WEEKEND REVIEW - AUGUST 2-3
By Simon Heaney
Saturday 2 August 2014
MIDDLESEX CHAMPIONSHIP CRICKET LEAGUE DIVISION ONE
Crouch End 1st XI 214-9 (55 overs)
Bessborough 1st XI 195-8 (45 overs)
Winning draw for Bessborough
MIDDLESEX COUNTY CRICKET LEAGUE DIVISION THREE
Bessborough 2nd XI 245-4 (44.3 overs)
Brentham 2nd XI 244-6 dec (51 overs)
Bessborough won by 6 wickets
MIDDLESEX 1987 CRICKET LEAGUE DIVISION ONE
Enfield 3rd XI 265-5 dec (46 overs)
Bessborough 3rd XI 233 all out (39.3 overs)
Enfield won by 32 runs
MIDDLESEX 1987 CRICKET LEAGUE DIVISION FIVE
Bessborough 4th XI 151 all out (37.1 overs)
Stanmore 4th XI 125 all out (34.4 overs)
Bessborough won by 26 runs
Sunday 3 August 2014
DUKES CHESS VALLEY SUNDAY LEAGUE DIVISION THREE
Bessborough 171-7 (32.5 overs)
UCS Old Boys 169 all out (39.4 overs)
Bessborough won by 3 wickets
Winning draw sets up top of the table clash
Headstone Manor will be the place to be next Saturday as results from this weekend mean that Bessborough and Osterley will face each other level on points in the race for the Middlesex Championship title.
Bessborough stretched their unbeaten run in the league campaign to 13 with a winning draw at Crouch End, while Osterley surprisingly lost at home to S.K.L.P.
Fast bowler Neal Patel (5-51) gave Bessborough a perfect start by removing Crouch End’s top three batsmen by the ninth over, leaving the home side on 35-3. A 50-run partnership between P. Patel (15) and Jay Mehta (29) steadied the ship for Crouch End before Patel saw off his namesake in the 19th over.
Crouch End’s rebuilding continued with overseas player Hitesh Goswami regularly finding the boundary on his way to 59. However, Bessborough kept things tight in the field and looked like restricting Crouch End to under 200 before an unbeaten last wicket stand added 32, moving their score on to 214-9 from the full 55 overs.
Patel’s second five-fer of the season means that he is now the first team’s leading wicket taker in the league with 24 at an average of 13.54.
For once, Bessborough’s chase misfired as only opener Jigar Shah (53) and former captain Sherrick Chavda (53) were able to build significant scores. A first league defeat of the season was a distinct possibility with the side struggling on 169-8 – Goswami with 5-59 the main culprit - with eight overs remaining, but thankfully Vivek Patel (11 not out) and current skipper Rohan Karkhanis (16 not out) dug in to close on 195-8 from 45 overs.
With five rounds left in the season, next week’s clash with Osterley could prove crucial in deciding the title although it is by no means a two-horse race as another win for third place Wycombe House sees them trailing the leading pair by only three points.
In their previous encounter at Osterley in early June, Bessborough won by a convincing 114-run margin.
The second eleven’s promotion charge continued apace on Saturday with a resounding 6-wicket win at home to Brentham.
Star of the show was undoubtedly our returning overseas player Urooj Ahmed (pictured) who despite only having touched down in the country a few days before went on to bowl a mammoth 26 overs (3-108) and then smack a quick-fire 85 with the bat.
Urooj’s comeback will undoubtedly give the side some fresh impetus in the final weeks, as will the return to form of Talha Junaid who scored an equally impressive 75. The pair put on 113 for the third wicket as Bessborough made Brentham’s decision to declare on 244-6 look premature.
The 2s are currently on a four game unbeaten run – the best since 2012 – and move up to fourth in the Middlesex County Cricket League Division 3, six points behind second place Enfield.
The third eleven put up a brave fight against Middlesex 1987 League Division 1 leaders Enfield, but ultimately came up short losing by 32 runs.
Overseas player Tade Carmichael, fresh from his 148 not out last week, plundered another 78, but even with good supporting knocks from Julio Maloney (48), Sriskandarajah Sujeevan (28) and Dillon Maloney (22) Bessborough were unable to reach the big target of 266.
On the plus side, Old Actonians only picked up a solitary point from a losing draw so the margin for Bessborough to reach the safety zone has only extended to a manageable 14 points.
The fourth eleven beat league leaders Stanmore to reignite their own promotion hopes in the Middlesex 1987 League Division 5.
It was Bessborough’s second win of the season against Stanmore, who have only lost to us, and for the second time our cause was helped by one of their players deciding to quit halfway through the game for some reason or another.
Bessborough’s total of 151 was well below par on a very good batting strip with skipper Sahil Hathi (48) and vice-captain Praekash Balendra (37) standing up well as others failed around them.
Early wickets in Stanmore’s innings proved crucial as Jasmeet Singh (3-41) produced an inspired early spell in his first game of the season, while colts Neil Patel (1-15) and Ravi Vyas (2-37) also bowled intelligently. It was wily spinner Bharat Vyas with 3-14 from 8 overs that troubled Stanmore the most and set up the crucial win that keeps the side in touching distance of the two promotion spots.
The Sunday side are also in grave danger of securing promotion from the Dukes Chess Valley League Division 3 as they beat league leaders UCS Old Boys by 3 wickets at home.
Wicket-keeper Will Grogan showed off his bowling prowess by taking 4-21 as the opposition were restricted to 169 all out. In reply, James Wheeler (57) and Ishan Shah (44) put on 97 for the first wicket and despite the loss of some quick middle order wickets Bessborough coasted home in 33 overs.