A SECOND loss in a row left Old Albanian looking up at the top teams as joint second-placed Old Owens and Abbots Langley stretched the gap to 35 points.
Having been asked to field, OA were on top, beating the bat, but saw few wicket-taking chances come their way. After 27 overs, the score was 56-1, but thereafter the innings developed momentum and OA seemed powerless to contain it.
The key partnership was the sixth wicket which took the innings from 105-5 to 159 in under 10 overs. The finishing touches were applied by Hummad Humail and Osman Zaman, adding 33 for the eighth wicket to take the score to 193 at the close.
Ahsan Ali took four wickets while Usman Malik earned a brace and Zahid Khan dismissed a single batsman.
For the second week running OA got off to a bad start as Alex Goldstone and Ghulam Rasool were back in the pavilion with only 19 runs on the board. Sagir Ahmed and Azhat Mehmood then embarked on a promising partnership which took the score to 62 by the end of the 19th over, and a platform seemed to have been built.
The introduction of the medium pace of Ben Tobin then changed the game. Sagir Ahmed holed out to deep mid-off, Zahid Khan edged to slip, and skipper Zahid Karim edged to the keeper, all in the space of 10 balls, and OA were now on the back foot.
Worse was to follow when Azhat Mehmood edged to slip and at 75-6 there was no way back. Alf Rehman and Usman Malik put some mild respectability into the scoreline with a stand of 30, but once Malik was out to a fine catch at short extra cover, the innings fizzled out, ending with the score on 117 and almost 10 overs unbowled.
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