty-third over, and fourth in the order, Tayyab Riaz (63* at the close) passed his only three overs later. The partnership between these two easily passed 100 runs.

Raja was bowled by Lewis Kellett for 63 in the twenty-sixth over, but at this point, Calverley only required 7 runs to win. Precisely 6 balls later Jacob Spencer won it with a 4 off the only ball he faced. Such a quick loss is always going to be disappointing, but New Rover know what they can, and need to do with the bat next week.

You can also find this article at: New Rover CC