NEWS

Hancock Too Much For Haddington

The sun was out, the grass was short and a day’s cricket was definitely on the cards. Winning the toss Westy opted to bat first and in went the partnership of Abid and Hoffmann.

Things got off to a shaky start as Sean was for out for a duck in the 4th over. Azhar followed him 4 overs later leaving the Lions 11 for 2.

Tyson and Jason steadied the ship for a while and helped us onto 33 before Tyson was caught playing a pull shot to square leg.

With 33 for 3 on the board Jason and the inform Gus set about adding a few more runs to the total. They steadily added 31 to the total before Jason was brilliantly caught and bowled by Kumar. Kumar didn’t know a lot about it but he was definitely lucky to hold on to the catch on the 2nd attempt. Jason gone for 15.

With luck clearly still on his side Kumar’s next ball bowled Giggsy who caught his bat on his pad leaving his stumps unguarded.

With score still on 64 and the wickets reading 5 Gus got his head down and did another fantastic job with the bat. With boyfriend Bamo at his side the pair quickly added 19 to the total before Bamo was well caught by Rob Hiley at mid on to give Kumar his 3rd wicket.

Out to the crease for the first time this year was Robin Yellowlees who had been patiently waiting his turn to bat. He didn’t waste his opportunity either. Gus and Robin rotated the strike superbly and added another 57 to the scoreboard.

Robin showed he’s still got it in him with some powerful stroke play and some nicely placed singles into the gaps to keep the scorers busy. The highlight being a beautiful late cut for 4.

Gus brought up his 2nd 50 of the season, that’s 2 in 2 games for the youngster, with a well timed drive for 4. He was running out of steam though and was bowled on 52 by Hiley.

The score was looking a bit respectable now reading 140 for 7 but there was still a lot of hard work to do and Tim Hancock was the man to do it.

Having dropped down the order this week with Westy and BP to give the other guys an opportunity, with only 8 overs left, Tim didn’t hang around.

Tim started off quite calmly seeing off the last 3 deliveries of Hiley’s over.
This trend lasted for 3 balls only as his first scoring shot was a 6. Tim just got his eye in early and there was no stopping him from there.

As they put almost every fielder on the boundary Tim just hit the ball harder making some of the fielders dive out the way in order to save there own life never mind a 4!! Robin rotated the strike well to make sure Tim had every opportunity to reach his 50. 25 deliveries later and Tim was out for 59, much to the relief of the visiting side!

This excellent display of hard hitting was thankfully well timed as this helped the Lions over the 200 mark.

Robin was eventually bowled by Blades for 41. A top bit of batting by Robin and he even had time to show Michael just how to play a pull shot!

This left Westy and BP to finish off the innings with a couple of runs each to set Haddington the target of 228 to win. A fantastic recovery!

Az and Bamo opened the bowling and tied down the openers straight away.
6 run’s off the first 6 overs with Az bowling 3 maidens to kick off.

Bamo was the first to hit the sticks with an excellent delivery that removed Blades.

Great patience was shown by the Haddington batsmen as they saw off Abid and Anwar but also brief spells from Tim and Giggsy. The score was nudged along to 84 before BP removed skipper Cruickshank. Westy taking a good catch at mid on.

BP and Gus combined well to restrict the runs and started putting pressure on the Haddington batsmen. This soon told as Gus took 2 for 28 and BP snared the ‘holy trinity’ of Cruickshank, Hiley and Talbot giving him figures of 3 for 23 from his 10 overs. Haddington now on 123 for 7.

This put a lot of pressure on the younger batsmen who where at the lower end of the order barring of course John Hiley who refused to get out.

This meant the Lions had another long afternoon in the field. However they kept persevering and Bamo was well rewarded with figures of 3 for 21 from his 10.

However his bowling Buddy Az wasn’t so fortunate with the wickets but finished with the awesome figures of 0 for 8 from 10 overs. Unplayable on the day.

With 2 overs remaining in the day the ball was handed to Jason McCarthy to spin up a storm form the clubhouse end. Jason was well warned by Sean Hoffmann not to get another wicket as he was due to bowl the final over. Sean clearly stating for all to hear that he would not catch the ball should it come to him.

Of course there is only one thing that can happen in these situations.
Jason bowled an 11 ball over before Hiley decided to try and keep the strike; picking his fielder accordingly he smashed Jason to square leg.

As the ball slowly looped through the air, Sean’s shoulders dropped in disappointment, Jason screamed with anxiety ‘COOOMMEE ONNN HOFFY!!’ and not having to move an inch the ball landed perfectly in the Hoff’s hands.

Points secured, Hoffy gutted that he didn’t get a bowl, but another good day’s cricket for the Lions.