WEEKEND REVIEW - JUNE 16
By Simon Heaney
MIDDLESEX CHAMPIONSHIP CRICKET LEAGUE DIVISION ONE
Osterley 1st XI 125 all out
Bessborough 1st XI 116 all out
Osterley won by nine runs
MIDDLESEX COUNTY CRICKET LEAGUE DIVISION THREE
Bessborough 2nd XI 79 all out
Edmonton 2nd XI 129 all out
Edmonton won by 50 runs
1987 CRICKET LEAGUE DIVISION ONE
MTSSC 3rd XI 95-7
Bessborough 3rd XI 92 all out
MTSSC won by 3 wickets
Bessborough promotion hopes dented
Bessborough’s promotion hopes suffered a major blow away to Osterley on Saturday as not for the first time this season they narrowly missed out in a low run-chase.
Having beaten Osterley by 10-wickets in the home fixture a couple of weeks ago, Bessborough Captain Dan Hawes looked to repeat the successful formula of bowling first after winning the toss.
However, the extreme windy conditions made life difficult for the Borough bowlers and fielders, and Osterley managed to get off to a good start, scoring 11 in the first couple of overs.
It didn’t take too long for Bessborough to find their way back into the game as Ian Barrie (2-22) claimed the first wicket in the third over and soon after colt Akshay Hirani bagged two wickets in two balls.
First change bowler Rohan Karkhanis (3-34) tightened things up further with his clever spin bowling, making Osterley work hard for their runs. Bessborough continued to take wickets at regular intervals, including two spectacular diving slip catches by Rupert Thacker to dismiss Osterley’s well set opener Yaseen (42) and number six Buttat (23).
Hirani bowled full attacking lengths in his second spell to take two further wickets and ended up with 4-35 from 13 overs sharing the honours with Karkhanis for bowler of the day. Osterley finished on 125 after 40 overs.
Bessborough’s reply couldn’t have got off to a much worse start as they slumped to 25 for 4 wickets after 15 overs. It took a forty-run partnership between Barrie (34) and Andy Carr (26) to steady the ship, with both batsmen taking the attack to the bowlers, before Carr played a leading edge and was smartly caught and bowled by Osterley's leg spinner Nabi.
Despite that set-back, Borough were still looking on target at 100-6 before the loss of three wickets for no runs turned things dramatically around in Osterley’s favour. Even then, a valiant last-wicket partnership between Hirani and Nirav Ghantiwala got Borough to within nine runs of victory before Hirani was out caught to end an exciting but ultimately frustrating day for Bessborough.
The result leaves Bessborough in joint-fourth of the Middlesex Championship Div 1 after six rounds, some 28 points off leaders MTSSC.
Bessborough’s 2nd XI were skittled for just 79 chasing another low target of 130 set by Edmonton in their Middlesex County Cricket League Division 3 clash.
The 3rd XI missed out on the chance of going top of the 1987 Cricket League Div 1 as they succumbed to a 3-wicket defeat away to MTSSC 3s.
Bessborough toiled to 92 all-out on an uneven pitch with the ball keeping low for most of the match. Only three players made it to double figures with youngster Dillon Maloney top-scoring with a patient 18.
In reply, MTSSC made hard work of reaching their target and at one stage an unlikely victory for Bessborough looked on the cards as the bowling of Ezaz Mohammed and Prasanth Theva had the hosts struggling on 42 for 6.
MTSSC’s lower order came to the rescue with some confident batting to get them over the line for a 3-wicket victory.
The 3s now sit in joint second-place, 10 points adrift of MTSSC.
Bessborough 4s collected maximum points by default as Turnham Green/Poly couldn’t raise a team