WEEKEND REVIEW - AUGUST 6-7
By Simon Heaney
Saturday 6 August 2016
MIDDLESEX COUNTY CRICKET LEAGUE DIVISION THREE - FIRST TEAMS
Bessborough CC 1st XI 238 all out (50.5 overs)
Winchmore Hill CC 1st XI 208 all out (47.1 overs)
Bessborough won by 30 runs
MIDDLESEX COUNTY CRICKET LEAGUE DIVISION THREE - SECOND TEAMS
Wycombe House CC 2nd XI 208-9 (50 overs)
Bessborough CC 2nd XI 211-8 (50 overs)
Winning draw for Bessborough
MIDDLESEX 1987 CRICKET LEAGUE DIVISION ONE
Winchmore Hill CC 3rd XI 157-9 (42 overs)
Bessborough CC 3rd XI 179 all out (49.5 overs)
Winning draw for Winchmore Hill
MIDDLESEX 1987 CRICKET LEAGUE DIVISION FIVE
Bessborough CC 4th XI 150 all out (37.5 overs)
Harrow St Marys CC 4th XI 136-9 (54 overs)
Winning draw for Bessborough
Sunday 7 August 2016
LORDS CHESS VALLEY SUNDAY LEAGUE DIVISION THREE
West Herts CC 237-4 (34.3 overs)
Bessborough CC 236-6 (45 overs)
West Herts won by 6 wickets
Bessborough topple league leaders
Bessborough pulled off arguably one of their best victories in recent times on Saturday, beating league leaders Winchmore Hill by 30 runs at Headstone Manor.
The visitors had given our lads a 238-run thrashing in their first encounter in early June, making Saturday’s victory all the sweeter.
On a beautiful sunny day Bessborough skipper Rohan Karkhanis unsurprisingly elected to bat first on another road of a wicket prepared by groundsman Lawrence Horsley. Opening pair Vidoosha Jayawardena (11) and Sherrick Chavda (47) were ticking along nicely at three an over when young starlet Vidoosha was caught and bowled by Siran Seevaratnam (1-23) in the eighth over.
Chavda and new bat Hemmen Jutla (49) added 83 runs in 15 overs for the second wicket before the latter was removed one short of a second half-century in two games. Number four batsman Nirav Ghantiwala and Chavda continued to score at a brisk rate before the latter was removed by Jim Gatting (3-52) three runs shy of a half-century. Chavda’s replacement, Ian Barrie, adopted the same attacking approach with a quick-fire 35 in 31 balls, while Ghantiwala became the third jug-avoider by perishing soon after for 48, adjudged lbw to Gatting.
At 198-4 after 38 overs the talented all-rounder Kibreeth Rameez looked to develop an imposing total but unfortunately his tail order partners were blown away by Australian quickie Scott Burkinshaw (4-52) who uprooted the stumps of Rishi Patel (5), Will Grogan (4), Neal Patel (0) and Rohan Desai (1) in quick succession. Rameez was the last man out for 26 as Bessborough were dismissed for 238 in 51 overs.
That score was always going to need an extra special effort in the field to successfully defend against the big scoring Winchmore Hill line-up and the opposition were probably favourites with the score on 150-4 with 15 overs remaining. Then, captain Rohan Karkhanis (3-47) ousted the dangerous opener Morgan Prior for 78 and a few overs later his fellow spinner Rameez snaffled three quick wickets to turn the game on its head and leave WH on 161-8.
Opening pace bowler Neal Patel (2-39) was brought back for a second spell by Karkhanis and he rewarded his captain by bowling number seven bat Jack Irwin for 12. Despite the regular fall of wickets WH refused to give up on the win and the last pair of Burkinshaw (29*) and Jack Henson (11) were finding the boundary a little bit too easily for Karkhanis’ liking. Fortunately, young Kibreeth (5-93) wasn’t put out of his rhythm too much by the onslaught as he found a way past Henson’s defence with 17 balls remaining to clinch victory and his third five-for of what has been an excellent season for him personally.
The win moved Bessborough up to eighth place in the Middlesex County Cricket League, 12 points above the relegation trap door with four games (all overs matches) remaining.
The second team extended their unbeaten run to three games with a winning draw in a very close match at Wycombe House. Overseas player Urooj Ahmed lead from the front with a well-crafted 69 as Bessborough scored 211-8 from their 50 overs.
All results were a possibility going into the last over of the game with Wycombe House nine down. In the end the home side survived but without getting enough runs, falling four runs short of the target as they closed on 208-9. Hero of the day with the ball for Bessborough was Faisal Tanoli with club-best figures of 6-46, making him the second XI’s leading wicket taker in the league campaign so far with 13.
Bessborough’s good recent form has helped steer themselves away from the danger end of the table into a comfortable sixth place and means they cannot now be relegated as bottom side Ickenham are 46 points behind with only 40 more points on offer.
The third team, also residing in mid-table obscurity, got to within one wicket of picking up a win at Winchmore Hill, but had to settle for a losing draw. Bessborough put on 179 from very nearly the full 50 overs with Vinay Bhudia the main run-getter with 55. Thirteen-year-old Snehaan Das also showed some of his promise with a classy 33.
The home side were looking comfortable for the win but a flurry of late wickets meant that Bessborough had about 14 deliveries to try and oust the last pair. Unfortunately, Jim Clarke, who scored a fifty as an opener in the previous game between the sides, but this time batting at number 10 sensibly blocked out until the close of play.
The fourth team missed out on 10 vital points towards their relegation survival bid as they too couldn’t eek out the last wicket against Harrow St Mary’s. Batting first, Bessborough scored what looked like a below-par 150 all out from 38 overs. Top scorers were Shiv Patel (45) and Sammy Hawes (29). However, some incredibly tight bowling restricted HSM to 136-9 from 54 overs. R. Sharma, the last man for HSM, top-scored with 32. Pick of the bowlers were Nitin Modha (4-50) and Jamie Young (3-22).
The four points collected from the winning draw was not enough to lift Bessborough off the foot of the table and realistically the team must now win at the very least three of the last four remaining games if they are to stay up.
On Sunday, Bessborough lost away to West Herts by six wickets in the Chess Valley. Stand-out performers were batsmen Vidoosha Jayawardena (53) and Tharshan Kanagaraj (63) and the skipper Ian Ridley (3-16) who picked up three more wickets to move past 50 for the season in all competitions.
Bessborough CC 2016 Fantasy League - Week 16 MVPs
Sponsored by Ed's Party Pieces
- Faisal Tanoli 139 points
- Kibreeth Rameez 134 points
- Ian Ridley 103 points