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Bready Lose Their Unbeaten Record
Barry Chambers, 28 May 2001 Bready lost their unbeaten league record when they came up against a Wasim Haider inspired Drummond who batted superbly to lead them to victory. Bready batting first posted a good total of 212 on the large Drummond ground. They had got off to a sound start thanks to 31 from Mark Olphert which included 4 fours as he and the prolific South African Wian Smit added 64 for the first wicket. The dismissal of Smit for 39 with the score on 85 was a huge blow to Bready. He was run out attempting a second run to Simon Dunn whose accurate throw saw Smit run out by the narrowest of margins with his bat just not being grounded in time. Roly Black and Colin Spence then consolidated the innings with a 40 run partnership before Black was bowled for 22 by a quicker ball from Simon Dunn which kept low. This was a big wicket for Drummond as Roly Black had made his maiden Senior hundred only last week and was obviously in fine form. From then Simon Dunn and Brian Coyle brought about a dramatic collapse as the score went from 145 for 3 to 166 for 9 with Dunn and Coyle picking up 3 wickets apiece. Wasim Haider removed Colin Spence for a well played 47, although he was a little unlucky in being adjudged caught behind. Trevor Hamilton and James Long then proceeded to add 47 for the last wicket without any difficulty on what proved to be an excellent batting strip. In reply Drummond lost the experienced Alfie Dunn for 1 off the bowling of Roly Black. However this brought to the wicket Pakistani professional Wasim Haider and he together with Chris Moore who had been promoted to opener, looked comfortable as they stroked the ball about. Chris Moore was the dominant scorer at this stage as he reached 48 which included 4 fours and a six before he drove powerfully straight to Colin Spence off Trevor Hamilton. Stephen Kelly fell cheaply as Bready looked to be well on top with the run rate increasing. However Gregory McDaid gave the innings some much needed impetus and he and Haider increased the tempo. However when McDaid holed out to Geoffrey McConnell on the long on boundary the game looked to be lost with 84 still needed off 12 overs. Boyd Rankin then bowled a maiden and the balance of power was definitely with Bready. However once Haider had reached 50 he made an all out assault on the Bready attack which found it difficult to cope with the strong wind which made bowling no easy matter. Haider however was imperious as he crashed the ball to all parts and completed a magnificent century to win the game with an over to spare. So far this season he averages 376 in all competitions and 288 in the league which must make him a strong contender for this month's Britannia award. This defeat for Bready has the league wide open with all teams capable of beating one another.
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