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Result - London New Zealand

Sat Aug 9th Grannies win by 60 runs

Match report

A Grannies team in early August can have an unfamiliar ring to it, and so it proved on a lovely summer�s day at Sheffield Park in our inaugural match against a strong London New Zealand side. An overnight soaking put some early life into the pitch, but our opening pair of Allen Blackford and Sean Keaton saw off an impressively rapid opening spell and raced to 42. A few bruised hands and toes later and our impressive start took on a more familiar look 53 for 3.

However the Grannies continued to make quick progress. Sean Keaton dealt mainly in boundaries, before falling to a sharp caught behind for an excellent 76 on debut. Harry Yeates played beautifully for his 56, sharing a century partnership with Sean. Another flurry of wickets, including a first ball duck from the skipper, and we were back below par at 176 for 6, on a pitch that had lost its early demons. The innings was then brought to close with another impressive partnership from Martin Stringer (25no) and another debutant, Zaki Rostami. Zaki struck a stylish 49 not out. Did he really declare, I hear you ask? Well I gave him an over�s warning, and when he only struck their opening bowler for 10, I had seen enough. Mike Atherton would have nodded his appreciation, at least.

That was only the start of Zaki�s day, as he focussed his anger to produce a superb spell of accurate fast bowling. Figures of 2-25 off nine overs did not do him justice, and speak volumes of his lack of fortune but also the quality of the opposition batting, who played him with the utmost respect. It was a great spell to watch.

The Grannies stuck to their task and just managed to get enough wickets to keep the pressure on. Henry Davies, on debut, took a first ball wicket with a perfectly flighted off break, and bowled an excellent spell to keep the innings under wraps. As is the way of these things, it turned out their opening bowler was also handy with the bat, and four sixes later LNZCC were right back in it. It took a great steepling catch from Mike Anstey (also on debut, strangely enough) to remove their danger man. Tom Brierley applied the last rites with two wickets in two balls, to leave the Grannies with a victory by 60 runs.

My thanks to all the players, from both Grannies and LNZCC who all contributed to an excellent day of highly competitive cricket, played in a great spirit. I for one look forward to many years of hosting our Kiwi friends in what is an excellent addition to the Grannies calendar.

Match info



Location
Sheffield Park,
Forest Row,
TN22 3QX