Asker vs Fjord 'B;
Overnight rain had left the Rud ground with a wet outfield. There was standing water in the areas of mid wicket, long on and long off. Hence the players and umpires decided to do what is only logical in Norway, i.e. start the match. Fjord won the toss and decided to bowl first. The match was reduced to 25 overs a side.
Tara and Israr opened the batting in excellent weather conditions for bowling. Tara was first out , to a leading edge on a full toss. Khayyam replaced him in the middle and started to make the batting look easy. However, running between the wickets was not so easy and Israr paid the price for some confusion. Qasim, meanwhile had gone missing and all efforts to look for him went in vain. Ravi decided to block out and see off the new bowlers and hold up one end. He lasted exactly 7 balls doing that. With Qasim still missing, Mehdi joined Khayyam in the middle. Khayyam and Mehdi then put on a 50 run partnership batting sensibly. They nudged the bowling around for singles and hit the odd big shot. Just when Khayyam was starting to get going, he got out for a well made 25. Qasim joined Mehdi in the middle and continued the good work. We are not sure what Qasim did during his disappearance, but he came out all guns blazing. He raced away to a 34 ball 49 with 2 massive sixes.Mehdi made a well deserved half century. Asker finished on a above par 166 off 25 overs.
With the pressure on Fjord, Hamza started his first over like he always does. He bowled a wide, making the batsman relax and Khayyam angry. And then bowled a snorter which bounced a lot more than expected and took the outside edge. Hashir did extremely well to hold on to the catch. Hamza soon had another one in the over making the batsman drive on the up. With 2 down in the first over, Fjord had to re-build. But Hamza got another batsman to edge behind with Hashir holding onto another fantastic catch.Qasim continued to pile the pressure on the other end and was soon rewarded with a wicket. Tara and Israr then came on to bowl and kept the pressure on the Fjord batsmen. Tara soon added to his wicket tally. Israr foxed the Fjord batsmen with his tight off-spin. Sharp work from Mirza in the field meant that Fjord were soon 6 down. From then, it was a mere formality for the Asker bowlers. Israr cleaned up the tail and finished with 3 wickets. Mehdi bowled an over, dropped a catch off his own bowling and finished his maiden. Asker were excellent in the field, even Tara was spotted diving to stop a ball.
For a change, the captain was also happy and Asker were on the board with 2 points.
