1st XI V Walsall YMF

A fighting performance by Ansley’s revamped team brought a reward of 24 points against last years champions Walsall Y.M.F. Skipper Andrew Davies won the toss, elected to bat, and openers Andy Templer and Steve Fleming obliged with an opening stand of 47. Key bowlers Amar and Manzoor had no success at all, but the introduction of the left arm bowler Farid did cause problems. Taking the ball across the batsmen, four wickets fell to catches behind by keeper Wahid, Ansley set back to 64 for 4. In came Ahsan Sayed, and the bowling began to suffer again. He hit his fourth half-century in four outings, helped by a succession of stubborn partners, none more so than Paul Glover, who reached 1500 runs for the club in this game. Sayed was last out for a fine 74, and Jeff Ward’s record of 474 runs in a season (1979) looks under severe threat. Set a target of 169 to win, Walsall were soon under fire from Andy Davies, who trapped Shaqat L.B.W. and had Ejaz brilliantly caught by Richard Franks. He continued to work his way through the order, but a key wicket fell when Paul Rowley bowled the left-handed Farid for 3. Stout resistance, and hard hitting came in the shape of Wahid, four balls being lost during his 58 not out. He finally ran out of partners as Andy Beale took the last two wicket for 3 runs, to secure Ansley their first ever success over Walsall Y.M.F.