On a wicket that looked league class the Pelicans gathered at Long Marston ready to do battle in the sunshine of a British summer’s afternoon. With Nico falling foul to some sickness bug undoubtedly caused by not washing his hands the Pelicans welcomed a new member namely Amir, along with Jaffar who decided to play again the average age pushed more towards grave than cradle.

With the toss duly lost the Pelicans were put into bat, of course we weren’t, who would do that?

Opening the bowling for the Pelicans we had the old warhorse that is Toobes, and making a welcome return the young clotheshorse that is Hasan. On a wicket that had regularly been described as a batters’ paradise the Pelican openers made the Long Marston openers work for their supper, and indeed it was not long before Toobes took his first wicket, bowling the number two bat. Hasan continued to plug away but without much success and after their initial spell Long Marston had pushed the score onto 53 for 2, another wicket going to Toobes a fine catch by Asad behind the wickets.

Taking over from Toobes, Andrew stepped forward and after a couple of sighting overs found his mark and took his first wicket, a fine catch from the Pelicans answer to Jonty Rhodes non other than Jalil himself, who on eventually realising the ball was coming his way at a rate of knots tipped the ball up and caught it on the second attempt. A good wicket to take as the Long Marston bat had looked useful and rapidly got into the 20s.

Meanwhile from the other end and bowling for the Pelicans for the first time was Jaffar, mesmerising the Long Marston batsmen the runs suddenly started drying up and Skip thought may be a chase of 250 started looking not to bad.

Meanwhile Andrew who was now bowling line and length took his next wicket as he bowled the LM number 5 bat, his spell came to an end with a very useful 2 for 32 0ff 5 overs, meanwhile Jaffar continued taunting the LM bats and finished his 8 overs with 35 runs taken an excellent spell and one that was well needed.

Following Andrew was Raheel who proved even more miserly as his first 4 overs went for only 8 runs, but more importantly took the wicket of the LM number 3 bat who had pushed onto 52. Following Jaffar was our new Pelican Amir who in his first over removed the LM number 8 bat. Meanwhile at the other end Raheel continued his mean streak and claimed his second wicket if memory serves me right a catch by Hasan, with his spell coming to an end Raheel posted fine bowling figures of 2 for 32 off 8 overs, a great effort.

Amir meanwhile got into his stride and not only had the LM batsmen on their toes but also Ali at square leg as a number of balls darted straight to him, this seemed to bamboozle the LM batsmen as Amir ran through the remaining LM team and posted stats of 4 overs 4 for 21 a truly fantastic spell.

One thing to be said during this spell was what a welcome sight it was to see Clive back on the field, contributing in every way, including dropping an absolute dolly……nice.

Tea was taken with the LM finally posting 192, a bit of a result on that wicket and how quickly they had started their scoring.

With tea taken it was time for the Pelicans to chase down the required runs, and opening was as ever Asad and Raheel, Clive this time playing the bridesmaid.

It’s fair to say that runs were hard to come by as the bowling was tight which means as ever at some point Asad is going to swish his bat like a petulant teenager, this duly happened but thankfully the ball missed his wickets. This seemed to calm down our young gun who then started batting properly, aided as ever by Raheel who is always going to play his fine array of shots the scoreboard did indeed start moving on, as the boundary came into play.

Unfortunately as ever with the Pelicans when things look good it is a precursor for things going bad and this time Asad swished at a ball and was duly caught. Clive deciding to make amends for the dropped sitter strode out to the wicket and was caught for one.

Ali now joined Raheel and a sense of calm ensued, well it does when Raheel was facing, with Ali well anything can happen, and soon he was taking aim at the boundary.

Unfortunately with 19 overs bowled and 83 runs on the board the rain made an appearance and finished the game, Hasan announced that according to Duckworth Lewis it would be a Pelican victory if we could get one over in but with the rain now falling stronger than ever that definitely looked unlikely, Match abandoned and drawn.

Overall a great wicket and lovely ground and a great effort by the Pelicans especially Jaffar and Amir, moment of the day Raheel creaming the LM number 3 bowler for 4 straight past Mid On, sumptuous.

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Reports are intended to convey an entertaining picture of the day’s play. No disrespect is meant, but if on occasion we misjudge matters, please take it in the friendly and humorous spirit in which it is intended.