Harris Lipman News

Debut Victory For Cricket Team

04/08/2009

The brave lads of the newly formed Harris Lipman Cricket team stepped out onto the turf of the Totteridge Cricket Club in the late afternoon on 23 July 2009 for their inaugural 20Twenty match against local accountancy firm, Gerald Edelman.

With the dark clouds looming overhead the more experienced Gerald Edelman side, after winning the toss, opted to bat.  After a shaky start, team Captain Harshal Salva drew first blood in the first over as the ball swung at the last moment missing the bat for a plum LBW.

After a determined display from the Harris Lipman bowling attack, Gerald Edelman were dismissed for 85 runs in 16 overs with an inspirational display from veteran spinner Ashok Shah who picked up three wickets during an impressive spell of five overs. Medium pacer Jonathan Bass swung the balance further in Harris Lipman’s favour with a haul of three wickets in his three overs and a run-out to his name and a special mention for Ragu Sivapalan for arguably the catch of the match.

Captain Harshal Savla also contributed with two wickets return from his three overs. Mandip Phlora and Manish Savla each added with a wicket a piece during their spells. 

Following a short rain break the Harris Lipman batting line up prepared to step out onto the rain-soaked wicket with Mark Dawes and Pabitra Tuladhar opening the batting. After the early dismissal of Dawes, Bass and Tuladhar settled in and attacked the bowlers with gusto to get some much-needed runs up on the board and alleviate the immediate pressure, until the an uncharacteristic defensive stork from Bass led to his premature dismissal.

Following the dismissal of Bass the team suffered a mini collapse with a succession of ducks until the big man Freddy Khalastchi walked up to the crease. Tuladhar continued to stand firm, ably partnered by Khalastchi, as he continued to knock the Gerald Edelman bowlers all over park until he was forced to retire after reaching the pre-match agreed maximum score per batsman of 35. Tuladhar reluctantly walked away from the crease to rapturous applause after his heroic innings which included a number of boundaries including two sixes, with his wicket in still intact.

The next two batsmen to the crease were promptly dismissed for no score as Gerald Edelman started to turn the screw with victory within their sights. With seven wickets down and 25 runs away from victory, Mandip Phlora came to the crease to steady the innings, as he promptly dispatched the first delivery to the boundary for four runs.

Unfortunately Khalastchis’ defiant innings came to an end as he was dismissed shortly thereafter, bringing Sivapalan to the crease who was also swiftly dispatched (albeit with panache) for no score. In danger of running out of wickets, Phlora continued to rack up the runs with victory now in sight. Shafiq Rehman was able to keep his head and played an intelligent innings as he ably complimented the efforts of Phlora and finally hit the boundary to capture victory for Harris Lipman in fourteen overs with two wickets still in hand.

Organiser Mandip Phlora said: “Thank you to Ajay Shah and all at Gerald Edelman for their assistance in arranging the match and providing able opposition. And special mention and thank Ron Colclough for giving up his time at no cost as one of the umpires on the day.

“And finally, thank you to Barry and the rest of the partners for supporting the Cricket team and making the match possible.

“Rumours of a touring side to Australasia are as yet unfounded – we will though keep everyone updated!”

 

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