The Fish Tank

[Adamc]

Welcome to the home of the Harare Hammerheads.
Here I will keep track of everything relating to the team: match reports, statistics, news, squad info. etc. I will do a mini-biography of a player after every match report, hopefully covering the full squad by the end of the season.

Season Record:
Tests
Played: 1 Won: 1 Drawn: 0 Lost: 0

ODI's
Played: 0 Won: 0 Drawn: 0 Lost: 0

Recent Results:
1st Test - Harare Hammerheads beat Kandy Kangaroos by 42 runs

At the end of each Test and ODI match, batting and bowling points will be allocated based on the players' performance. Instead of allocating points 3-2-1 every game, the six points can be split between up to six people or all taken by one person. At the end of the season, the points will be tallied and the leading pointscorers will take home the yet-to-be-named trophies.

Test Batting Points Tally:
CG Greenidge 3
M Amarnath 2
VS Hazare 1

Test Bowling Points Tally:
SE Bond 5
GO Lohmann 1

Test Stats
Highest Team Score: 258/10 v. Kandy
Lowest Team Score: 198/10 v. Kandy
Highest Score Against:278/10 v. Kandy
Lowest Score Against:136/10 v. Kandy

Highest Individual Score:CG Greenidge 85 v. Kandy
Highest Match Aggregate:CG Greenidge 88 v. Kandy
Best Bowling (innings):SE Bond 8-33 v. Kandy
Best Bowling (match):SE Bond 13-95 v. Kandy

 

[Adamc]

Test Match #1: Harare v. Kandy at Kandy

10th-seeded Harare was met with the tough proposition first-up of taking on 3rd-seeded Kandy at home. Harare's best chance lay in removing Bradman early and keeping the rest of the Kandy lineup quiet.

Harare First Innings
Harare captain Zaheer Abbas won the toss and elected to bat on a pitch which offered consistent bounce, but also showed a few cracks early on. Harare openers Gordon Greenidge and Graeme Smith negotiated Kandy's new-ball attack of Lillee and Botham with ease, but the introduction of Martindale brought early results, as Smith played into the hands of Ponsford for 21. Greenidge had few problems, carting Cairns for three straight fours.

Abbas (11), Jayawardene (5) and Hazare (6) all failed, before Greenidge was out for a crucial 85, Harare in trouble at 146/5. Amarnath blunted the Kandy attack with an obdurate half-century, taking Harare to a respectable 258 all out, ending unbeaten on 68*.

Kandy First Innings
Shane Bond gave Kandy a nightmare start to their innings, bowling Umrigar first-ball with a perfect yorker to herald the arrival of Don Bradman to the crease. Holding tied the master batsman down, before striking the crucial blow in the 11th over, as a top-edged pull shot flew straight into the hands of Lock for 11.

Harvey and Ponsford recovered before Lock removed Harvey (19) sweeping. Bond returned to the attack to claim his second victim, Viv Richards, for 23. Shortly afterwards he had Ponsford caught behind for 45 to have Kandy reeling at 112/5. From there it was all Bond: Cairns, Dujon and Trumble were all dismissed for ducks in the space of 6 balls as Kandy crashed to 112/8. Bond returned after Tea to snare the remaining batsmen, finishing with a career-best 8/33, Kandy all out for 136.

Harare Second Innings
A first-innings lead of 122 put Harare well on top, but both openers fell cheaply to leave Harare 17/2. Abbas (18) and Jayawardene (34) both fell before the close of play on Day 2, with Bond coming in late in the day as nightwatchman.

Rain frustrated Harare early on Day 3, but Bond and Hazare frustrated Kandy even more, putting on 101 for the fifth wicket. The nightwatchman eventually fell for 44. Amarnath could only manage a duck, and Hazare was out soon after for 58 as the innings fell way to 198 all out.

Kandy Second Innings
The late collapse left Kandy needing 321 for victory on an increasingly inconsistent pitch. The Kandy openers started well, putting on 50 before George Lohmann managed his first wicket for the match, removing Umrigar for 22. Bradman survived with Ponsford 'til stumps, leaving the game in the balance with Kandy 64/1.

Kandy frustrated the Harare bowlers on Day 4 as they inched towards their target at barely 2 an over. Ponsford was eventually out after lunch for 54 (off 207 balls), but Bradman remained unbeaten. He and Harvey put on a big stand to put Kandy in control at 2/227, less than 100 away from victory. Lohmann then produced a masterstroke, bowling Bradman with a perfect inswinger for 80. With the very next ball, he induced Richards to edge to slip for 0 to put the game back in the balance.

Bond returned to dismiss Botham for a quickfire 29, then Cairns for 1 to leave Kandy struggling at 267/6. Their best hope lay with Harvey, but Holding accounted for him in the next over, caught behind for 50. The tail again capitulated to Bond, as the last three wickets fell for four runs to give Harare a memorable 42-run win. Bond was the obvious choice for Man of the Match for his 8/33, 5/62 and 44 runs.

Batting Points:
3 points - CG Greenidge, 85 (1st innings)
2 points - M Armanath, 68* (1st innings)
1 point - VS Hazare, 58 (2nd innings)

Bowling Points
5 points - SE Bond, 8/33 and 5/62
1 point - GA Lohmann, 3/71 (2nd innings - deserves a point for getting Bradman out anyway )

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Very impressive. I look forward to reading throughout the season.

 

[AUST_HiTMaN]

Yeah, it should be an enjoyable read.

Keep it up adam.

 

[Adamc]

ODI # 1: Harare vs. Kensington Oval at KO

Bottom-seeded Harare went into this match against the top seeds with few expectations, hoping only to put in a credible team performance. Captain Zaheer Abbas won the toss and had little hesitation in batting first.

Harare Innings
Harare openers Greenidge and Nick Knight began their task well against the new-ball pair of Lee and Pringle, negotiating Imran Khan as well in reaching an impressive 84/0 after 15 overs. Nick Knight was first to his half-century, from just 48 balls, before Greenidge brought up his 50 in the 27th over.

After both had passed 50 the pair accelerated, and Kensington were made to regret having only three specialist bowlers. Knight raced to his century first before being joined by Greenidge to take the partnership beyond 250. The stand was finally broken in the 45th over as Lee bowled Greenidge for 111 from 127, the score at 257/1.

Abbas came in hoping to hit a few boundaries in the last 5 overs, but Knight was out to Pringle shortly afterwards for a superb 130 from 148 deliveries, featuring 11 fours and a six off Pringle. Abbas fell for 16 hitting in the air, but the two Smiths (Graeme and Robin) managed 16 off the last over to lift Harare to an impressive 298/3 from their 50 overs.

Komodos Innings
With such a huge total to defend Harare were confident that their four-man seam attack would compensate for their lack of allrounders. Andy Roberts began nervously with 4 wides, but struck back in his next over to have Gayle caught for only two.

Rudolph and Ganguly helped the Komodos keep ahead of the required rate before Roberts struck again, taking a return catch off a skied shot from Ganguly (22). The South African pair of Rudolph and Dippenaar profited however as the remainder of the Harare attack struggled, and Zaheer Abbas and Gordon Greenidge were required to fill the fifth bowler's role.

The pair put on a stand to rival that of Greenidge and Knight earlier in the day, and with 10 overs to go at 246/2 looked strong favourites to take the game. A few tight overs from Holding and Williams (who was brought on inexplicably late for only 3 overs ) pushed the required rate back up towards 10 an over. With 2 overs to go, and 25 runs needed, the pressure finally told on Rudolph, who swung across the line to be trapped in front by Bond for 113. Zaheer Abbas bowled the final over, as the Komodos managed only 8 of the 17 needed for victory, giving Harare an unexpected win.

Batting Points:
3 points - NV Knight, 130 (148)
3 points - CG Greenidge, 111 (127)

Bowling Points:
4 points - AME Roberts, 2/55 (8)
1 point - SE Bond, 1/62 (10)
1 point - MA Holding, 0/42 (9) (kept it tight at the end)

 

[Adamc]

Didn't realise I can't edit the first post in the thread so here are updated stats:

Season Record:
Tests
Played: 1 Won: 1 Drawn: 0 Lost: 0

ODI's
Played: 1 Won: 1 Drawn: 0 Lost: 0

Recent Results:
1st ODI - Harare Hammerheads beat Kensington Oval by 8 runs
1st Test - Harare Hammerheads beat Kandy Kangaroos by 42 runs

Test Batting Points Tally:
CG Greenidge 3
M Amarnath 2
VS Hazare 1

Test Bowling Points Tally:
SE Bond 5
GO Lohmann 1

ODI Batting Points Tally:
CG Greenidge 3
NV Knight 3

ODI Bowling Points Tally:
AME Roberts 4
SE Bond 1
MA Holding 1

Test Stats
Highest Team Score: 258/10 v. Kandy
Lowest Team Score: 198/10 v. Kandy
Highest Score Against:278/10 v. Kandy
Lowest Score Against:136/10 v. Kandy

Highest Individual Score:CG Greenidge 85 v. Kandy
Highest Match Aggregate:CG Greenidge 88 v. Kandy
Best Bowling (innings):SE Bond 8-33 v. Kandy
Best Bowling (match):SE Bond 13-95 v. Kandy

ODI Stats
Highest Team Score: 298/3 v. KO
Lowest Team Score: -
Highest Score Against:290/3 v. KO
Lowest Score Against: -

Highest Individual Score: NV Knight 130 v. KO
Best Bowling: AME Roberts 2-55 v. KO
Fastest 50: NV Knight 48 balls v KO
Fastest 100: NV Knight 103 balls v KO