WEEKEND REVIEW - JULY 2
By Simon Heaney and James Wheeler
Saturday 2 July 2016
MIDDLESEX COUNTY CRICKET LEAGUE DIVISION THREE - FIRST TEAMS
Uxbridge CC 1st XI 179-5 (37 overs)
Bessborough CC 1st XI 203-9 (55 overs)
Winning draw for Uxbridge
MIDDLESEX COUNTY CRICKET LEAGUE DIVISION THREE - SECOND TEAMS
Bessborough CC 2nd XI 159-6 (41.1 overs)
Harrow St. Mary’s CC 2nd XI 157-9 (51 overs)
Bessborough won by 4 wickets
MIDDLESEX 1987 CRICKET LEAGUE DIVISION ONE
Bessborough CC 3rd XI 177-7 (36.5 overs)
Enfield CC 3rd XI 176-8 (50 overs)
Bessborough won by 3 wickets
MIDDLESEX 1987 CRICKET LEAGUE DIVISION FIVE
North London CC 5th XI 255-8 (45 overs)
Bessborough CC 4th XI 274-8 dec (42 overs)
Winning draw for Bessborough
Bessborough unbeaten by rain
Bessborough’s four league teams all avoided defeat on a rain-affected Saturday, but unfortunately the first XI got the worst result of the lot, a losing draw away to Uxbridge, and remain bottom of the Middlesex County Cricket League.
Stand-in 1st team skipper Sherrick Chavda lost the toss and was put in to bat; a painful result as three wickets fell in the first five overs to leave Bessborough teetering on 12 for 3. Overseas player Urooj Ahmed (pictured) and Ian Barrie (18) added 30 runs before the latter was dismissed in the 13th over.
Urooj continued to slowly rebuild the innings with fine partnerships of 61 with Kibreeth Rameeez (33) and 57 with Will Grogan (17) before he was stumped by his namesake Shakil Ahmed (2 for 72) trying to up the rate on 88, his highest score of the year. Some late-over hitting from Vivek Patel (19*) helped Bessborough to a final score of 203 for 9 from the full 55 overs.
A rain interruption reduced the number of overs available to Uxbridge to 37 and the home side fell 25 runs short of the winning line, closing on 179 for 5. Opener Aman Quadri was left unbeaten on 71*, while pick of the bowlers were Vivek Patel (2 for 47) and Kibreeth Rameez (2 for 53).
The single point gained from the losing draw leaves Bessborough eight points drift from their nearest rivals, but a win next week at Harrow Town would see them leapfrog the opposition.
After two frustrating weekends of abandoned games the second team were glad to finally get a game on, with local rival Harrow St. Mary’s making the short trip down Headstone Lane.
Bessborough produced an excellent display in the field by restricting the visitors to 157 for 9 from 51 overs. Star bowler once again was evergreen spinner Nitin Modha (5 for 53) who bagged his first five-for of the year, but the fielding was also of a high standard with six catches and a run-out.
A couple of early wickets gave HSM hope of a victory but Talha Junaid (45) and Saghar Tanoli (64) – his third half-century in five innings for the team – settled any nerves in the home dressing room. A flurry of four wickets took some of the shine of the win, but Rupert Thacker (25*) playing his first game for the club since 2012 and captain Phil Bush (2*) were left standing when the side reached the target in the 42nd over.
The 10 points from the four-wicket win moved Bessborough up to seventh place, and within striking distance of the next two sides, on 34 points at the 9-game halfway stage of the season.
Ian Ridley’s third eleven won their first league game since the end of the May with a thrilling final-over win over Enfield at Headstone Manor.
On an overcast afternoon, Ridley won a rare toss and asked Enfield to bat. The opening attack of Ridley and Steve Kimsey bowled an excellent early spell but were rewarded with only one wicket. Then in the 13th over Kimsey bowled two brilliant deliveries to dismiss Enfield’s captain James Quinlan (16) and Edward Breffitt (15) both of whom were starting to look well set.
The Enfield middle order rallied, but their scoring rate was kept in check by a disciplined bowling performance. An inspired bowling change saw Daniel Malik (2 for 13) take two key wickets in the same over, including Enfield’s top scorer Syed Mughees Hassan (46). Enfield limped to 176 for 8 off 50 overs with Kimsey being the pick of the bowlers, finishing with 5 for 55 off 15 overs.
Bessborough’s reply got off to a poor start with openers James Wheeler (8) and Thanushan Sundarlingham (2) being dismissed within the opening five overs. A break for rain meant that the side had only 37 overs to chase the target and were not helped by the dismissal of Sahil Hathi (14) shortly after the resumption.
Debutant Rafiq Muhammed joined Harris Malik at the crease and the pair started a counter attack with Muhammed scoring 25. Malik was then joined by Vinay Bhudia (12) and a steady partnership between the pair took the third eleven past the score required for a winning draw and left the side needing 52 off the final six overs for all 10 points on offer.
Malik combined steady defence with some powerful stroke play as he scored his first half century of the season as he led our assault on the target of 177. Under-17 star Sujan Sivakumar came in and struck a breezy 25 off 15 balls to give us an outside chance of victory, but with only a few runs required both Malik (62) and Sivakumar were dismissed and we were left with a target of five runs from the final over with captain Ridley (1*) and Daniel Malik (10*) at the crease. After scrambling three runs from the first four balls, Malik flicked a ball into the leg side off the penultimate ball to clinch a fantastic win.
The third team now sit in joint fourth-place of the 1987 Cricket League Division 1, in need of runaway leaders Southgate slipping up badly if they are to take the only available promotion spot.
The fourth team were involved in a run-fest at North London’s satellite ground in deepest Walthamstow, leaving with a hard-earned winning draw.
Batting first, Bessborough’s middle order of Eddie Idrees (75) and Beavan Fernando (65) shrugged off the fairly cheap loss of the top order with some elegant and powerful hitting on a lightning-fast outfield. The pair put on 97 for the fourth wicket, while later order knocks from Praekash Balendra (52*) and Stefan Fernando (18) helped the side declare on its best-ever total of 274 for 8 from 42 overs.
Rather than block out for the draw as many sides in this league would, North London decided to fight fire with fire and were keeping up with run-rate thanks to the power-hitting of opener Ben Scott (72), who was ably supported by Howard Lee (41) and Simon Docking (32). A biblical storm cut the available overs down to 44 (although a miscalculation by their scorer allowed for an extra over) and with Harry Heptonstall (65*) blazing away it seemed that an unlikely victory might be on the cards.
Fortunately, pace bowler Eddie Idrees (3 for 52) managed to slow North London’s charge with a couple of excellent wickets and some tight fielding kept Heptonstall away from strike as much as possible. In the end a highly competitive game concluded with the home side finishing 20 runs shy of victory on 255 for 8 from 45 overs.
The winning draw leaves Bessborough rooted to the bottom of the league, but a win next week away to Wembley – who humbled us in the first game of the season by dismissing the team for 33 – could be enough to finally get out of the relegation zone as well as repairing some damaged pride.
Bessborough CC 2016 Fantasy League - Week 11 MVPs
Sponsored by Ed's Party Pieces
- Eddie Idrees 153 points
- Nitin Modha 114 points
- Praekash Balendra 112 points