An outstanding spell of bowling by Dinesh Tharanga, coupled with an excellent Gala fielding display ensured an upset win in the 1st XI’s first competitive match of the season against Edinburgh CC on Saturday at Meigle Park.
After winning the toss, Gala skipper Josh Irvine had no hesitation in electing to bat first. Gala opened with the now established pairing of Siddhanth Siddhu and Finlay Rutherford and the pair started well, taking 16 from the opening 2 overs. However, Rutherford (3) was clean bowled by an excellent yorker from the visitors opening bowler Wadood in the third over. This brought Irvine to the crease and both he and Siddhu looked in good touch with the pair taking the score up to 43 for 1 and looking in a healthy position after the opening 10 overs. The partnership was broken however by other Edinburgh opener Yadav. Siddhu, who was again striking the ball well can count himself unfortunate, however credit must be given to Yadav who produced an outstanding piece of fielding to react and catch a low caught and bowled chance at the second attempt, sending Gala’s opener back to the pavilion for 19.
Yadav then removed Duncan Millar LBW for a duck soon after leaving Gala 53 for 3 and in a rocky position. Aashiq Rhode then joined Irvine and the pair took the score up to 79 and Gala were looking in a comfortable position once more. However, with Wadood still in the attack, he had Irvine out LBW despite the Gala batsman feeling the ball had hit the bat first. Jack Halls and Rhode then moved the score along nicely with Gala sitting on 100 for 4 at the halfway stage of the innings. In the 30th over however Halls went back to a low delivery and was out LBW to Edinburgh spinner Farooq.
This left Gala 117 for 5 however with a deep batting line up and Rhode striking the ball well, the home side were confident in their ability to continue the scoring. Some good Edinburgh bowling however pulled them back into the game and Gala found themselves 140 for 7 after Rhode (33) and Ormiston (10), who was looking in good shape at the crease, were both dismissed in quick succession. Edinburgh continued to apply pressure on the Gala tail and despite best efforts from Dinesh Tharanga (13) and Robbie Irvine (6), Gala were bowled out in the 45th over for 156. The home side were disappointed with their overall total after throwing away wickets at different stages. Gala knew they would need a strong fielding performance to compete in the match.
Edinburgh opened with the dangerous pair of Butt and Hussain but Gala made the perfect start after some early pressure. A mix up between the wickets led to the run out of Butt (0) and Siddhu took full advantage with an accurate throw to Millar behind the stumps. An over later Hussain then struck a full toss from Robbie Irvine to Siddhu who just about held onto the catch leaving the visitors 6 for 2.
Then, Dinesh Tharanga, like he has done so many times before, bowled fantastically well on a wicket that was becoming less favourable to the batsman as time passed in the match. Tharanga picked up the wickets of Uddin (1), Q.Ashraf (6) and A.Ashraf (5) in the space of 2 overs leaving the visitors rocked on 20 for 5. Gala were buzzing in the field and looked to maintain the pressure on the Edinburgh batsmen.
A partnership looked to be developing between Farooq and Maseed however looking to accelerate, Farooq lobbed one up to Jack Halls at mid off and Tharanga claimed his 4th wicket of the day. Gala’s opening bowler then continued to work through his 10 overs and in the penultimate over of his spell, he claimed his first competitive 5 wicket haul of the season, having Maseed LBW for 7 and leaving the visitors 47 for 7.
Edinburgh’s Parvez offered solid resistance and struck the ball to the boundary regularly as he looked to counter attack and bring the visitors back into the game. Edinburgh took the score up to 82 without the loss of another wicket and Gala began to become slightly frustrated knowing the visitors were creeping back into the game. However, an outstanding piece of fielding from Finlay Rutherford, who took a fantastic catch running back off the bowling of Dean Moir, got the crucial wicket of Parvez for 36 and left Edinburgh 82 for 8. The visitors final two wickets were then claimed by Josh Irvine and Jack Halls and Gala won by 65 runs, bowling the visitors out for 91.
A great win for Gala against former champions of the division and a great start in the league. The game was played in great spirit by both teams. Thankyou to Edinburgh CC for the game and we look forward to the reverse fixture at Campbell Park later in the season.
GALA SCORECARD
S.Siddhu c+b B.Yadav 19
F.Rutherford b A.Wadood 3
J.Irvine LBW A.Wadood 34
D.Millar LBW B.Yadav 0
A.Rhode b A.Maseed 33
J.Halls LBW U.Farooq 12
G.Ormiston LBW A.Shabir 10
D.Tharanga ct A.Shabir b A.Wadood 13
J.Crooks c+b A.Maseed 0
R.Irvine b B.Yadav 6
D.Moir not out 0
Extras – 26
Gala 156 all out from 44.4 overs.
Fall of Wickets: 1-14, 2-43, 3-53, 4-79, 5-117, 6-136, 7-140, 8-149, 9-156, 10-156
Edinburgh Bowling
A.Wadood 6.3-0-36-3
B.Yadav 9-0-31-3
A.Shabir 10-4-16-1
U.Farooq 10-2-23-1
K.Parvez 1.1-0-14-0
A.Maseed 8-0-26-2
EDINBURGH SCORECARD
M.Butt run out (S.Siddhu) 0
K.Hussain ct S.Siddhu b R.Irvine 3
K.Uddin LBW D.Tharanga 1
Q.Ashraf b D.Tharanga 6
A.Ashraf b D.Tharanga 5
U.Farooq ct J.Halls b D.Tharanga 4
A.Maseed LBW D.Tharanga 7
K.Parvez ct F.Rutherford b D.Moir 36
A.Shabir ct D.Millar b J.Irvine 1
A.Wadood ct D.Millar b J.Halls 3
B.Yadav not out 2
Extras – 27
Edinburgh 91 all out from 32.1 overs.
Fall of Wickets: 1-4, 2-6, 3-7, 4-14, 5-20, 6-35, 7-47, 8-82, 9-83, 10-91
Gala Bowling
R.Irvine 5-1-9-1
D.Tharanga 10-2-23-5
D.Moir 7-2-23-1
A.Rhode 3-1-6-0
S.Siddhu 4-1-16-0
J.Irvine 2-0-6-1
J.Halls 1.1-0-2-1