WEEKEND REVIEW - JULY 2013
By Simon Heaney
Saturday 13 July 2013
MIDDLESEX CHAMPIONSHIP CRICKET LEAGUE DIVISION ONE
Bessborough 1st XI 165 all out (33 overs)
Birkbeck College 1st XI 294-5 dec (50 overs)
Birkbeck College won by 129 runs
MIDDLESEX COUNTY CRICKET LEAGUE DIVISION THREE
Highgate 2nd XI 321-7 dec (46 overs)
Bessborough 2nd XI 218 all out (48.5 overs)
Highgate won by 103 runs
MIDDLESEX 1987 CRICKET LEAGUE DIVISION ONE
Old Actonians 3rd XI 168 all out (36.3 overs)
Bessborough 3rd XI 169-9 (31.4 overs)
Bessborough won by 1 wicket
MIDDLESEX 1987 CRICKET LEAGUE DIVISION FIVE
Bessborough 4th XI 230 all out (50 overs)
Old Actonians 4th XI 104 all out (29.1 overs)
Bessborough won by 126 runs
Bessborough lose unbeaten record
Bessborough slumped to their first defeat of the season on Saturday with a very disappointing 129-run loss at home to Birkbeck College.
After two comprehensive wins on the bounce Bessborough were full of confidence going into this Middlesex Championship match up, and despite losing the toss and being asked to take to the field on another baking hot day the home side made a bright start when Neal Patel (2-64) found the edge of Ali Haider’s bat in the first over without a run on the board.
Then, in the fifth over, Patel knocked down the stumps of Amir Ihsan (13) to put the visitors in trouble at 23 for 2. A partnership of 49 between Imran Haider and H. Riaz steadied the ship, but Bessborough’s first-change seamer Akshay Hirani (2-73) bowled Haider (33) in his third over to put the pressure back on at 72-3.
Unfortunately, that was as good as it got for Bessborough as Riaz (140 not out) and Zeeshan Ali (67) put on 154 runs for the fourth wicket. That big stand allowed the away side to declare on an imposing 294-5 after 50 overs.
Bessborough’s innings was ticking along when Birkbeck made the breakthrough in the ninth over with Syed Musa (3-31) bowling Tharshan Kanagaraj for six. The away side tightened their grip on the match further in the twelfth over when Qaiser Rizwan (2-42) got two wickets in two balls. First to go was Bessborough skipper Dan Hawes (34) and then Talha Junaid for a golden duck.
A 94-run partnership between Alexander Haniff (48) and William Grogan (50, pictured) suggested that Bessborough might be able to escape with a losing draw, but a worrying collapse when seven wickets fell in 11 overs and only 26 runs, gifted the win to Birkbeck. Following his big century, Riaz proved himself to be more than useful with the ball in hand, claiming 4-10 from his six overs.
The defeat saw Birkbeck (50 points) leapfrog Bessborough (45pts) into joint second place in the Middlesex Championship. The Borough move down to fifth place, ten points behind leaders M.T.S.S.C.,who they face this Saturday. The Tamils side picked up a winning draw when they visited Headstone Manor in May.
The second eleven’s poor run continued as they were well beaten by Middlesex County Cricket League Division 3 leaders Highgate.
Highgate scored a mammoth 321-7 dec from 47 overs with Ben Sudell (87) and William Bowley (83) top scoring.
Nirav Ghantiwala (4-73) and Eranda Jayasinghe (3-53) were the only Bessborough bowlers to pick up wickets and avoid being carted around Highgate’s very scenic but postage-stamp size Shepherd's Cot ground with economy rates of 4.29 and 4.42 respectively.
In response, Bessborough were all out for 218 with starts for Adil Parker (32), Paul Jarvis (32), Satjeet Dhanjal (31) and Mitesh Vyas (34 not out). Blair Tickner (4-52) and Christopher Gallagher (4-92) were Highgate’s tormentors-in-chief.
The third eleven claimed a remarkable one-wicket win away at Old Actonians after starting the game with only seven players.
Despite the late arrival of four of his players, Captain Nathan Theebaraj took the brave (or insane – take your pick) decision to bowl first after winning the toss, which meant that the wily veteran Stephen Kimsey Sr. was called upon for wicket keeping duty.
His son, Stephen Jr. (1-29) produced a wicket with his first ball, but Old Actonians were making the most of the wide open spaces to score at 6 runs in the first twelve overs.
The game changed when Sharuban Kanthasamy (2-24) had opener Matt Robinson (25) caught behind by Kimsey Sr. and when Akilan Denesh (3-16) picked up two wickets in his first over after having to wait to start bowling due to his late arrival.
Those wickets sparked an Old Actonians collapse as the hosts went from 76-1 to 168 all out in 36.3 overs.
Bessborough were looking good for the win at 109 for 4 - thanks in large part to a score of 53 by Sugeevan Sriskandarajah - but a flurry of wickets meant that when the young number 11 Dillon Popat came out to bat there were still 33 runs required for victory.
Guided by senior player Akilan (24 not out), Popat showed great determination and no little skill with an unbeaten 12 that included hitting a boundary for the winnings runs.
Bessborough 4s claimed a magnificent 126-run win against Old Actonians’ fourth string to move off the bottom and into fourth place of the Middlesex 1987 League Division 5.
After having 15 players to choose from on Tuesday’s selection meeting, Bessborough Captain Simon Heaney was able to field his strongest side yet, with the team bolstered by the return from injury of William Gill and one of last season’s leading wicket takers Majid Abbasi, who has been unavailable all season due to work commitments.
Old Actonians won the toss and put Bessborough into bat. Openers Heaney (10) and Praekash Balendra (9) put on 26 for the first wicket when the former edged a short delivery by Nathan Mehaffy (3-61) to the keeper. Balendra repeated the same mistake soon after, this time off Thomas Whear (1-34) and suddenly Bessborough were in trouble at 30-2.
Up stepped Richard Willson (74) and Sahil Hathi (31) with a game-changing third-wicket partnership of 95 to put the away side on the back foot. Willson could well have gone on to make a century, but fatigue from the searing heat resulted in some runs being turned down.
With wickets in hand Bessborough’s batsmen were given licence to play their shots and classy cameos from Sammy Hawes (20) and Tom Newland (15) helped the side to a best of the season 230 all out from the full 50 overs. Old Actonians’ skipper Roheet Gupta with 4-34 was the pick of their bowlers.
The scoreboard pressure enabled Heaney to set an attacking 7-2 field and instruct his seam bowlers to give it their all in three-over spells to save them from tiring in the afternoon sun.
That tactic paid off handsomely as every bowler claimed at least one wicket in their opening bursts with consistent deliveries just outside off-stump that were inducing knicks to the slips.
Colt swing bowler Ravi Vyas proved to be the most dangerous with excellent figures of 4-12 from 6 overs as Old Actonians folded at 104 all out in 29.1 overs.
Vice-captain Richard Ward chipped in with 2-22, including the expert stumping by Hathi of the stubborn William Yates (26), not long after he had been dropped by Heaney at mid-wicket off Newland’s (1-12) bowling.
The other wickets were shared by Gill (1-30), Abbasi (1-14) and leg-spinner Akash Patel (1-7), the latter ousting Gupta (1) for the winning wicket, brilliantly held down low by Hawes at third slip.