Eastern Knights defeat the Western Warriors to go top
The match started one hour late due to overnight rain, but with no reduction in overs. The Knights captain Gordon Drummond won the toss and elected to bat first. Fraser Watts and Oli Hairs faced the Warriors attack of Neil Laidlaw and Ian Cran. They carefully took the score to 17 before Watts was bowled by Laidlaw, which brought Preston Mommsen to the crease.
Hairs was next to go as he attacked the bowling in his own inimitable style, falling to a spectacular catch by Moneeb Iqbal at deep mid off, who took the catch running with his back to the ball and diving full length to complete it. Two down with only 25 on the board.
Mommsen was unable to produce last week’s form with the bat, and he became the third Knights wicket to fall, when he was trapped in front by Willie Rowan, who had replaced Laidlaw at the pavilion end, with only three to his credit. The Warriors had their tails up as the Knights were in some trouble with three top batsmen out for only 41 runs.
Worse was to follow as Ewan Chalmers, who had showed superb form on Saturday, scoring 91 for the National Academy, played on with only one to his credit, making it 43 for 4.
Stuart Chalmers and McCallum stabilised the innings with a partnership of 60, through steady careful stroke play, treating each ball on its merits, but this was eventually broken by Moneeb Iqbal enticing Chalmers to give a chance to Richie Berrington at extra cover. Four balls later the new batsman Simon Smith was trudging back dejectedly to the pavilion after being run out by Neil Laidlaw, without any addition to the score.
The Knights skipper Gordon Drummond was next in and he hit a quick fire 19 from 17 balls before falling to a diving catch to Warriors captain Qasim Sheikh who hurt his shoulder in the process.
McCallum kept the innings together as the tail struggled to score runs, and he was left unbeaten on 84 as the last wicket fell in the final over. His runs had come from 96 deliveries and included two sixes and seven fours.
After the tea interval the Warriors opened with Dougie Lockhart and Omer Hussain and they were soon in trouble when Lockhart was smartly taken low down at second slip by Neil McCallum off the bowling of Sean Weeraratna in the first over.
Warriors captain Qasim Sheikh was unable to bat in his accustomed number three position due to his shoulder injury. Weeraratna struck again with the score on 19 when he got McLaren trapped in front. And it was left to Hussain and Richie Berrington to steady the ship, which they did with a 38 run partnership, before Hussain was run out by the combination of Fraser Watts and Stuart Chalmers.
Berrington was next to go when, with the score on 72, he was caught by Preston Mommsen at point and the match was evenly poised with four wickets down for 72.
Majid Haq and Moneeb Iqbal then put the Warriors on the road to victory, taking the score to 93 without any trouble, when Iqbal was deceived by the flight of spinner Ross Lyons and was easily stumped by Simon Smith.
With the score on 100 for 5, rain stopped play at the end of the 27 over and, after a delay of 31 minutes, the Warriors were set a revised target of 145 in 34 overs. The break in play seemed to unsettle the Warriors as Majid Haq was quickly dismissed on play being resumed with no addition to the total, and the final four wickets fell for a paltry 12 runs to leave the Eastern Knights victorious by 33 runs under the Duckworth-Lewis method.
The collapse left Warriors coach Tony Judd scratching his head in disbelief and no doubt there will be some plain speaking before the Warriors take on the Caledonian Highlanders in the next match, which takes place at Titwood on Monday 3 May with a noon start.
[scorecard] [photos]
