Halifax Direct Cricket Club

02/09/2015

Direct secure back to back titles.

Sajid Mahmood rips through Hills top order to set up a comfortable victory.

Direct arrived at Tong seeking a win against Farnley Hill to ensure they retained the Division A Championship. Hill's captain Clarke won the toss and opted to bat first on a dry wicket, however with only the second ball of the innings Direct's leading wicket taker Sajid Mahmood knocked back Grimes off stump with the perfect away sw***er. Surprisingly Hill's star batsman and big hitting Beaumont was next in, promoted up to number 3. He didn't disappoint either as he launched in to the returning Hassan Patel after a 7 game absence for a mammoth six followed with a four over midwicket.

Beaumont quickly moved on to 17 before Mahmood trapped him leg before as he eyed to hit the ball out of the ground through the vacant leg side field. Hill found themselves 18 for 2 and that quickly doubled to 36 for 4 as Mahmood removed Ali and Clarke, both caught behind.

Opener Sowden who up to this point had seen 4 wickets fall before him began to patiently put together a partnership with the very cautious Farrell moving the score along to 78 before the introduction of Direct's spinner Iqbal saw him trapped leg before for a well constructed 31.

Before the fall of Sowden, Farrell had been very defiant in defence, leaving alone anything remotely outside his off stump then attempted to open up once his partner had perished. Farrell played and missed at a number of times before he was outdone by the spin of Iqbal as he tried to heave one through the leg side.

Yasir Mehmood replaced Mahmood and was soon in the wickets cleaning up the tail to end with figures of 2 for 22 whilst Iqbal chipped in with another to end Hills innings on 103.

After the interval Direct made light work of the chase as openers Chand and Shah put on a first wicket stand of 70 before Chand was dismissed for 39 caught behind off Walker. In strode Directs number 3 Ijaz Matloob who smoked 30 in quick time, some of which were towering sixes ending out of the ground to give Direct a nine wicket win over Hill.

Direct retained their title with two games to go to complete a successful campaign after having triumphed in the T20 competition earlier in the season.

11/08/2015

Direct close in on title

Raza lays foundation for a comfortable win.

Direct won their fourteenth consecutive league game, lifting themselves 59 points clear of second-placed Bradford Moor with five games left to play.

Direct won the toss on a bright and warm afternoon against visitors Pudsey St Lawrence and elected to bat first.

Openers Mohammed Chand and Naz Khan got the Direct innings off to a brisk start with the latter keen to pounce on anything full or offline. With the score on 31 Khan was caught by a tumbling square leg for 22. Ijaz Matloob joined Chand at the crease and both began to build the Directs innings diligently, Matloob was particular severe crunching and driving the opening bowlers to the boundary on a number of occasions.

Having moved the score on to 105, Matloob departed for 34 dragging one on to his stumps against the run of play. Tahir Raza was next in and from the offset was intent on pushing for singles whilst picking up the odd boundary when he could locate a gap.

Pudsey brought on Marsden to keep the Direct run rate under check and the move brought instant dividends as his tight line and length bowling dried up the Direct runs. The seamer picked up 7 wickets for 47 off twelve overs. However whilst, Marsden was putting the brakes on the Direct at one end the other end continued to leak runs.

Chand was dismissed for 46 by Marsden and the next three Direct batsman failed to reach double figures, however in the midst of the tumbling wickets Raza kept chipping away and brought up a well deserved fifty. After Raza's dismissal for 70 it was left to Sajid Mahmood to provide a late acceleration as he guided Direct towards 228 with a late flurry of boundaries.

After the interval the St Lawrence innings never got off to the worst possible start, Opening the bowling for the first time this season Banaras Siddique ripped the heart out of the St Lawrence innings claiming three wickets in his first over. He removed Gaunt and Al-Hiyat in consecutive balls and was denied a hat-trick by Wilson only for to remove him the very next ball.

Sajid Mahmood then picked up the St Lawrence captain Beck for zero to leave the visitors four down for 14. Beckett and McAavoy brought some stability to the innings as they moved the score along to 51 before Mahmood claimed the wicket of McAavoy for 19. With the score on 62 Beckett was run out to a sharp piece of fielding in the deep by Ansar Mehmood and Priestley then departed to the spin of Mohammed Iqbal in the next over for zero to leave his side seven down.

Abdul Ghafar replaced Mahmood and knocked over the last 3 wickets to give Direct a comfortable 20 points win.

With 2nd placed Bradford Moor losing to Cookridge, Direct opened up a 59 points lead and now need to win two out of the next five matches to secure a second successive championship.

11/08/2015

Great Day!!

11/08/2015

Halifax Direct win a T20 thriller vs Congs in the Final

Sattar and Ali lay the foundations for Direct's win.

Direct were crowned champions of the Park Avenue T20 Trophy for the first time, beating reigning champions Pudsey Congs in a hard fought game at Shipley Providence Cricket Ground.

Earlier in the day having lost the toss in the second semi final Direct were put into bat by big hitting Woodhouse.

With nine runs on the board Direct lost opener Chand to an uncessary tight single and worse was to follow in the next over when Ali was caught in the covers for 5 leaving his team on thirteen for 2.

Direct found it difficult to assert any real authority in their innings and soon found themselves 3 down for 35 when Matloob was caught in the deep for 10.

Direct's captain Khan can joined Raza at the crease and both batsman began to find the boundary every other over to push the score on to 66 before Khan had his middle stump uprooted by Malik to leave his side four down for 66.

Raza and Ghafar departed in quick sucession and Shah also followed them back into the hut with direct teethering on 103. It was left to a late flurry by Sattar and Mahmood, with one Mahmood six finding the Shipley Canal to propel Direct towards a par 136.

Woodhouse had made a big impact in their debut season in the Dales, being renowned for posting large totals in the league format. However the reply could not have got off to a worse start losing their first 6 wickets with only 28 runs on the board.

Direct's opening pair of Mahmood and Zeb ripped through the Woodhouse batting line-up with the opening pair sharing the first four before Direct's first change, spinner Iqbal picked up the next two.

It was then left to Shakir and Bhatti to rebuild the innings with the former particularly harsh on anything pitched up. The pair began to find the fence on a regular basis and moved the score on to 80 and in the process brining the run rate down to a managble 7.5 per over. It was then Direct's captain Khan introudced himself into the attack and immediately removed the dangerous Shakir for 30, caught behind.

Bhatti meanwhile continued to take the game out of Direct's hands before the returning Iqbal removed him for a highly entertaining 54. Direct began to squeeze the Woodhouse tail and they eventually ended on 130 for 9 as the division A leaders progressed to the final.

Final
Halifax Direct v Pudsey Congs

Congs won the toss and surprisingly opted to put Direct in on a deteriorating wicket. However, Congs decision appeared to have paid dividends as Directs top order succumbed to the leg spin of Uwais Mehmood. The spinner found turn and exaggerated bounce as Directs wickets continued to tumble leaving them on 46-6.

Direct's premier batsman Ali had been pushed down to 8 after having failed in the earlier semi final, however as he joined Zeb at the crease he pulled his hamstring and further compounded Direct's problems. Ali attempted to get on with the game and disptached the first ball he faced in to the cannal for six but had to leave the field for treatment immediately as he struggled with his injury.

It was then left to Zeb and Sattar to guide their team towards a respectable total, the pair put on 31 before Zeb was caught behind to leave his side on 80-7.

Ali returned to the crease with 5 overs left and together with Sattar the pair cut loose and plummeted the Congs bowling around the ground to lift Direct to 142.

Congs reply got off to a shaky start as Stanhope was removed by Zeb to a risig delivery which he could only glove to the keeper. Clifton came to the crease and immediately started to take the initiative, hitting two maximums in consecutive overs to his favoured leg side. With the socre on 42, Clifton's strength was to be his down fall as once again he looked to hit from off over square leg but ended up skewing the shot and presented keeper Chand with a running catch.

Congs had promoted Amin to open and after a quiet start he began to dominate the Direct attack. With the Zeb's second over proving to be expensive affair Direct's captain Khan brought himself into the attack looking to control the run flow. In his opening over he had Bhatti dropped at mid-off and then opener Amin was put down by the keeper.

At the other end Mahmood removed Bhatti with a yorker leaving Congs on 49-3. Ghafar replaced Mahmood and had Huffingley stumped for zero, however with his second over proving slightly expensive he was removed from the attack at Raza was brought on. Whilst at the other end Khan found great seam movement creating doubt in the batsmans mind he stiffled the Congs run rate to end his spell of four overs for fourteen runs.

Direct brought on their leading wicket taker spinner Iqbal to close out the innings and the wily spinner proved very hard to get after. Whilst Raza removed the Congs captain for 5, Iqbal picked up Humpleby and Galvin in the space of two overs.

Congs were left needing 19 off the last over and were only able to manage 6 as Direct secured their first T20 title and in the process denied Congs a 3rd consecutive winners medal.

29/06/2015

Ali's blistering century floors New Wortley as Direct Win

Direct remain top after a comfortable win.

On a bright and warm afternoon Direct's captain won the toss and promptly decided to bat on a flat track at home against last years runners up New Wortley.

Direct's opening pair of Arfan Shah and Mohammed Chand got off to a subdued start as they found the early swing of Rowland difficult to deal with. With the score on sixteen Rowland gave Wortley an early breakthrough pining Chand on the back foot for 6. The early loss brought the in-form Tahir Raza to the crease and along with Shah moved the score on to 31 before the latter played around a swinging delivery to lose his middle stump to Rowland.

Next man in Ijaz Matloob instantly took a liking to Rowland as he dispatched anything pitched up back over the bowlers head. The Direct pair became more comfortable once the swing started to diminish as the ball got older. Matloob was severe on anything full whilst Raza was content on knocking the ball around for the ones and twos. Matloob brough up his fifty off 57 balls as Direct moved into the driving seat.

The shot that brought Matloob his sucess was also to be his down fall as he picked out mid-on off the bowling of Ahmed for 72. With the score on 130, Hassan Patel was next and whilst he played himself in Raza attempted to lift the tempo for his side, however his full bloodied pull could only pick out sqaure leg, he departed for 40 as Wortely fought back leaving Direct on 143-4.

Farhan Ali joined Patel at the crease, with both batsman relatively new to the crease Wortley sensed a chance of picking up another wicket cheaply as they played themselves in. Ali got himself going with a trademark six, straight back over the bowlers head, whilst Patel earlier struggled with his timing now began to find the spaces to pick up the ones and twos on offer. Ali took a particular liking to Wortley's spinner Mafooz and dispacted him for 26 in one over, the Wortley captain brought back his star bowler Rauf in an attempt make the breakthough, however Ali was in no mood to let up as he dispatched Rauf to all parts of the boundary to bring up his fifty off 24 balls.

Patel was content on picking up the single and giving Ali the strike, the next 22 balls saw Ali dismantle the Wortley bowling as he brought up his 2nd century of the season by hitting Rauf out of the ground over the pavllion. In the last over Patel had unselfishly sacrificed his own wicket by ensuring Ali would be on strike to complete his hundred. Directs innings closed out on 274-5.

Wortleys reply didn't get off to the best of starts as Temur Khan lost his middle stump to Patel in the 2nd over with score on four. The opening Direct bowlers bowled to tight lines whilst the Wortley batsman failed to get off to the start they desired to chase down a large total. In the 7th over Mirza broke the shakles as his dispatched Sajid Mahmood for a couple of boundaries. In Mahmood's next over Rasool latched on to his first two deliveries and hit him for a six and four, the opening batsman attempted to repeat the feat off the last ball of the over and was caught at long on.

The pair of Mirza and Hassan brought stablility to their teams batting early in their innings, before begining to lift the run rate by putting anything away off line. Mirza was particualy impressive down the ground, whilst Hassan looked strong square of the wicket, the pair began to score freely moving the score on to 87 when the Direct captain made a double change. Afran Zeb and Ijaz Matloob, replaced the opening bowlers and it was Matloob who removed Mirza for 37 when he miscued a drive and was caught in the covers by Ali. Zeb was taken out of the attack and replaced by Direct's spinner Mohammed Iqbal and the change brought an instant wicket. Hassan who up to this point had looked comfortable against pace came out of his crease early and was beaten by the spin to be stumped for 27.

87-2 had became 89-4, the bowling changes had firmly put Direct in the driving seat. Matloob then removed the dangeous Rauf for 7 in his fourth over to leaving Wortley hovering on 106 for five. Wortely's wicketkeeper Tahir was the next man to go as he failed to deal with the spin of Iqbal and was bowled through the gate for 26. Ahmed was next in for Wortley and took the fight to the Direct bowlers, he was quick to pick up the short ball and disptach it to the boundary as Direct looked to attack and wrap up the Wortely innings.

Whilst Ahmed was comfortable, his partners struggled, first Sanaullah was bowled for 18 by Banaras Siddique attempting a wild heave to the leg side then Mafooz was outdone by a shorter bowl from Patel and caught by Matloob in the gully for 0. It was then the brilliance of Matloob in the field that got rid of Ahmed for 31. Ahmed attempted a quick single to square leg but was outdone by the quick pick up and accuracy of Matloobs direct hit.

With the score on 171-9 the last pair hit out to take their team to 191 before Wortley's captain was caught in the covers by Khan off Siddique for 12.

03/06/2015

Halifax Direct CC v Shipley Providence CC
Match Report and Scorecard

http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/halifaxdirectcc/s/match-centre-59131/1-1243303/

Fifties from Hasan Patel and Farhan Ali see HD to a comfortable win

03/06/2015

Direct return to the summit

Fifties from Hasan Patel and Farhan Ali see HD to a comfortable win.

On a clear and relatively warm afternoon at Karmand, HD captain Naz Khan won the toss and elected to bat against Shipley Providence.

Arfan Zeb was promoted to open the innings with Arfan Shah and the pair got off to a bright start, scoring 22 off the first four overs before Arfan Shah edged behind for 9 in the fifth. Naz Khan arrived at the crease seeking form, having made 8 he was caught low in gully off Shipley's Shahzad to an away swinging delivery, leaving his side teetering on 32 for two after eight overs.

Tahir Raza joined Zeb at the crease and the pair set about repairing the early damage, whilst Zeb was pleasing on the eye with his drives Raza was resolute in defence. With the score on 59 Shahzad made the breakthrough for Shipley, bowling Zeb through the gate to a lazy defensive shot. Hasan Patel returning to the side after missing last weeks visit to Laisterdyke entered the fray finding his team in trouble with little on the board.

With 13 overs and three down for 59 Raza and Patel set their stall out to provide their side with some form of a recovery. The pair began by nurdling the ball in to the gaps and picked up singles to the get the Direct scoreboard ticking. The partnership began to develop at four runs an over and momentum appeared to be shifting back to Direct when Raza with all the time in the world to cut the ball to the boundary could only manage to find the hands of the gully fielder.

At this point emerged Farhan Ali, fresh from an unbeaten hundred in his last match, with an ambition to provide his side with a defendable total off the last 20 overs. Yet 10 overs later, Direct had all but secured 5 batting points and Ali a fifty off 28 balls with 4 fours and 5 sixes, an innings full of ferocious gun-barrel straight hitting. The returning Qureshi managed to halt the Direct bandwagon by bowling Ali with 10 overs of the innings left.

Whilst Patel had been playing a supporting role, with Ali gone he picked up the ascendancy for his team and continued the assault on the Shipley bowlers launching them for 3 sixes over long on in a short space of time. Patel passed his 3rd fifty of the season and possibly the most crucial to date, coming off 76 balls. Patel's stay at the crease was ended with 5 overs to go with his side on 197.

The lower order helped Direct reach 221 off 42.3 overs with Shipley's Shahzad picking up another two late wickets for his side.

Sajid Mahmood and Hasan Patel shared the new ball for Direct after the tea interval. The first four overs of Shipley's innings were a sedate affair with only 12 runs being scored. The game sprung into life when Muzamal Shah crashed Mahmood for 3 consecutive fours, however the Direct pacer got his revenge the next ball swinging a full length delivery back into the left hander to knock back his middle stump.

Banaras Siddique replaced Patel who was struggling with a foot injury after two overs. Direct's disciplined lines allowed Shipley to only score six in the next 6 overs before leading wicket taker Mahmood made the next break through forcing Abbas to edge to gully from a rising delivery. Khan replaced the miserly Siddique with Mohammed Iqbal and the Direct spinner was crashed by Shipley's Ali for a six over long off. Ali appeared to be a man in a hurry and attempted the same shot off Mahmood but could only find long off.

Shipley's 46 for three soon became for four when Imran Khan was adjudged leg before off Iqbal, The opener had scored a pain staking 13 off 17 overs. Arfan Zeb was brought on for Mahmood and made an immediate breakthrough by having Quershi caught in the slips before a partnership of 38 could develop any further.

Whilst the earlier Shipley batsman had lacked any intent, the next two rode their luck and began to play some fortuitous shots mixed with some good cricket stokes. Prabhu was particularly impressive, putting anything away off his legs while Ahmed settled down to play the anchoring role. The pair brought up a 60 run partnership in 7 overs with Pahbu also passing fifty on his debut.

Khan removed Zeb from the attack and switched over Patel to his end while bringing back Iqbal. With the score on 144, Iqbal removed the dangerous Prabhu for 61 leg before in his 2nd over from his second spell. In his next over Iqbal bowled Raza Ali for 2, who up to this point had been all at sea against the off spinner. Shipley's captain Mehmood was in next and his stay didn't last long as he was run out for four after a sharp piece of fielding.

Shipley were reeling on 157-8 after having been 144-6. Direct completed the win when make shift keeper Chand completed two smart stumping's, one off pacer Patel and the other off Iqbal to give the spinner figures of 4-29 off 10.2 overs.

Direct's win saw them move to the table of the table, joint with Bradford Moor on 112 points after BM lost to Farnley Hill.

26/05/2015

Brilliant Knock Ali

26/05/2015

Ali's belligerent 100 stuns PSL as Direct maintain momentum

Unbroken stand of 140 between Ali and Siddique sees Direct win

Halifax Direct visited Pudsey St Lawrence on a bright sunny afternoon looking to maintain their charge and also avenge last seasons defeat at Laisterdyke.

Winning the toss for the third consecutive match Naz Khan opted to bat without hesitation on a green top which was an interesting move but kept with the strategy of bat first, score big, then apply the squeeze.

The returning Chand got Direct's innings off to the perfect start finding the boundary twice in the first over. However, Direct lost their first wicket in the fourth over when Chand was bowled playing back to a full length ball. Chand and Arfan Shah had added 20 for the first wicket with Chand having scored 15.

Shah, continued to bat confidently finding boundaries regularly even as Captain Naz Khan and Tahir Raza both fell to catches behind the stumps in quick succession. Shah hit boundaries through point, third-man and flicked a maximum off his legs to the square leg boundary.

Raza's dismissal brought in Ijaz Matloob for his first game of the season, replacing the absent Hasan Patel. Before Matloob could form any sort of partnership with Shah, he saw his partner dismissed leg before for 39. Direct at this stage found themselves 75-4 after 15 overs.

Direct promoted Banaras Siddique ahead of Farhan Ali to bring stability to their batting and halt the sudden loss wickets. Both Siddique and Matloob batted patiently, however the latter was quick to cash on anything that was loose. Together the pair put on 57 when Matloob departed for 42 having played all around a full delivery leaving his side on 132-5.

Ali joined Siddique at the crease with 14 overs to go with the game in the balance. The next hours play belonged to the pair. First Ali got himself in and was happy to let Siddique pick up the pace of the innings by running the singles quickly and finding the boundary on regular intervals.

Once Ali got in, he attacked judiciously, taking heavy toll on all of PSL's seamers. He brought up his fifty off 38 balls ahead of Siddique who achieved the same feat off 85 balls. With 5 overs to go Ali scored his next fifty runs off 18 balls and brought up his first century of the season off 56 balls.

The pair shared an unbroken stand of 140 and propelled their team to an imposing 272 off 45 overs.

Pudsey St Lawrence's innings needed an early thrust but it never came. Josh Priestley played and missed against Sajid Mahmood whilst his opening partner Oliver Beckett looked the more assured of the two. With both Mahmood and Siddique luckless in the opening 9 overs, Khan turned to spin and brought on Mohammed Iqbal for Siddique and replaced Mahmood with Raza.

Beckett grew in confidence and was quick to despatch anything off line whilst Priestley was more cautious but offering the perfect anchoring role for his senior partner.

Beckett brought up his fifty off 45 balls. With the partnership picking up pace and no sign of a wicket Khan replaced Raza with himself and Iqbal with Matloob. However, though the openers were now comfortable at the crease the innings lacked any urgency to overhaul Direct's formidable total.

Khan chopped and changed his bowlers in search of the first wicket, bringing on Iqbal for himself after two overs and replacing Matloob with part timer leg spinner Arfan Shah. The changes bore no fruit and PSL advanced to 123-0 off 29 overs.

Khan brought himself on again in the 30th over and had both batsman put down, Beckett in the gully and Priestley in the slips. In his next over Khan struck twice, first removing Priestley caught and bowled for a well complied 36 and then pinning Riaz leg before for 4. Khan then went on to dismiss Wilson having him caught in the covers for 8.

The captain rung the changes again by bringing on his strike bowler Mahmood and sticking with the spin of Iqbal at the pavilion end. Iqbal bowled Dobson for an entertaining 31 and then Mahmood had McAoy caught in the covers to a stunning catch by Matloob.

Beckett who at this point had played Iqbal brilliantly finally fell for 90 to the shot that had served him so well up to now against the spinner. Using his feet on this occasion he failed to cover the spin and ended up being stumped.

Direct were on the charge now, Mahmood bowled PSL captain Beck for 12 whilst Iqbal removed Marsden for 16. With two wickets needed in the last over to secure maximum points Matloob was brought back in to the attack and move paid immediate dividend as Brear was caught behind, however Harding saw out the last 3 balls to deny Direct the last point.

26/05/2015

Visit the Club website for the latest match report and scorecard.

http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/halifaxdirectcc/s/match-centre-59131/1-1243297/

Unbroken stand of 140 between Ali and Siddique sees Direct win

21/05/2015

Match Report and Scorecard on Clubs website ....

http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/halifaxdirectcc/s/match-centre-59131/1-1243290/

21/05/2015

Boy spins Direct to victory

Iqbal a.k.a Boy wins the spinners duel and leads HD to maximum points.

On a dry but windy afternoon Direct captain Khan won the toss and without hesitation elected to bat on a dry and dusty wicket.

With Direct's regular opener Chand still out injured Zeb was moved up the order to open with A. Shah, the pair got off to a solid but steady start as the score moved along to 19 without any alarm although the pitch was playing slower than expected. Sikh's star off spin bowler Seehra was brought into the attack as early as the 4th over and in doing so he removed Direct's inform opener Shah by knocking back his off stump.

The loss of Shah brought in Khan who survived Seehra's last ball which went straight on with the arm and through bat and pad. Seehra was taken out of the attack after 2 overs and opening pacer Kartar was brought back into the attack and in doing so also switched ends. Whilst Khan was preparred to be cautious Zeb was keen to cash on anything loose. With the score on 38 and having hit 4 the previous ball Zeb tried to repeat his shot and only succeeded in skying a catch to long-on.

Raza was in next however before any form of partnership could be established the returning Seehra got the ball under Khan's bat, sending him back for just 7. With the score on 49-3 Hasan Patel joined Raza at the crease and immeditaely set out mounting a recvovery operation for their side. Whilst the pair were content on pushing for singles they were also on to keen to cash on any loose offerings given that the Sikh's bowling was very disciplined

Although the pace of the partnership was relatively slow with wickets in the bank Direct began to wrestle back some momentum with the aim to up the run rate in the last 15 overs. However, with the partnership worth 71 Direct lost Hasan Patel for 28 to his first aggressive shot as he attempted to lift the run rate.

With the match finally poised at 119-4, Ali entered the fray but soon lost Raza for a well constructed 39. Z. Shah was in next and didn't hang around for too long being dismissed for 1 as he attempted to up the scoring temp. With the quick strikes Sikhs found themselves in the ascendancy and Direct teetering on 132-6. Ali launched Kamboj for a trademark 6 and gave Seehra the same treatment, however Seehra got his revenge albeit fortunately as Ali was adjudged leg before despite a big deflection off his bat on to his pad.

Siddique played a pivotal cameo of 27* along with Mehmood before the latter was dismissed for 12. Direct finished on 190-9 off their 45 overs.

Sikh's reply got off to a poor start as Ryatt senior was dismissed for a third ball duck by Mehmood's swinging delivery. Sikh's poor start got worse as Direct's Hasan Patel bowled Parimoo with a vicious in sw***er. Sikh's new signing Mehmood from New Wortley clipped Hasan Patel for 4 off his second ball, however he too found his middle stump rocked back by Hasan Patel's late in-swinging delivery.

In the space of the opening 2 overs Sikh's found themselves on 10-3 with a mountain to climb. Captain Raghu Chandrasekaran and H. Ryatt moved the score on to 53 in the 9th over, to get a control on the run rate Direct captain brought on his leading wicket taker for the last 2 seasons, spinner Iqbal. The move brought instant reward as first Iqbal bowled H. Ryatt with his second ball a leg bye then brought Chandrasekaran on to strike. Iqbal had previously dismissed Chandrasekaran in the last 4 games all bowled and there was no exception this time either as Chandrasekaran was bowled after trying an uncharacteristic heave towards the leg side.

Iqbal wasn't done there as in his third over he bowled the big hitting Ryatt junior. The Sikh's batsman were failing to come to terms with the purchse Iqbal was getting off the wicket. Six down soon became 7 as wicket keeper Degun could only sky an attempted pull off a good length delivery to midwicket.

Seehra came in at 8 and along with Dontula moved the score from 82-7 to 104 before Iqbal picked up his 5th wicket bowling Dontula for 4. Saggu was next in and from the offset preparred to soak up the pressure whilst Seehra at the other end was happy to pick up the odd boundary. Saggu got off the mark with his 19th delivery and looked very assured against Iqbal. Khan brought back opening bowler Mehmood for Iqbal and also gave Patel a second burst. Whilst Saggu was content on blocking Seehra was looking to up the scoring rate by using the pace.

With the partnership on 35 and 52 runs short of the required target Mehmood removed Saggu with a vicious swinging yorker for 4 off 39 deliveries. Seehra reached his fifty and with 1 wicket left was keen to dictate the strike and turned down the singles available to him. With 42 required to win off 7 overs Seehra tried to launch Mehmood out of the park and over balanced, Direct's keeper completed a sharp stumping to give the home side maximum points.