WEEKEND REVIEW - SEPTEMBER 3
By Simon Heaney
Saturday 3 September 2016
MIDDLESEX COUNTY CRICKET LEAGUE DIVISION THREE - FIRST TEAMS
Bessborough CC 1st XI 215 all out (42 overs)
Uxbridge CC 1st XI 117-0 (22.3 overs)
Uxbridge win by D/L
MIDDLESEX COUNTY CRICKET LEAGUE DIVISION THREE - SECOND TEAMS
Harrow St. Marys CC 2nd XI 100-2 (22 overs)
Bessborough CC 2nd XI 141 all out (32.5 overs)
Harrow St. Marys win by D/L
MIDDLESEX 1987 CRICKET LEAGUE DIVISION ONE
Enfield 3rd XI 44-3 (12 overs)
Bessborough CC 3rd XI 251-9 dec (45 overs)
Match abandoned
MIDDLESEX 1987 CRICKET LEAGUE DIVISION FIVE
Bessborough CC 4th XI 160 all out (32.4 overs)
North London 5th XI 66-5 (21.1 overs)
Winning draw for Bessborough
Rain stops play on two Borough legends
Bessborough said goodbye to two club stalwarts on Saturday when bad weather forced all four of the final league games of the season to be shortened in one way or another. Fortunately, with nothing riding on any game it just meant there was more time to say farewell in the clubhouse.
First team skipper Rohan Karkhanis led out the team for the last time at Headstone Manor before he jets off to a new life in the US, but sadly the game versus Uxbridge was a bit of a damp squib. Bessborough were dismissed for 215 in 42 overs – Rishi Patel top-scoring with a season’s best 49 – but the game was ended after 22 overs in the second innings when the rain fell and with Uxbridge on course for an easy win on 117 for no wickets, giving them all 10 points courtesy of Duckworth-Lewis.
The club will always be indebted to “Chili” (pictured) for guiding the side back to the Middlesex County Cricket League as leader of the 2014 “Invincibles” team that stormed the Middlesex Championship unbeaten. Good luck stateside Chilli!
The result means that the 1s finish the season in a comfortable seventh place with a record of six wins, four draws, two no results and six defeats. Leading run scorers were Kibreeth Rameez (299, averaging 29.90); Sherrick Chavda (280 @ 25.45) and Ian Barrie (272 @ 20.92), while the leading wicket takers were Rameez (37 @ 17.51) and the captain Karkhanis (22 @ 25.86).
The second XI were also on the wrong end of a match decided by D/L, losing away to near neighbours Harrow St. Marys to end their excellent six-game unbeaten streak. Having secured their safety a number of weeks ago the side put in a poor shift with the bat, being dismissed for 141 in 33 overs. HSM were stopped from picking up the win by conventional means by the weather as they would surely only have needed a few more overs to complete the task on 100-2 after 22 overs.
The 2s finished in a creditable fourth place with eight wins, two draws, two no results, and six losses. Top run-getters were Saghar Tanoli (362 @ 36.20) and skipper Phil Bush (325 @ 32.50). Faisal Tanoli bagged the most wickets (19 @ 13.42), followed by Urooj Ahmed (17 @ 12.65).
There was a fairy-tale ending for James Wheeler (pictured) who was playing his last Saturday game for the club after 26 years of service as he scored a century away to Enfield for the third XI.
Wheels displayed all of his trademark shots in a typically powerful innings of 107 containing18 fours and 2 sixes. Earlier, 3s skipper Ian Ridley made hay while the sun sort of shined with a quality 55 on the way to a declaration of 251-9 after 45 overs.
Bessborough took three early wickets before the heavens opened and the game was abandoned with only 12 second-innings overs completed. The 3s ended their campaign in sixth place of the Division 1 of the 1987 Cricket League.
Wheels will still be part of the club next year as he will continue to lead the mid-week T20 Barbarians side.
The fourth team rounded off their fairly miserable season with a winning draw at home to North London. Batting first, Bessborough set a target of 161 with the wily old campaigner Nitin Modha top scoring with 39*.
The weather intervened after 21 overs of North London’s innings with the visitors in trouble on 66-5, enough for our lads to pick up four points for a winning draw. The 4s finished dead last in the league with just a solitary victory and will drop into Division 6 of the 1987 Cricket League for next season, barring any league restructuring.
All that’s left before the end-of-season tidy up is for the colts and seniors to contest the annual Colin Horsley Trophy next Saturday.
Bessborough CC 2016 Fantasy League - Week 20 MVPs
Sponsored by Ed's Party Pieces
- James Wheeler 147 points
- Ian Ridley 90 points
- Nitin Modha 64 points