FRIDAY THE 13TH IS UNLUCKY FOR HQ
HASSRA LEEDS vs HASSRA HQ
HASSRA HQ's Cricket team headed North on Friday 13th of September hoping to avoid the misfortune that this date is often associated with. On encountering a true Yorkshire 'greentop' in the heart of Roundhay Park in Leeds, that was rumoured to have been under 2 foot of water a fortnight earlier, it appeared that the curse of the 13th may have already struck. Thoughts of the curse only began to gather when London's skipper Ben Aylott lost the toss and, against some accurate HASSRA Leeds bowling, soon found three of his top four back in the pavilion with only five runs on the board!
Cue a restoration
mission from the in-form Fayaz Aziz (averaging over 100 this year for The Strollers)
and the evergreen Satish Gajendgadkar. Playing with increasing freedom, it was
a surprise when Fayaz had a rush of blood and found himself out of his ground
as Leeds' keeper David Crang whipped off the bails. Satish, however, continued
on his way with valuable support from Vinod Lladwa who took over the lead role
as Satish departed for a well-constructed 31. Vinod and Nick Clark, clearly in
form… at finding the fielders with every shot, were frustrated by good shots
that yielded little reward, but hung around long enough with the tail to see a
score of 118 for 9 posted at the end of the 35 overs. This represented a good
recovery against an experienced Leeds attack and perhaps a ray of hope for the
HQ bowlers and their Skip.
The London total began to look considerably
better as Leeds stuttered to 63/6 with only 10 batsmen being available. Some penetrating
bowling from Simon French, Owain Lloyd-James and the experienced Clark was, unfortunately,
undermined by too many four balls and dropped catches that could have finished
the game as a contest. Paul 'trigger' Lees had an outstanding game as umpire and
was consistency personified, a trait that is vital on a pitch whose bounce and
seam movement were becoming more unpredictable.
At
100/6 Leeds looked home and dry but the spin twins, Fayaz and Matt Briggs, spun
a web as Leeds stuttered in the face of a double-wicket maiden from Briggs. With
19 runs still required and the last pair together it was once again London HQ
who appeared in the ascendancy. However, in this game of ebb and flow there was
to be one final twist. Leeds edged to victory by one wicket as the Yorkshire limpets
clung on for dear life to their last wicket and with it the HASSRA trophy.
Tea was an embarrassment of riches that lacked neither size nor substance.
Mick Matthews, who had another outstanding game behind the stumps, did not miss
the opportunity to impress upon the new players his wide repertoire of impressions.
Thanks to the organising committee of Paul Lupton, Paul Lees and Ben Aylott, the
administrative side of the day ran smoothly. Thanks also go to HQ secretary Paul
Fitton for all his help and to the HQ Committee for their support of this successful
event. Hopefully, so we can restore some HQ pride, Leeds will return next year
to play on the featherbed pitches of Chiswick...
Simon
French