Tommy Geraghty of Balbriggan CC reports on a match that saw a remarkable bowling spell from 50 year old Albert Harper....
The weekend started with yet another visit to Croke Park to cheer on The Dubs. I was hoping for a double celebration. Dublin to beat Louth (the real Leinster Champions) on Saturday and Balbriggan to get our revenge and beat Railway Union on Sunday. Paddy Power wouldn't take the bet. A pity really, it would have paid for the excellent dinner my wife and I had on the Saturday night in a beautiful little eatery on Castle Market St, D2 called, La Maison. Superb cuisine and service and well worth a second visit I think.
Anyway, the Dubs thrashed Louth and although our victory over Railway Union looked comfortable on the scorecard, at times it was far from that.
I arrived at the holy ground (it's behind the Church) at just after 12:00 noon not knowing what to expect. We had lost the previous game to Leinster and had tumbled down the league table, so perhaps heads might be down and negative thoughts would be the order of the day? Not a bit of it. The lads were up for this one.
The two umpires for the day were Fingal's finest, Martin Russell and John Andrews. They were out on the square chatting an hour before the start. Martin informed me that there would be no rain today and how right he was. Perhaps Evelyn Cusack, John Eagleton, Jean Byrne et al should contact Martin before they go on air to give the weather forecast from now on? Sorry, I digressed at bit there.
The old lucky coin worked in a different way today. We got our wish to bat first despite losing the toss. So on the day the lucky coin really had two heads.
For the 10th match in a row Barry Archer and Glenn Russell opened the innings and it wasn't long before both were back in "The Shed" as so delicately referred to by Railway skipper Tim Townend. Archer had faced six balls when he edged one to keeper F Ulhag off the bowling of skipper Townend for 3. Russell faced just three balls more than Archer in his 34 minute stay at the crease (due mainly to Gavin Morgan hogging the strike) when he was bowled by the always dangerous Ger O'Brien for 1. However as most of the strike was Morgan's the score had moved on to 50 at that stage. Morgan had contributed 39 in their 44 partnership hitting three magnificent sixes in the process.
Gavin Morgan was now partnering Adrian Harper but that partnership was short lived and produced just one run off Morgan's bat. Harper was bowled for a duck by Z Mansoor, having faced just 6 balls. That brought all rounder Roger Kear to the centre and with Morgan batting so fluently and productively it was Kear who took on the steadying roll if you call 14 from 11 balls steady? Their partnership of 21 from 21 balls brought the score on to 72 when once again Railway keeper Ulhag was called into action when the thinnest of edges brought an end to Kear's little cameo innings.
In strolled the in-form Kevin O'Herlihy and he was joining the free scoring Morgan who earlier in the day discovered that younger brother Eoin had made the England test squad for the up-coming series against Pakistan. And obviously Eoin is a chip off the old block because some of Gavin's shots today were so reminiscent of young Eoin. He reached his 50 from 69 balls and never offered a chance to the Railway fielders.
O'Herlihy knuckled down for the first few overs he faced and when he had the measure of the bowlers he soon got into his stride. A super 4 straight down the ground past the bowler was followed 5 balls later by a magnificent 6 and things were beginning to look good for Balbriggan. The partnership was gathering pace and had reached 38 when Morgan was caught trying to push one pass mid-on and his superb innings of 61 off 91balls came to an end and bowler I Aslam celebrated with his team mates as if that was the end of the match. The scoreboard showed 110 for 5 off 28 and Balbriggan were in a little bit of bother? "Not so" says the evergreen Albert Harper as he strides to the crease having almost beaten his pads to shreds with his bat while waiting for his turn to face the Railway attack.
From his first 14 balls faced Harper gave the Railway team some fielding practice as he guided the ball to mid-on, mid-off, point, square-leg etc and he also gave his vocal chords some stick with his "Wait", "no run" "stay" shouts to O'Herlihy at the other end but in truth they could probably hear him in Sandymount too. He was finally out, adjudged LBW by umpire Andrews in the 38th over off the bowling of Aslam having scored a valuable 11 runs from 32 balls faced. His partnership with O'Herlihy totalled 43 runs and the score at that stage was 153 for 6.
Albert's nephew Duane Harper had replaced him and the talk behind us was that Balbriggan need O'Herlihy to bat on until the end of the 50 overs if they are to post a competitive total. 220 to 240 was the required minimum number of runs we needed according to the "old, experienced" onlookers. They obviously had little faith in our bowlers? But they didn't get their wish because O'Herlihy, obviously trying to move the score on a bit quicker edged one to the keeper off the tiring Townend and Balbriggan were 158 for 7. But that just brought the dangerous Sarfraz Anwar into the heart of the battle. On his day he can knock the stuffing out of seasoned bowlers and this would be one of those days, we hoped.
Duane Harper became skipper Townend's 3rd wicket of the afternoon. He lobbed one to mid-off and was out, caught, for 4, having faced just 12 balls. 166 for 8 and 240 looked less likely now.
Sean Malone joined Anwar and with skipper Paddy Martin padded up and probably not really wanting to bat, it was up to them to bat out the remaining 9 overs and post a 200 plus score. Malone added just 4 to the total when he was clean bowled by Dhruv Kapoor but by then his partner Anwar had shown us how it should be done by already having launched two missiles straight over the boundary line and by the time Malone was out Anwar's personal score had reached 24 and the Balbriggan total had reached 195. He was finally out in the 49th over having scored 31 from 27 balls and a strike rate of 114.80 leaving skipper Paddy Martin stranded on 1 not out and the Balbriggan total on 204. A competitive total but one that Railway Union would be confident of reaching especially as they had scored 330 against us in our previous encounter.
Railway Union bowling figures: G O'Brien: 9-1-41-2, T Townend: 10-1-68-3, Z Mansoor: 10-3-23-1, K Kapoor: 7-1-35-0, I Aslam: 10-2-27-2, D Kapoor: 2.2-2-4-2
It's time for tea, and plotting and planning our bowling strategy. And so far the Martin Russell meteorological service has been spot on.
Tea over and away we go again. Railway open with S Grehan facing and A Hafiz at the non-strikers end. The umpire signals to the scorers that we are about to start and we acknowledge his signal and bowler Duane Harper takes up his position from the Glebe North End. Just 1 run off the first over to Grehan.
Sarfraz Anwar, fresh from his superb innings opens from the Hamilton Road end and his first ball is hit for 4 and is followed by 5 dots. The next 5 overs see the score move onto 32 with Hafiz hitting 23 of them when Grehan is out, LBW off the bowling of Anwar for 6. That brings G Carroll in to partner Hafiz but Hafiz bites the dust in the very next over when he politely edges one to keeper Barry Archer who gratefully accepts. 35 for two and Balbriggan are well in this game. D Kapoor joins Carroll in the centre and together they take the score onto 90 at the drinks break and 25 overs bowled. Paddy Martin and Roger Kear had already replaced opening bowlers D Harper and Anwar but the Railway pair were batting well and the partnership was gathering momentum. The drink break couldn't have come at a better time for Balbriggan. Carroll and Kapoor had put a 50 partnership together from 83 balls and they looked like they could possibly go the distance.
Skipper Paddy Martin then makes one of the best bowling change decisions he'll ever make. He takes himself off and brings on the always miserly and on the spot Albert Harper. Little did anyone watching or playing expect what would follow? From Harper's 4th ball Carroll tries one big shot too may and he his brilliantly caught by Gavin Morgan in the covers. His contribution of 22 runs coming off 62 balls in 57 minutes. The start of an incredible spell of bowling had just begun.
In walks skipper Tim Townend and we all remembered how he plundered a century against us in Sandymount earlier in the season also hitting 7 sixes in that innings. Surely he couldn't repeat that performance? He nudges a few around and offers some half chances to the fielders by putting two or three balls into the air. Each time though the ball landed in the gaps. But it gave our bowlers some hope that this might not be his day, and how right they were.
Harper's second over see the end of Kapoor's innings when he edges one beyond the keeper and the ever youthful and seasoned slip fielder Roger Kear unbelievably snaps it up just inches off the deck and the Balbriggan team en masse mob both Kear and Harper and roars of delight go all around the ground. 95 for 4 and the match is on a knife edge.
Junaid is next man in for Railway and he is met by skipper Townend just off the square and words of advice and encouragement are probably what passed between them. But it didn't work. For Harpers next over would see both of them heading back to "The Shed". First Townend is quite magnificently caught by Sean Malone who watched the ball sail over his head but his turn, run and diving catch were truly amazing. The danger man is out and Railway are 102 for 5.
Keeper F Ulhag joins Junaid at the crease and they must have thought "how could this be happening". And just one ball later Junaid is also caught by Malone standing in exactly the same position although this time he didn't have to move. 102 for 6 and Ger O'Brien is on the way out to face the onslaught.
He lasts just 4 balls and becomes Harper's 5th victim of the match when he edges one to keeper Archer and 102 for 6 becomes 102 for 7. Harper had at that stage figures of 5-3-3-5 and eventually finished on 6-3-6-5. A superb spell of bowling at any level of cricket.
Paddy Martin replaces Kear from the Glebe North end and his first 4 ball are hit for 9 runs. But he was just lulling the batsmen into a false sense of security. Because from the 5th ball he picks up the wicket of Z Mansoor when he bowls him all ends up. 111 for 8 and time to start the engines and look forward to sitting down to a nice dinner in The Blue Bar Café in Skerries. I'm always out eating, no wonder my cholesterol is through the roof.
F Ulhag is Martin's second wicket and Gavin Morgan's second catch of the match when he skies one and his brave little innings comes to an end. He scored 12 off 23 balls but "The Shed" beckoned and he duly answered the call. 118 for 9 and the Railway capitulation was almost complete. I Aslam was the last man to fall when he was trapped LBW by Skipper Martin. All out for 121 in the 37th over and an 83 run defeat.
Bowling figures for Balbriggan: D Harper: 6-0-29-1, S Anwar: 6-1-15-1, R Kear: 10-2-27-0, P Martin: 8.4-0-43-3, A Harper: 6-3-6-5
Our Man of the Match:
Although Gavin Morgan hit a superb 61 and took two catches the award goes to Albert Harper who rolled back the years and cut the heart out of the Railway Union batting with a display of bowling Michael Holding would have been proud of. Well done Albert and let's hope we can repeat that performance next Saturday when we take on Phoenix in the Senior II Cup final at North County.
Reproduced by kind permission of Balbriggan CC
Updated League table: http://www.cover-point.com/post/Leinster-Tables-Divisions-1-3-2010.aspx
