Bessborough Cricket Club

Saturday 29 June 2013

MIDDLESEX CHAMPIONSHIP CRICKET LEAGUE DIVISION ONE

Old Actonians 1^st XI 257-3 (50 overs)

Bessborough 1^st XI 259-3 (52.3 overs)

Bessborough won by 7 wickets

MIDDLESEX COUNTY CRICKET LEAGUE DIVISION THREE

Wycombe House 2^nd XI 189 all out (52 overs)

Bessborough 2^nd XI 172 all out (45.2 overs)

Wycombe House won by 17 runs

MIDDLESEX 1987 CRICKET LEAGUE DIVISION ONE

Indian Gymkhana 3^rd XI 223-9 (50 overs)

Bessborough 3^rd XI 234-3 (34.4 overs)

Bessborough won by 7 wickets

MIDDLESEX 1987 CRICKET LEAGUE DIVISION FIVE

Turnham Green 4^th XI 278-4 (50 overs)

Bessborough 4^th XI 204--9 all out (42 overs)

Winning Draw for Turnham Green

Sunday 30 June 2013

PRESIDENT’S DAY FRIENDLY

Bessborough 1^st XI 206-4 (49 overs)

President’s XI 123 all out (32.2 overs)

Bessborough won by 83 runs

BESSBOROUGH’S SUPER SUNDAY

A scorching summer’s day provided the perfect back drop for an amazing President’s Day at Bessborough Cricket Club. Legends both past and present came together to celebrate President Graham Sainsbury’s 60th birthday and also his 50 years of service to the club. Graham Sainsbury (pictured) won the toss and asked Danny Hawes and his Bessborough side to bat on a stunning day at Headstone Manor.

Captain Hawes and Wayne Whitson started steadily against a decent President’s XI bowling attack which included Graham Sainsbury’s daughter Chloe. Whitson in his final game for the club showed what we will miss with some crunching boundaries including a beautiful lofted straight drive off medium pacer Andrew Davis. Davis, who had driven up from Gloucestershire for the day got his revenge when he had Whitson brilliantly stumped by club legend Peter Doole to leave the club 77-1. Doole was one of the three current club members along with Chairman Nitin Modha and Andy Carr to play for the President’s XI.

Hawes who passed 600 runs for the season was relentless on any bad deliveries as he reached his fourth score of 50+ of the season. Club treasurer Richard Edmands joined Hawes at the crease as they took the score to 110-1 at lunch.

During the lunch break, Graham Sainsbury said a few words about his predecessor as President Viv Feltham, who died in December and other club members who have passed on in recent seasons. At the end of an emotional speech he toasted absent friends and announced plans to plant a tree on the grounds in memory of Viv.

After lunch, the club continued to attack the President’s XI bowling with Hawes in particular looking in great touch.  With a fourth century in 2013 looking likely, he was dismissed by former club legend Kevin Skelton for a well made 78 thanks to another excellent stumping by Peter Doole.

Edmands who has struggled for form this season showed the large crowd that was building what a good player he is with some great shots to all parts including massive six into the trees off the bowling of spinner Kevin Skelton. With the club score approaching 200, Sainsbury brought back Nitin Modha who dismissed both Edmands who made a very good 55 and Nirav Ghantiwala off the final ball of the innings as Danny Hawes set a generous target as he declared on 206-4 off 49 overs.

Another pair of former club legends Nick Wale and Paul Snelling opened the innings for The President’s XI and both showed that class is permanent with some fantastic shots. However with the score on 18, Wale was well caught at second slip by Rohan Karkhanis off seamer Rohan Desai. Another legend Duncan West joined Snelling at the crease as they avoided any more dismissals before the tea break.

After the tea break, our leading wicket-taker in 2013 Rohan Karkhanis was brought on by Hawes and he quickly added another two victims when he had Snelling LBW and clean bowled Kevin Skelton. Seamer Jay Chavda was brought on at the other end and he picked up three quick wickets as he reduced The President’s XI to 83-6.

Following a well deserved guard of honour that greeted his arrival at the crease, the man of the moment Graham Sainsbury took his turn to bat on his day. Sains who has scored 30,000 runs for the club failed to get off the mark as he was dismissed by talented young spinner Mitesh Vyas.

Wickets continued to fall and despite valiant resistance from Nitin Modha, Peter Doole and Chloe Sainsbury, the President’s XI were finally bowled out for 123 and the club earned a victory by a margin of 83 runs.

Former club legend Mark Ramprakash, who now is on the Middlesex coaching staff was unavailable to play due to work commitments made an appearance after the game as well as he popped down for the after match entertainment. The most important part of the day was not the result on the field but a chance for everybody at the club to say thanks to Graham for everything he has done for the club. 

Our bowlers started reasonably but every bad ball seemed to be put away by the Actonians batsman and a score of 300+ looked likely. However even though a flood of wickets failed to arrive, we managed to keep some sort of control to the run rate as Actonians declared on 257-3 off 50 overs.

Even though the target we were chasing seemed to be 50 runs short, the early loss of captain Danny Hawes put the first eleven under considerable pressure. Teenage batting sensation Tharshan Kanagaraj and Alex Haniff took up the mantle and after a shaky start they put together a magnificent 124 run partnership which got us back into the game. Kanagaraj (pictured below) scored his first League 50 for the first eleven as he scored 81 off only 105 balls in an innings that included 13 boundaries.

However when Kanagaraj was dismissed, we needed another 106 from 20 overs and needed another partnership. Talha Junaid joined Haniff who had just passed 50 started to build another big partnership. Junaid started to unleash some brutal strokes as he struck 45 off 35 balls and included two massive sixes as he took us to the brink of victory.

With Junaid dismissed, wicket-keeper Will Grogan joined Haniff at the crease as the pair put on a final 42 runs to lead the first eleven to a brilliant 7-wicket win with Haniff finishing 85 not out and Grogan on 20. The win leaves our first eleven in fourth place only 10 points behind leaders M.T.S.S.C.

The second eleven were beaten by 17 runs at Wycombe House in a game which could have gone either way. An excellent bowling performance from spinners Mitesh Vyas and Club Chairman Nitin Modha who both claimed 4 wickets, Wycombe House bowled out for 189 from 52 overs. In reply we were reduced to 13-4 and only a big defeat looked likely. However half centuries from Rishi Patel (60) and Kibreeth Rameez (51) gave us an outside chance of victory. A flurry of late wickets saw us fall an agonising 17 runs short.

The third eleven won their first League game of the season by beating Indian Gymkhana by 7 wickets in a bad tempered game at Headstone Manor. Medium pacer Stephen Kimsey picked up 4 wickets as we restricted Indian Gymkhana to 223 runs from their 50 overs.  A home victory always looked likely and a 7 wicket win was secured inside 35 overs with Priyatharshan Sathananthan (71)  and Vivek Patel (54) leading the third eleven to a well needed win.

The fourth eleven grabbed a well earned 1 point after securing a losing draw at Turnham Green. Chasing a mammoth 278, the fourth eleven slipped to 160-9 and defeat looked likely. A final wicket stand of 44 from Shyam Lakhani and William Gill earned a well deserved point.