WEEKEND REVIEW - JULY 27-28
By Simon Heaney
Saturday 27 July 2013
MIDDLESEX CHAMPIONSHIP CRICKET LEAGUE DIVISION ONE
Bessborough 1st XI 161 all out (36 overs)
Osterley 1st XI 242-9 dec (50 overs)
Osterley won by 81 runs
MIDDLESEX COUNTY CRICKET LEAGUE DIVISION THREE
Edmonton 2nd XI 169 all out (47.3 overs)
Bessborough 2nd XI 170-4 (27.4 overs)
Bessborough won by six wickets
MIDDLESEX 1987 CRICKET LEAGUE DIVISION ONE
Wycombe House 3rd XI 285-3 dec (48 overs)
Bessborough 3rd XI 216-6 (38 overs)
Winning draw for Wycombe House
MIDDLESEX 1987 CRICKET LEAGUE DIVISION FIVE
Bessborough 4th XI 221-8 (43 overs)
Perivale 4th XI 235 all out (48.2 overs)
Winning draw for Bessborough
Sunday 28 July 2013
CHESS VALLEY CRICKET LEAGUE DIVISION THREE
Bessborough 61 all out (28.3 overs)
Ruislip 214-5 (45 overs)
Ruislip won by 153 runs
Bessborough’s slump continues
Bessborough’s slim chances of winning the Middlesex Championship suffered a near-fatal blow on Saturday as they lost by 81 runs at home to Osterley.
After being asked to bat by Bessborough Captain Dan Hawes, Osterley compiled a steady innings in which no single batsmen was able to score fluently although most got starts. Four players were out in the 30s and 40s, Amrinder Buttar top scoring with 47 as Osterley declared on 242-9 after 50 overs.
Alexander Haniff was the pick of the Bessborough bowlers with 3-66, while Neal Patel (2-69) and Rohan Karkhanis (2-38) each picked up a couple of wickets.
Bessborough’s reply could not have got off to much of a worse start as in the second over William Grogan gloved one from Ahmad to second slip for a duck and then in the same over Hawes was given out to a dubious lbw call for 4.
Calamity followed in the next over when Haniff (5) was adjudged to have left his crease after leaving a delivery from seamer Samir Khan only for the keeper Bhatt to strike with a shy from 10 yards away.
Two more lbws – this time for Tharshan Kanagaraj (2) and Talha Junaid (7) – had Bessborough reeling on 22-5. A spirited lower order fight back guided by Alex Irani (77) added respectability but was always likely to fall short of the mountainous task and eventually after 36 overs Bessborough were all out for 161.
This third-straight defeat sends Bessborough to eighth place in the Middlesex Championship, 25 points behind new leaders Osterley (70 points). To have any chance of promotion Bessborough realistically need to win all six remaining league games, starting with next week’s visit to S.K.L.P.
The second eleven claimed a vital win and 10 points away at fellow relegation strugglers Edmonton, thanks in large part to a brilliant spell of bowling by Eranda Jayasinghe (pictured), who bagged 7-58.
Edmonton were looking comfortable at 93 without loss when Eranda’s purple patch saw them capitulate to 169 all out. Vivek Patel (2-31) and Mitesh Vyas (1-33) claimed the other wickets.
Despite the early loss of openers Adil Parker (1) and Phil Bush (4) a calming 70 from Hemmen Jutla, ably supported by Rishi Patel (28) and Vivek Patel (20 not out), saw Bessborough home by a resounding six-wicket margin.
The 2s remain at the bottom of the Middlesex County Cricket League Division 3 but with 11 points from their last two games they are slowly reeling in Edmonton and Wycombe House. A win next week at home to Southgate could see them lift off the bottom of the league.
The third eleven picked up a point from a losing draw in a high-scoring match at Wycombe House.
The home side plundered 285-3 declared from 48 overs, but resolute batting, particularly by Thanushan Mahendran (47) and Sugeevan Sriskandarajah (52), meant that while Bessborough were never likely to score enough for the win they at least came back with a point, finishing on 216-6.
The fourth eleven claimed an excellent winning draw against Middlesex 1987 League Division 5 promotion contenders Perivale.
Fielding a side with four colts and only one of their regular bowling attack, Bessborough fought hard to restrict the away side to 235 all out from 49 overs with number eight spin bowler Richard Willson (5-51) proving to be the surprise package.
Leading wicket taker Ravi Vyas claimed 3-27, while youngster Neil Kritharan produced a very economical five-over spell just when Perivale were looking to be on course for a really big score. Another colt, Adadi Joshi, was getting a lot of turn and showed plenty of potential.
In reply, Bessborough lost a couple of early wickets, but a fabulous 115-run third-wicket partnership between Praekash Balendra (30) and Sahil Hath (79) made victory a distinct possibility.
There followed the standard mid-order collapse, but once again the young colts came to the rescue with a swashbuckling 28 from Joshi and an unbeaten 20 from Vidoosha Jayawardena in near darkness getting Bessborough to within 15 runs of the target.
The Sunday team had a day to forget losing heavily at home to Ruislip in the Chess Valley League Division 3 by 153 runs.