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Hammad's Third Team Tales -Week 4 Saltaire

Hammad's Third Team Tales -Week 4 Saltaire

John Jackson31 May 2019 - 07:08
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Leeds Surge To Make It Four On The Bounce /Second hundred in consecutive weeks for J.Heath

Saltaire made the journey to the Homestead for the second bank holiday game weekend this season. Mike Shelton made his 3XI debut for the home side. Leeds not for the first time this season had a strong outfit on paper, consisting of both youth and experience. As the players arrived at the ground there was a drizzle of rain, thankfully though the covers had been on through most of Saturday as the 2XI game was abandoned. Skipper H.Ahmad won the toss for Leeds after flicking the coin a mile in the air. An immediate decision was made to bat. This was largely due to the fact the ground was a little damp and the bowlers may have struggled to grip the ball. J.Heath and T.Aldred made their way to the middle on the scheduled start time of 2.30pm. They both started in the good manner like they did last week; John stroked the first boundary of the innings through cover to get himself and Leeds off the mark. Tom soon after whipped one through midwicket as the score reached 22 after 3 overs. H.Arshad with his mixed spin variations got the visitors the breakthrough, in the fourth over; Tom adjudged leg before wicket for 9.

In came A.Chana at 3, brimming with confidence after his 50 on Saturday. Some nice drives down the ground got him motoring along nicely. Meanwhile John did what he usually does, picks off the bad ball and dispatches it to the fence. One thing in particular to note is the fact John hit five 4’s before he had even scored a single. Leeds picked up the pace as the pair put on 73 in 10 overs. John himself ticked over to 50 at this point with a drive over extra cover, the score was 95-1 after 14.N.Hindle was particularly unfortunate for Saltaire as he produced a couple of edges; a very tough chance at slip was created as John slashed hard. The 100 partnership came up in the 17th over and 49 had been added off overs 15-20 as the score rocketed to 144-1 at the halfway stage; John sat in the 70’s, meanwhile Anil in the 40’s.

After drinks they settled for nudging it around as Saltaire produced some tighter bowling, 31 were added in the 5 overs that preceded it to put the score onto 175.Anil brought up his 50 in this time with another one of his classic straight drives down the ground to the rope. The pair of them then decided to smash the go button, they scored 66 from the next 5 overs to explode the score to 241 after 30.John launched his first maximum of the innings with a pull over square leg into the car park, a mind the windscreens moment to bring up his second ton in consecutive weeks, one of pure entertainment to those that witnessed it. He shifted up to sixth gear after that as he stroked four boundaries off an over, downtown and through point which ploughed him into the 120’s

Anil was particularly brutal with his leg-side flicks, losing two balls a few overs apart; they ended up in the trees somewhere next to the bowling ground. As the score reached 256, the gigantic partnership of 234 was broken by H.Arshad as Saltaire got their second. Anil on 83 walked past one, trying to smash it into middle of next week straight down the ground towards the scorebox, a simple stumping for I.Pacey was completed behind the stumps to end fine innings never the less. Leeds fell 23 runs short of the highest 2nd wicket partnership for the 3XI in the league, 257 put in place a decade ago. C.Hutton walked in at number four and played a few solid front foot blocks to get settled. A short time later John was bowled with the score still on 256, an outrageous shot had been attempted. One it must be said, he is more than capable of playing. A.Khokar bowling down the hill swung it back; John tried to hammer it against the line over extra cover for a half a dozen. The ball hit leg pole to end a spectacular 145. W.Arshad came to the middle in a swing the bat mood. It’s exactly what he proceeded to do, scoring two fours back to back; the first was an edge which flew over first slip, the second a pull through midwicket. His innings was very brief; it came to an end two balls later as A.Khokar grabbed his second for the day. A top edge was induced after he tried to mow the ball cross bat over the bowlers head for the maximum, the bowler calmly got under to and took it easy. Z.Khan got a batting promotion and walked out at 6 for the home team, with a free license to go for it. Unfortunately he didn’t trouble the scorers as H.Arshad bowled him to bag his third.
U.Mir was next in at 7 with 6 and a bit overs remaining, the score was a solid 269 but the target was 300.Charlie played his natural game after getting set, smoking 3 fours and 2 sixes in the process for a quick fire 25 off 20 balls. He picked the gaps extremely well to clear fielders while going over the top. The pick of his shots in my opinion was the drive over extra cover for a flat 6.Umar rotated strike with some nice leg side flicks as 300 was posted in the 38th over. A.Khokar picked up his third in the next over as Umar played slightly early on the ball while on 10; it spooned up to Z.Khan for a simple catch at mid-on, to end a nice 36 run partnership. Charlie was bowled in the final over of the innings as N.Hindle picked up a well deserved wicket.313-7 is what Leeds finished on after M.Shelton came in and swiped one out towards cow corner for four.

After the interval, H.Ahmad struck in the first over coming down the hill, A.Khoker nicked behind to D.Ralphs after trying to guide the away swinger down to third man. He then got his second a couple of overs later with the score on 7.C.Barlow got trapped on the crease and had his middle stump knocked back by an in-swinger for no score. M.Shelton got into the act in the very next over to leave the visitors on 13-3, S.Arshad bowled for 6.It was at this point Z.Khan decided to tee off as he had nothing to lose, he proceeded to smash Mike for four, before planting the Leeds skipper back over his head into the side screen. The score moved onto 36 before Mike removed Z.Khan for a run a ball 20, which consisted of 3 fours and a six. His slower delivery produced an inside edge which flew to Charlie at midwicket, who completed a safe catch. H.Arshad hit a nice couple of fours to the rope for his 8 before Hammad got one to nip back as he played across the line, to hit middle. The score now 52-5.

As the opening bowlers finished their 8 over allotment, Leeds were looking to wrap things up sooner rather than later. N.Hindle and A.Anayar had other ideas though. The pair of them battled extremely hard as Leeds could not find a wicket. T.Aldred and A.Ralphs were very unlucky as they beat the bat on numerous occasions. The pair put on 48 in 15 overs together at the wicket with some nice drives along the way. Archie broke through to get Leeds their sixth with the score onto 100.He finally enticed A.Anayar on 16 into a false stroke, his attempted wip shot into midwicket caught the edge and headed skywards. There was pin drop silence after a few yelled catch it, as the ball headed to U.Mir at mid-off. He steadied himself into position with the reverse cup technique above his head and completed the catch. Z.Khan removed N.Hindle for a well grafted 32 in the next over via some brilliant team work in the slip cordon. The ball nipped away and caught his outside edge; it flew to Mike at second slip where he parried it up to Anil who gracefully collected the rebound. With Saltaire now 7 down for 105, N.Hussain played some strokes as they looked for some more batting points. He struck some nice drives along with a six over extra cover .Ziad grabbed a second in the final over of the innings as N.Hussain was leg before wicket for a 20 ball 17.Saltaire finished 141-7 as Leeds took victory by 172runs

A much better performance in the field from the 3XI this week played in good spirit as both teams look to build blocks for the future. Also would like to say big thank you to Andy Aldred and his family for managing the kitchen and bar throughout the day at the club. The 3XI will be away at Guiseley in a fortnight’s time where they will look to continue this brilliant start to the season .

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