04th June 2016 League Away v Hadleigh & Thundersley

Hadleigh & Thundersley won the toss and elected to field

Result – Harlow won by 20 runs

IN a throwback to a bygone era, it was classic Geoff Boycott and his uncovered pitches: wet, green, soft and terrible for batting. Mohammed Waqas hinted at the way to score when he struck a couple of shots straight back over the bowler’s head. Waqas (8) was clean bowled and the departure of Alan Jones (3) and Rehman Ahmed (0) left Harlow floundering on 25-3.

Khawaja injected purpose into the innings, striking his first ball to long-off for four. The quality of his clean hitting defied the conditions, with fiercely struck fours and sixes, almost exclusively in the ‘V’. It was a Masterclass not being heeded at the other end where wickets continued to tumble as Harlow were reduced to 77-7 after 25 overs. Lewis Aldred was required to survive and leave the scoring to Khawaja; their decisive partnership of 44 involved Aldred blocking or leaving 21 balls and Khawaja scoring all 44 runs. During this
partnership Khawaja passed 50 with a straight six and was dropped at gully when on 78. The dismissal of Aldred (LBW) left Harlow on 121-8. Khawaja hit a four to long on to bring up his century off only 88 balls, an innings which contained nine 4s and seven 6s. The departure of Khawaja, caught on the boundary at cow-corner, saw Harlow dismissed for 132: Khawaja 102, everyone else 30, extras 0.

A terrific spell of pace bowling by Callum Sykes quickly reduced Hadleigh to 4-3, one clean bowled, one LBW, one caught behind. Paul Tibbenham and Jack Wagstaff offered contrasting styles as they sought to rebuild the innings, the former through resolute defence, the latter more expansive, edging a four past first slip before striking another to long on. But on a difficult surface there were chances aplenty and Mustanser had Wagstaff (19) caught by Jon Perry at mid-off: 33-4.

The introduction of Waqas into the attack, with his mystery finger-spin on a pitch doing plenty, was always likely to be a torrid test for the batsmen and so it proved. Sam Handley (8) was bowled by a ball pitching on leg and hitting off stump. The departure of skipper Adam Soilleux (9), caught by the keeper Jones off Waqas, left Hadleigh on 76-6. To his credit Soilleux walked before waiting for the umpire’s decision. Luke Smith (0) then fell, unluckily adjusted to have been caught at short-leg: 76-7. When Mitch Howarde had Michael Tibbenham (0) caught by Ubaid at point, Hadleigh were in serious trouble. Richard Revell strode to the crease with his side on 83-8 and soon smashed three 6s to get Hadleigh up to ‘Nelson’ (111). In attempting to hit Waqas out the ground Revell (28) skied the ball to long-on and was brilliantly caught by Sykes. In his next delivery Waqas bowled Paul Tibbenham (29) to claim his fifth wicket and seal an unlikely win.

So an awful pitch, a ridiculous game and an excellent result which sees Harlow move up to mid-
table in Division 1.

Skipper Rehman said after the game “It was only a matter of time. We have been playing good cricket throughout this season, but the format didn’t give us results. With only 130 on the board, 50 more than a couple seasons ago at the same place, with the same conditions and the same pitch. That was all credit to Ahmed 100. The rest of us only mustered 30. Everyone bowled well and stuck to a plan created pressure for Waqas to take 5 wickets with his unpredictable spin at the other end. Callum’s debut couldn’t have gone better, a not out with the bat, three early wickets and a game deciding catch. This is a good finish to this format into the 50/50 next week”