15th June 2019
ERCC bounce back in the league as they thrash Victoria by 98 runs
By Afzal Shaikh – 15th June 2019
ERCC batsmen were put to test for the first time this season when Victoria unsurprisingly chose to field under an overcast condition.
A delayed start, pitch inspection and further assessment by on field umpires Les McWatt and Yasser Mahmood the game was eventually kicked off after 45mins of THE scheduled time.
ERCC openers Ali Qazi and Mohammed Sabir adapted well to the conditions and picked their spots to keep the score ticking.
Just as Ali started to cut loose and was looking to free up his arms he was trapped lbw off Ahsan Raza Syed for 31 giving Victoria their first break through in 21st over.
His opening partner Mohammed (24) perished soon after trying to play a big shot, caught behind off the same bowler.
Hard-hitting Sachin Badhan wasted no time in utilising the platform set by the opening stand he scored a quick fire 37 before getting caught in the deep off Rizwan Rashid.
Sudden collapse in the middle order with Imtanan Raza, Mohammed Zubair and Nauman Javaid all sent back to the pavilion without troubling the scorer, it seemed ERCC would bundle out under 150.
Thanks to Damian De Silva (21) and Waqas Hussain (32) who got ERCC to a respectable 218 all out (49 overs).
“I wasn’t surprised when Victoria asked us to bat first after toss, the pitch was damp and uneven, all I asked my players to do was to stick in and play the full 50 overs,” said ERCC skipper Afzal Shaikh.
“I am pleased with the performance of our top order batsmen, but surprised with the collapse in the middle-order, then again, this is a funny sport you can’t really predict much,” Afzal claimed.
In the run chase, Victoria had an early blow losing their inform and big hitting openers Zeeshan Raja (5) and Safi Zakir for a duck both off Nauman Javaid in the same over.
At 45-5 it looked curtains for Victoria, but their skipper Ahmed Waqas and S Raza build a solid 50-runs partnership which looked the game was slipping away for ERCC.
A match winning catch by Sachin at point broke the partnership and switched the game back in ERCC control.
With the exposed Victoria’s tail, it was in the hands of Ahmed to keep most of the strike, after a few boundaries he succumbed two runs short of his half century, Victoria were all out for 120.
After six matches, ERCC won 5 and lost 1, they are now positioned 2nd in the league after leaders and unbeaten GHK, GHK has played only 3 matches so far.
On the other hand, Glasgow South match was cancelled due to unfit ground.
In the next match, ERCC face Hillhead in WDCU Division 2 and Glasgow South meet Bees in Division 4.