BESSBOROUGH WIN NAIL-BITING T20 DERBY
By Simon Heaney
We ended our twenty20 season as it had started by winning a thrilling friendly against near neighbours West Harrow in the last over on Wednesday evening (27 July).
West Harrow batted first after winning the toss and were looking good in the early stages of the Headstone Manor park derby as openers Mikhil (30) and Kunj (30) swatted The Borough’s front line bowlers Jay Chavda and Satjeet Chana to all corners of the ground. Bessborough’s cause was not helped by an uncharacteristic poor fielding display with catches being dropped at regular intervals.
Having removed West Harrow’s opening bats, Bessborough managed to tighten things up thanks to tidy spells by Ian Ridley (2-18) and Richard Edmands (2-32). Stephen Kimsey also bowled well with 1-20 off his fours overs. Sangeet finished just short of a fifty with a fine 48 not out as West Harrow set Bessborough a fairly daunting task of 174 to win.
Bessborough got off to a bad start with skipper James Wheeler (1) out in the first over caught in the slips. Phil Bush (16) and Ian Barrie (27) steadied the ship, but victory still seemed unlikely until man-of-the-match Andy Carr (pictured) scored a 39 ball 53 and Lawrence Horsley (26), put on a wonderful display of power hitting to edge the team closer to the winning line.
When West Harrow managed to finally dislodge that stubborn partnership, Bessborough still required 44 with only four over remaining. Ian Ridley kept the scoreboard ticking over with a quick-fire 12 off six balls before getting out in the last over. Needing eight off the last three balls, Jay Chavda crashed an imperious six over the square-leg boundary to settle Bessborough’s nerves and next ball scampered across the crease for the last two winning runs.
Match Scorecard