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UNDERRIVER v LIONS Underriver, a village side from But looks do deceive. This was a team full of guile and experience and too much altogether for the naÔve Lions were the first to fall. Batting first their top order was knocked over with hardly a murmur. Three quick wickets
left them abashed. Underriver opening attack was fast and accurate so no shame in loosing wickets. But when the didly dodlly
bowlers came on and still manage to work their way through the middle and lower order did Lions come to regret their overconfidence.
Only Dias, who opened managed to put together an innings, scoring 51, helped by no 5 order bat Roshan who scored 35. They
managed to give respectability to the Lions innings finishing with 133 all out. Wickets were spread equally among the Underriver
bowlers. Lions have a good array of fast bowling so all was still not lost. Two
wickets brought them hope but Watson (49) once entrenched at the wicket showed that it was going to take something special
to dislodge him. He took his time, after 20 overs Underriver had only 50 runs, but confidently picked up the pace as
he began to chase down the lions total. After 30 overs the score was 103, needing 31 off the last 5. It needed some big shots and Watson managed to find them,
He brought Underriver to spitting distance of the Lions total when he was bowled by Sampath A in the pentulimate over. Needing 5 off the last over, wickets started falling almost on every ball with batsmen frantically padding up and shunted
out to the centre. A big hit on the last but one ball saw Underriver to victory.
UNDERRIVER v Forewarned is forearmed. The They bowled first hoping to test the untried Underriver lower order. A very accurate opening spell from Mike Kyriacou
and Chris Markides forced Underriver into a painfully slow scoring rate. Halfway through their overs and Underriver were on only 40 with 2 wickets lost. A bowling change brought some pace
bowling from Kashif and swing from Niroshan but they couldnπt manage the accuracy of the opening pair and runs started
to flow. Once again it was Watson who was doing the damage with his partners farming the strike to him. Spin followed pace without managed to slow down the now steady flow of boundaries. At last Khans leg spin had
Watson (64) caught by Mohammad at long off with a running low catch, but the damage had been done, the score had rolled on
to 122 after 30 overs. The last five overs leaked runs and wickets to leave Underrivver on 163 for 9. Wickets were spread
but openers Mike K with 2 for 18 from 7 overs and Chris M conceding only 11 off 8 overs were exceptional.
UNDERRIVER v COMBINED SERVICES Underriver won the toss and put the Combined Services in to bat. Tight bowling from Sean
Ashfield whose 8 overs cost him a miserly 6 runs contained the Combined Services early batsmen but Ian McCarrick, Jummy Green
and John Conway who all scored 27 before being dismissed pushed the score along to a creditable 138-8 at the end of the 35overs.
Best of the bowlers was veteran Paul Lack whose slow bowling deceIved many as he finished with 3 for 28. Underriver came into bat confident that they could get the runs despite three of
their better players returning to the UK early de to work commitments but were soon in trouble as South African soldier Van
Zyl ripped the heart out of their batting, He took 5 for 26 off his allocated 8 overs and with John Conway keeping the other
end tight they began to struggle, at the drinks interval Underriver had only managed 40 runs for the loss of 5 wickets. The
change of bowlers gave them hope but they lost wickets too regularly and were dismissed for 94 in the 34th over. Adrian Barr-Smith 20 and Paul Lack 16 with Chris Close 15 who were their top scorers.
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