17th May 2025 - HBCC 1st XI vs Hemsworth Miners Welfare CC (H)
HBCC continue their perfect start to the season and move to three wins from three games!
First innings
Nicholson maintained his perfect start to the season with another lost toss, HMWCC decided to put HBCC into bat.
Nicholson and Grogan kicked off proceedings with a flurry of early boundaries building a solid foundation for HBCC. Nicholson was then dismissed by a good delivery taking the top of off stump before Grogan was unfortunate to chop on whilst trying to steer one down to third man (at least he wasn’t run out this week!). With the openers gone, the in form Baig and Turkish Hairlines himself (Perkin) went about rebuilding for HBCC. Baig batted beautifully again scoring a composed 36 before running past one and getting stumped. Perkin showed his usual grittiness and battled his way to 18 before he snicked off whilst attempting a booming drive. Womersley and Terry then came and went cheaply whilst Shahid held down the fort scoring a quick fire 32 using his trademark timing and power. Following the loss of a couple of quick wickets again, as is the HBCC way, Waterson and Saleem arrived at the crease with HBCC at 133-7 with HBCC still shy of the 2nd batting point and at risk of not getting the 3rd. Saleem then put on his superman outfit and took centre stage. With only his second ball, Saleem showed all his flair by nonchalantly hitting HMWCC’s spinner down the ground for a lusty six. Saleem followed that up with a handful of others, finishing with 5x sixes in total, the pick of which was a delightful lofted drive over extra cover. Waterson was struggling to find the middle of the bat with the same ease as Saleem so opted to rotate the strike and finished with a handy 24*. Waterson tried his best to prevent Saleem scoring his first half century for the club, chewing up the first four deliveries of the 46th over, before finally getting Saleem on strike. Saleem needed to hit a six with the final ball of the innings to bring up his half century, could he do it? Of course he could - Saleem the dream, spanked the final ball for six bringing up a well deserved 50 unbeaten; it was an innings of great quality and he showed everyone exactly what he was capable of! Saleem and Waterson put on 74 for the 8th wicket, both finishing unbeaten at the end of the innings.
HBCC finished on 207-7 off their 46 overs, achieving full batting points.
Second innings
Following our first tea at home of the season, which was terrific as always, Shahid and Waring took the new ball. With a bowl of chilli inside him, Waring bowled some spicy stuff from the get go, taking a wicket in his first over with a lovely in-swinger. Not to be outdone, Shahid then got into the act taking three quick wickets, with Waring adding another two of his own as the deadly opening duo continued their bright start to the season. Hussain took a smart grab for one of Shahid’s wickets, to help keep the momentum with HBCC. Shahid finished with 3-10 and Waring finished 3-26. Waring’s figures could have and should have been a bit better had it not been for Perkin dropping a dolly with his crisp packet in gully. The ball came at a lovely height to Perkin, who decided for some unknown reason decided to jump in the air like a frightened cat, only to let the ball slip through his fingers. Feeling terrible about his drop, the wily old fox was determined to make amends and on the very next ball, Perkin made a smart stop down to his right in the gully before throwing down the stumps and running out HMWCC’s poor batter for a diamond duck. Congratulations to Perkin for only his second fielding dismissal at his 16th season for the club. Perkin then got into on the act with the ball taking a wicket of his own, finishing with figures 1-10. Waterson and Terry were unable to make a breakthrough of their own, which led Captain Fantastic to dust off the cobwebs and turn his arm over for the first time this season. Nicholson showed all his guile to take the final two wickets, finishing with 2-1 from his spell.
HMWCC were skittled for 66 all out from 24 overs, giving HBCC a 141-run victory and maximum points on the day.
Player of the match
It was awarded to Saleem for his explosive knock, we look forward to seeing plenty more from Saleem with the bat this season.
Good luck to Hemsworth for the remainder of the season, it was a pleasure to host them and we look forward to facing off against them again later in the season.