WOODLEY shocked top of the table Shinfield with a winning draw as they finished with a better total despite not bowling their opponents all out.
Woodley, the hosts, won the toss and elected to bat first. But they made a far from ideal start as Shinfield gained an early wicket to dismiss Richard Duck-Stanley for just one run, caught out by Saketh Chodimella, bowled by Shashank Garg.
Shamil Nilamdeen was then removed on 18 runs, before Arshad Mohamed came to the crease and batted an exceptional innings for Woodley.
Shinfield got the crucial wicket of Rizmy Nilamdeen after he knocked 35 runs from the opening batting position, and the wickets continued to fall in the middle order as Woodley struggled for consistency.
Despite not enjoying the company of a consistent partner throughout the majority of his innings, Mohamed continued to tally the runs for his side. The middle order fell quickly as Muhammed Hafeez bowled clinically to take wickets.
Raja Zulfiqar contributed a valuable score of 25 as Woodley’s innings neared a close as they finished on 204-9 after 45 overs.
With a challenging total to chase, Shinfield made a disappointing start to their innings as Woodley removed opening batsman Michael Page for a duck as he was bowled out by Arshad Mohamed.
Mohamed then took his second wicket of the day to dismiss Fakhir Ali for four runs, caught out by Jay Jeyarajah as Woodley’s fine start to their bowling continued.
A solid middle order helped Shinfield to recover their start, with opening batsman Naveed Naseer still holding fort at the crease.
Shinfield progressed towards their 205 target to win the game thanks to some strong contributions including 25 from Jay Deshmukh, 40 from Muhammad Hafeez and 20 from Noel Joseph.
But Mohamed was determined to defend his sides total with a tremendous all round display which saw him add two more wickets, to take his tally to four, as he caught and bowled Anuraag Shukla for 10 runs.
With just one more wicket to spare, Shinfield managed to stay resilient and hold Woodley to a winning draw as they ended their 45 overs on 187-9.
Woodley batting: R Nilamdeen 35, Duck Stanley 1, S Nilamdeen 18, Mohamed 92, Jeyarajah 15, Nufail 5, Asghar 5, Badurdeen 1, Zulfiqar 25, Harsha 1no, Gadafi 1no.
Shinfield bowling: Garg 2-52, Shukla 0-26, Deshmukh 1-27, Gandhi 0-36, Hafeez 4-37, Safdar 2-23.
Shinfield batting: Page 0, Naseer 60, Ali 4, Chodimella 18, Deshmukh 25, Hafeez 40, Joseph 20, Shukla 10, Gandhi 2, Safdar 2no, Garg 2no.
Woodley bowling: Mohamed 4-26, Zulfiqar 0-7, Asghar 1-30, Harsha 0-11, Nufail 0-17, Badurdeen 1-39, Jeyarajah 1-36, R Nilamdeen 2-20.
