On a slow wicket, Nayeem Rehman and Brian Berthoud opened the batting for Guildford City. Brian was first out to an excellent catch with the score at 23.

Nayeem Rehman (22) departed at 53 trapped lbw as he tried to turn one down to long leg.  Kwajah Shah (45 retired) took command and with Ali Wadiwalla (36) in support put us in to a strong position with the third wicket going down at 152. Before this, Kwajah Shah was forced to retire hurt damaging his ankle tendons when he fell trying to take a run.

Sammi Khan (29) batting at 5 put together a useful score.
 We then suffered a major collapse with four wickets falling for four runs.  Chandra Mutucumarana (31) played a captains innings and with the help of Aqueel Iqbal (9) got us to 217 for 9 declared after 44.5 overs.  Pick of their bowlers was Phillip Donnelly with 3 for 46, whilst C Lunn also chipped in with 3 wickets for 42.
Fitton (17) and Lunn (28) made a steady start for Westfield, putting on 44 for the first wicket. Our spinners were quickly in to the action slowing the scoring rate.  Four wickets fell in 10 runs including a run out. This swung the game towards Guildford City and at 54 for 4 off 19 overs, the situation looked fine.

The introduction of Aqueel brought a sudden collapse as he grabbed three wickets leaving Westfield89 for 7 from 22 overs. When Nayeem then grabbed a further wicket we looked set for a comfortable win with Westfield 118 for 8 from 25 overs.
 A dropped catch offered by their top scorer, some disappointing bowling – 16 wides and a no ball, coupled with an excellent innings of 79 by Azfal swung the game around in Westfield’s favour.

Three crucial wickets saved the day. Nayeem bowled batsmen nine and ten, Strange and Hussain for 17 and 16 respectively.  Both had supported Azfal well. At 209 for 9 it was too close to call, but Nayeem trapped Afzal lbw for 79 in the 43rd over to give us an exciting victory by 6 runs.

Wickets were shared between Zaf 2 for 32, Louis 1 for 45, Aqueel 3 for 15, and Nayeem 3 for 34.
On a negative, sixteen wides bowled are unacceptable especially in a close game such as this.  We also need to learn to keep the ball up on a slow wicket.  . We nearly succeeded in snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.  Last negative... once you make yourself available for selection I do not expect what happened this week with late scratching on Friday!
Thanks to Miss Iqbal for helping with the scoring, and to Stuart Brown who also helped whilst being in a lot of discomfort.  Appreciated!
Also thanks to a number of 1st players who came down to support us after their match.  Final thanks to Westfield’s Captain Sean Dunne who played with his side in a good spirit to the end.

Guildford City’s Man of the Match
 Some notable performances with the bat Shah (45*), Ali Wadiwalla (36), and Sammy Khan  (29)  Great commitment by Kwajah Shah who could hardly walk, but was prepared to bat at the end if required, and then helped in the field for the whole of their innings.
Then there was Chandra with a valuable 31 to rescue our innings.  Some astute field placing and bowling changes at the death by the captain also brought wickets at crucial times.
Then there was Aqueel Iqbal a great debut for the League 2nd X1 side with figures of 3 for 15 and a 9 not out.

However, My choice for Man of the Match for his 22, and 3 for 34 which included the two crucial wickets at the end of this match is Nayeem Rehman.