The University of Manchester Cricket Club (UMCC)) indoor team took a step towards the home of cricket with an outstanding display in the BUCS Indoor Cricket Regional Tournament at Headingley on Sunday with 1st team captain Michael Taylor making a winning start to his reign.
The draw was made Manchester were grouped with Leeds and the University of West England. After a short wait, skipper Mike Taylor won the toss and, with a strong pace attack to call on, inserted Leeds on a “very green” plastic wicket. James Lilley got things going with a tight spell of left arm swing bowling (1 for 14) and, with Alex Saunders (2 for 13), they managed to rattle the Leeds top order leaving them struggling at 29 for 4. Brief resistance for Leeds came from Adair, their only player to reach double figures, before Hasan Khan (2 for 9) along with some good fielding and tight bowling from Mike Taylor resulted in Leeds being bowled out for just 53 after 10 overs.
INDOORS…What the event might have looked like
Danny Hawes and Hasan Khan set about the UMCC reply and after an encouraging start -and some wayward bowling- Hawes fell caught behind for 3. Abhi Navan and Khan took us towards our target, and although the latter fell to a dubious L.B.W decision for 12, Navan continued to 19 not out and was well supported by James Lilley with 5 not out as Manchester reached their target with 4.3 overs remaining. A great start to the day was set up by a brilliant bowling performance and backed up by excellent fielding; the well thought out reply with the bat leading Manchester to victory over the side many considered to be their biggest threat in that section of the draw. Navan was also delighted to complete his first indoor match for UMCC without running anyone (Khan) out.
After little over an hour the UMCC were back in action, this time against the University of West England knowing that a win would ensure a place in the next round. Skipper Mike Taylor enhanced his reputation as a “tosser” and again inserted the opposition. After a great start from James Lilley (1 for 10) with just three runs coming from his first over, Bristol Poly were further restricted when Mike Taylor (2 for 19) came on and took a wicket with his very first ball. More tight bowling along with some truly horrendous running from the Bristol batsmen and sharp work from Danny Hawes restricted Bristol Poly to 58 all out.
Khan and Hawes then set about sending the University of Manchester through in style and obliged with a solid performance romping home without loss after just 7.2 overs with Khan unbeaten on 28 and Hawes not out on 24. A good day all around for the UMCC who now have the next round to look forward to in early February as they look to book a place in the national finals at Lord’s.
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