WEEKEND REVIEW - APRIL 20
By Simon Heaney
BESSBOROUGH CC WEEKEND REVIEW
Saturday 20 April 2013
FRIENDLY
Bessborough 1st XI 228-4 (40 overs)
Pinner 1st XI 167 all out (38 overs)
Bessborough won by 61 runs
FRIENDLY
Bessborough 2nd XI 139-9 all out (40 overs)
Rickmansworth 2nd XI 140-5 (31.5 overs)
Rickmansworth won by 5 wickets
Bessborough start off with a win
Bessborough kicked off their 2013 season with a comfortable win over Pinner CC thanks in large part to a blistering 96 from Andy Carr.
This season’s traditional curtain raiser has fallen foul to the weather in the last two years, but on a beautiful, cloudless day in Headstone Manor, Bessborough Captain Dan Hawes won the toss and opted to bat on a great track prepared by groundsman Lawrence Horsley.
Phil Bush and Adil Parker put on 33 before Parker was out for 20 caught off Adam Rissen’s bowling. Bush and Hawes (14) then added 51 runs for the second wicket when Hawes was bowled by Rob Bonneywell.
Bush and his new batting partner Andy Carr pushed the score on to 105 when Bush was unlucky to miss out on a half-century, given out lbw to Bonneywell on 48.
It was at that stage that Carr decided to let rip, smashing nine sixes and four fours on his way to a 51-ball 96. Carr missed out on a well-deserved century going for a sixth consecutive maximum. He and Alex Irani (29 not out) put on 118 for the fourth wicket as Bessborough closed out on 228-4 after 40 overs.
In reply, new pace bowler Sharuban Kanthasamy (3-30) demonstrated the promise he showed during winter nets by quickly removing both Pinner openers, Rob Fells (10) and Abdul Majeed (6); while talented colt Talha Junaid (1-16) dispatched Pinner’s number three, Satpal Gohil, for a duck.
Those early wickets snuffed out any hopes Pinner might have had of chasing the target and their middle order struggled to build any momentum as Chairman Nitin Modha (4-37) and fellow spinner Rohan Karkhanis (2-24) turned the screw.
Some late-order heroics from number 10 Rob Bonneywell (26 not out) helped Pinner to a respectable 167 all out.
Bessborough’s makeshift second XI, trialling some new players and colts, put up a good fight against Rickmansworth CC in a 5-wicket loss.
Captain Richard Edmands won the toss and chose to bat first on a surprisingly dry strip. After a first over containing six wides, Rickmansworth’s opening bowler Mashooq Shah got it together in his second over, bowling Richard Willson (0) with a ball that skidded on.
Bessborough’s other opener Ian Ridley (0) was the victim of one of the sharpest caught and bowled’s that will likely be seen this season when Waheed Mahroof instinctively stuck out an arm at a powerfully hit drive.
Sanil Shah (32) and young wicket-keeper Ray Maloney (23) carefully rebuilt Bessborough’s innings with a third-wicket partnership of 62. Fourth team skipper Simon Heaney (24) helped the score tick along with some powerful strokes, while Mitesh Vyas showed some nice touches in an unbeaten 16, but ultimately Bessborough were unable to maintain any significant batting partnerships as they finished on a below-par 139-9 after 40 overs.
Rickmansworth never looked in too much trouble on their way to the target, although they did struggle for runs against Vyas’ spin. Mitesh ended his allotted eight overs with 2-5, including five maidens. Another spinner, Stephen Kimsey Senior (2-12), and seamer Ian Ridley (1-24), were the other wicket takers as Rickmansworth completed the job in 32 overs with 140-5.
Next week Bessborough take on Old Actonians home and away so please let Phil Bush and Dan Hawes know your availability ASAP.