Academy Police Portcullis To The Hightower!

Match Eight of the 2013/14 Grades Season saw Portcullis again at Home. This time saw the Green Caps take on new League Leaders and fellow City Centre side Academy CC. Academy CC would be an extremely tough nut to crack as they came into this match fresh from a six-wicket win against Grade Three favourites Kemnay-Kintore the week before.

Skipper Dave Mitchell won a very brief toss against his counterpart B. Amol and elected to field. The Duthie Park wicket looked at lot drier than in recent weeks so perhaps the recent low bounce would be eradicated as a result.

Portcullis changed their tried and trusted opening bowling partnership of Dave Mitchell and Muhammad Farooq to Mitchell and Rob Owen. For Academy Uday and Naveen would open the batting.

Mitchell’s opening over was lively, as he beat Uday’s bat four times, but it was the first ball of the second over when Mitchell struck. The ball stayed a tad low as Naveen was rendered plum lbw. Academy 4-1.

New batsman Srikanth joined Uday at the crease. The pair put on a partnership of eight at the crease before Portcullis struck for a second time.

Owen, opening the bowling for the first time up the hill, bowled, by his own admission, a stinker of a leg side long-hop. Uday was onto it in a flash pulling it towards backward square leg. Fortunately for Portcullis, Bob Adie was positioned in just that spot. Despite Udays’s strike hurtling towards him at great velocity, Adie held his position to take a quite stunning catch!

Academy 12-2.

Praful was next to the crease. Along with Srikanth the score went to 23 before the City Centre Green Caps struck again. Owen taking out Srikanth with a lovely leg stump Yorker.

Mitchell and Owen made no further impact and were replaced by Muhammad Farooq and Sanjoy Deb.

Farooq opened steadily enough whilst Deb struggled in his opening over. Trying to find his length he went for 14 as Praful in particular took the attack from Portcullis. To their credit both Mitchell, in showing faith, and Deb by showing courage, dug in and fought back. Deb found his rhythm and was not so easy to pick off after that.

The fourth wicket partnership added 53, thanks mainly to Praful’s classy stroke play before Portcullis found a way through again. Abinhav lbw to a low one from Farooq.

Deb joined in soon after, capturing his first wicket. It was the dangerous Praful and Deb had the joy of bowling him for 43.

Deb struck again soon after capturing Safeer by bowling him. Academy 89-6.

At this point Academy could have looked in a bit of trouble. They are not league leaders for nothing though; part of their success is they do have quality batting right down the order.

The pairing of Adnan and D. Amol made a crucial partnership of 22 taking Academy past three figures before Portcullis struck again.

Farooq, bowling his off-spin, got Adnan to crash one through the covers. Falconer though got down to block well. Perhaps frustrated by not getting runs from the previous ball, Adnan struck again in the cover area, the shot was a bit looser and Falconer was on hand to take a simple catch.

Farooq followed this wicket with a Amol double, bowling both D. Amol and B. Amol with successive balls. Neither a hat-trick nor a third Amol was to come however as Academy kept their innings alive.

Mitchell came back on and finished the innings bowling Ashen for 2.

Academy 134 all out in 38 overs.

For Academy Praful top scored with an excellent 42 whilst Adnan and D.Amol both scored 23. For Portcullis Muhammad Farooq finished with 4-32 whilst Dave Mitchell took 2-25. Debut bowler Sanjoy Deb, showing excellent promise took 2-32 whilst Owen finished with 2-42.

Although this was an achievable total Portcullis would have to dig in and bat to their full potential if they were to get anywhere.

After a brief tea, Portcullis went out with Falconer and Sahoo opening the batting whilst Academy opened the bowling with Safeer and Sydney.

At this point dear reader I would love to tell you of a see-saw classic of a match where Portcullis fought bravely to win by the narrowest of margins against all the odds.

I could but I would be lying!

The rot started from the fourth ball when Falconer, having watched the first three balls swing in decided the fourth one was worth driving. He was wrong and was well bowled by Safeer by another one that swung in!

The dependable Mitchell was next. Safeer, getting even more in-swing and seam, bowled Mitchell who was leaving the ball from well outside off stump only to see it jag back and take the top of off-stump. A tremendous ball!

Deb then made it a terrible treble, as he was bowled first ball from a sumptuous Yorker from the now rampant Safeer. Portcullis 8-3.

Kannan Vijayakrishnan was next to go. A full toss was to do for him as he batted it back to Safeer. Safeer, to his credit, showed tremendous athleticism to take the catch despite the fact his momentum was taking him away from direction of the ball. Portcullis 9-4. At this stage there were no takers on Portcullis to win this one.

Farooq was next to go. Some solid defensive shots and nimble footwork showed signs he was coming back into touch. Alas an ill-timed heave saw Sydney grab his first wicket with a leg stump Yorker.

Rob Owen was next. He and a shell-shocked Sahoo lead a fightback before Owen was next to go. Safeer grabbing a well deserved fifth wicket by bowling Owen with a very crafty slower ball.

A fired up Jayaraj Raj was next in and he top scored with 11 before he was caught form the bowling of Srikanth.

Sahoo also went caught from the bowling of D. Amol. Srikanth wrapped up the innings by bowling Bob Adie with one that stayed low and then snaffling last man Max Sheridan as he gloved one towards the Wicket Keeper who deflected it to first slip.

Portcullis 45 all out.

Jayaraj Raj topped the scoring with 11 whilst Rob Owen and Ranjan Sahoo made 8 apiece. It was a wretched performance with the bat.

For Academy Safeer bowled with excellent pace to have figures of 5-10 from 6 overs. Srikanth finished with 3-10. Sydney was perhaps a tad unlucky to only get one wicket for his efforts whilst Amol took the remaining final wicket.

Portcullis are deep in the relegation battle this season and will do well to dig themselves out of this latest hole.

Academy are top of the League on merit and along with Kemnay-Kintore and AGSFP 2nds have a tremendous chance to win promotion this season. The battle between those three teams for the Grade Three Title will be a fascinating one.

For the rest there is a genuine battle from Crathie in fourth place to Portcullis in seventh spot. Only 33 points separate the sides in those four positions. Turriff, in bottom position, still have a chance to get out but it would take a huge turnaround in form for the Haughs side.

PORTCULLIS MAN OF THE MATCH.

Muhammad Farooq with his 4-32 from 12 overs. He mixed his pace and off-spin well in this match and his cerebral bowling gave him a well-deserved four-fer.

PORTCULLIS MOMENT OF THE MATCH.

Bob Adie’s catch from a Rob Owen stinker. The ball went at him like a rocket and initially I was hoping he would block it and save a certain four. He not only did that but wrapped his hands around it gratefully to take a superb catch!!It was one of those catches where everyone around him froze for a split-second, digesting what actually happened before the fielding team go mental and the batsman walks off in disgust at his own ill-luck!

PORTCULLIS MOAN OF THE MATCH.

The batting. Nuff said.

ACADEMY MAN OF THE MATCH.

Safeer for his six over salvo that yielded five wickets for 10 runs. He bowled quite beautifully in that spell, quashing any forlorn hopes that Portcullis had of winning the match.

Friday, 04 July, 2014