Macgregor Maniacs v Dale’s Daredevils
Warehouse 2021/22
Round 1 T20 Group B
17 October 2021 at Kianawah Park 11
A bright sunny day at Kianawah Park for the opening round of the Warehouse T20 comp for 2021/22. The afternoon session included the T20 group B clash between the Maniacs and Dale’s Daredevils.
Maniacs skipper Khaleel Waqar lost the toss and “chose” to bat and it was an eventful first over. Khaleel was bowled behind his legs from the second ball (first legal ball) of an 11-ball over which contained five wides, including one that went to the boundary; 1/14 after one! It was 2/17 after two and 3/33 after 4; Nabeel striking couple of lusty blows before swiping across the line - all three out bowled.
Five off the 5th and five off the 7th with a maiden in between. Ahzar Khalid got a couple to the boundary in the 8th, before he was caught to make it 4/51. A ridiculous run-out cost Zain Khan his wicket and it was 5/52.
Brett Nolan and Muhammad Ashfaq partnered for 38 from 27 in a 6th wicket rescue mission that restored respectability to the score and provided the platform to post 129; Brett reaching 50 from the last ball of the innings.
The Daredevils started confidently and had wiped 26 off the target by the end of the 3rd. Then, the legend, Mian (Sunny) Waqar claimed both openers with successive deliveries to set the cat amongst the pigeons. A leading edge was pouched by Khaleel at the wicket and the second dismissal a brilliant in-swinging yorker.
A 35-run 3rd wicket partnership was snuffed out, just as it started to look dangerous, by a sensational Khaleel stumping off Brett Nolan in the 11th over and just to prove it was no fluke, Khaleel repeated the dose off Ben Menz in the very next over to make it 4/66. The resulting maiden by Ben made the equation 64 from 8 overs; starting to sneak up there. A follow up maiden from Brett and a tight one from Ben pushed the required run-rate to just under 10.
Despite the 21 taken from the next two overs, the Daredevils still needed 38 from the last four. The task became a little harder when Jake Keeble latched onto a return catch from the second ball of the 17th to make it 5/94. Just as importantly, only four runs came from the remainder of the 17th to take the score to 98 with three to go.
A clutch over by Khaleel conceded just four singles; 28 from 12 balls. Then, an equally important 3-run over by Jake and it was 25 from 6.
The last over by Brett Nolan was bizarre!. 1, wkt, LBye, wkt, wkt, wkt. Four wickets and a hat-trick! Brett Nolan 5/10! A 50, a 5fa and a hat-trick? That’s just greedy!
Well done Maniacs!
