Bessborough Cricket Club

MIDDLESEX CHAMPIONSHIP CRICKET LEAGUE DIVISION ONE
Crouch End 1^st XI 113 all out (32 overs)
Bessborough 1^st XI 149 all out (48 overs)
Bessborough won by 36 runs

MIDDLESEX COUNTY CRICKET LEAGUE DIVISION THREE
Bessborough 2^nd XI 245-7 (55 overs)
South Hampstead 2^nd XI 190 all out (43.3 overs)
Bessborough won by 55 runs

1987 CRICKET LEAGUE DIVISION ONE
Wycombe House 3^rd XI 199-4 (44.2 overs)
Bessborough 3^rd XI 195-8 dec (47 overs)
Wycombe House won by 6 wickets

1987 CRICKET LEAGUE DIVISION FIVE
Bessborough 4^th XI 115-5 (24 overs)
Crouch End 4^th XI 111 all out (34.3 overs)
Bessborough won by 5 wickets

Borough’s big names down Crouch End

Big performances from Captain Danny Hawes and star all-rounder Ian Barrie saw Bessborough’s first eleven grab a vital win over Crouch End by 36 runs on Saturday. Hawes scored a crucial 65 in a low score of 149, but a superb six-wicket haul from Barrie gave the Borough the 10 points.

Hawes lost the toss and was put into bat on Crouch End’s beautiful but postage stamp sized ground in North London. Hawes’ regular opening bat partner Ramesh Gunalan hadn’t made it to the ground as his car broke down en route, so gifted 18-year old Tharshan Kanagaraj filled the gap.

Both batsmen started cautiously, playing carefully against Crouch End’s opening bowlers Syed Karrar and Jon Smart. Hawes started to find his form with some elegant shots off the front foot and some booming cuts off the back peg, but Kanagaraj was finding things tougher and was out LBW to left arm spinner Karrar for 8 after hanging in for 10 overs.

Bessborough’s middle order offered brief support for Hawes but none managed to stay with their captain for any length of time.

After getting to his second fifty of the season, Hawes was bowled by Hitesh Goswami for 65 and when Akshay Hirani and Neal Patel were removed soon after, Bessborough were in trouble at 110 for 7. Some lusty blows from number nine James Wheeler (25) helped get Bessborough to a below par 149 all out.

Gunalan arrived during the tea break and the umpires allowed him to join his teammates in the field, but not to bowl.

Bessborough needed early wickets with such a small total to defend and all-rounder Ian Barrie delivered in his second over when he dismissed the dangerous Darren Mathura (4) thanks to an excellent catch by Wheeler at midwicket.

Barrie then picked up his second wicket when he clean bowled Moodie for 3 and Neal Patel picked up the next two wickets by roughing up the Crouch End batting line up with some fast and accurate short pitch bowling.

Crouch End continued to play aggressively, but that tactic backfired as Bessborough continued to pick up wickets and had the hosts seemingly at their mercy at 70-7.

However, Crouch End’s Syed Shah (19) and Smart (13) got their side past 100 and within touching distance of victory with some intelligent risk-free batting, before Barrie once again snuffed out the danger, removing Shah LBW and then having Smart caught brilliantly by Hawes at short cover.

Barrie wrapped things up with the final wicket, clean bowling Ranil Hewavisenti to finish with figures of 6-46 from 16 overs.

The result maintains Bessborough’s outside chances of promotion, pushing them up to fifth place in the Middlesex Championship Division One.

The second eleven’s own promotion charge in still going strong after beating South Hampstead in a nail-biting encounter at Headstone Manor. The 55-run victory was inspired by a fine unbeaten century from Alex “Ronnie” Irani, his first league ton for the club, and a devastating spell of pace bowling by Rohan Desai.

On the back of two successive victories, Bessborough were stuck into a bat on what looked a good batting track. However, the next 17 overs of cricket transpired to be a nightmare for Captain Phil Bush (4) as his early dismissal started a procession as his side collapsed to 55-6. Of the top order batsmen, only Satjeet Chana with 27 could be happy with his contribution.

Coming in at number 7, Irani (109 not out) set about repairing the damage as he and Nandesh Patel (46) frustrated the visitors by cleverly manipulating the ball into open spaces. Having put on a century stand, Patel was to fall four shy of a well-earned fifty, but that was the catalyst for Irani to go through the gears. Having been conservative at first, Irani motored to his hundred, his final 50 coming in the final ten overs of the innings. His sustained assault gave the Borough a commanding 245-7 after 55 overs.

Bessborough’s opening bowlers Desai (6-78) and Jay Chavda (2-54) made early inroads into South Hampstead’s batting line-up with three quick wickets 

South Hampstead’s Varun Agnish (20) and James Fletcher (69) threatened to spoil the party, but any fear of defeat was extinguished when Ian Ridley got rid of Agnish and Desai claimed the prize scalp of Fletcher. It was then a race against time to pick up the remaining five wickets with the overs left dwindling away.

Desai stepped up for the team with a brilliant spell of aggressive bowling to rip through the tail, but even then there were only nine balls remaining for the visitors to see out with one wicket still needed, when Chavda managed to get Haider to chop the ball on to his stumps to seize the win.

With the teams ahead of them also winning, the 2s remain in fourth place of the Middlesex County Division Three. Next week, they face a crucial home match against third-placed Southgate.

The 3s were well beaten by Wycombe House, ruining hopes for a clean-sweep of Bessborough victories for the Saturday.

Batting first, Bessborough put on what looked like a formidable score of 195-8 declared with Cecil Dinesh (77) and Tanushan Mahendran (36) getting the bulk of the runs.

However, despite four early wickets, Wycombe House’s middle order batsmen Hassam (63 not out) and Sarin (69 no) thereafter made batting look easy as they took their side over the winning line in 44.2 overs.

Bessborough 4s got back to winning ways on Saturday with a comfortable 5-wicket win against Crouch End, writes Ravi Vyas, our new star colt reporter.

The day’s conditions were just right for cricket as the temperature was warm with a bit of breeze. Bessborough Captain Simon Heaney won the toss and elected to give his confident young bowling side the chance to shine.

Bessborough took to the field and started with an opening seam attack of Oscar Farr and Praekash Belendra. It was club newcomer Praekash that struck the first blow to Crouch End with the first wicket of Sam Steedman Thake for a duck thanks to an impressive catch at cover by Sammy Hawes.

At the other end, young colt Farr was bowling with venom and he came up with two wickets in his first three overs. Prakash then picked up another wicket by clean bowling Jeremy Bevan for 4. When Sahil Hathi pulled off a stunning one-handed catch at second slip to give Farr his third wicket it looked like an early finish was on the cards as Crouch End had lost their top five with the runs total still in single figures.

However, Crouch End’s Dominic Seeber (39 not out) and Ian Hayes (30) did manage to slowly rebuild their team’s innings with a vital middle-order partnership.

Bessborough’s bowling during this period was economical, but lacked the wicket taking threat of the opening bowlers Farr and Balendra, who were taking a well-deserved rest.

New Bessborough player Shyam Lakhani was given two overs and did well, ending up with 0-15 from 2 overs. Ravi Vyas produced steady figures of 0-12 from 4 overs, bowling a mixture of spin and seam, while regular spinners Dillion Popat (0-15 from 5 overs) and Richard Wilson (0-16 from 5 overs) all helped to keep the run rate down.

After drinks, Praekash and Oscar came back on to devastating effect, breaking-up the dangerous partnership between Seeber and Hayes and then clearing up the tail relatively easily to end Crouch End’s innings on 111.

Praekash finished his 10 overs with excellent final figures of 4-22, although Oscar managed to trump that with his first five-wicket haul of the season, ending up with 5-17 from 8.3 overs.

Play resumed after tea with club groundsman Lawrence Horsley, making his first league start of the year, and 14-year-old colt Dominic Baxter, opening up for Bessborough.

Dominic was unlucky when he was bowled out in the early overs for 1, but Lawrence stuck in and made a solid partnership with new batsmen Sammy Hawes to settle any nerves.

The pair got Bessborough to within sight of the winning line as runs were coming freely from both bat and extras. There was a slight wobble when top-scorer Hawes was caught and bowled by Smith for 20 and the same bowler had Horsley caught in the gulley for a patient 13.

Richard Wilson (11) and Heaney (17) smashed a few boundaries to get the side within a few runs of victory, but both gave away their wickets at the very end to leave the honour of hitting the winning runs to Praekash, which he did in fine style with a superb on-side drive that raced away for four.

Sunday’s Chess Valley League game away to Holtwhites Trinibis was abandoned mid-game due to bad weather. The hosts has set 212 to win and a quick-fire 54 from Phil Bush had a youthful Bessborough side well set on 77-2 before the rain came and ruined any chance of a finish.