WEEKEND REVIEW - MAY 23
By Simon Heaney
Saturday 23 May 2015
MIDDLESEX COUNTY CRICKET LEAGUE DIVISION THREE - FIRST TEAMS
Bessborough CC 1st XI 128 all out (41.3 overs)
MTSSC CC 1st XI 196 all out (51 overs)
MTSSC won by 68 runs
MIDDLESEX COUNTY CRICKET LEAGUE DIVISION THREE - SECOND TEAMS
MTSSC CC 2nd XI 168-9 (50 overs)
Bessborough CC 2nd XI 196 all out (50 overs)
Winning draw for Bessborough
MIDDLESEX 1987 CRICKET LEAGUE DIVISION TWO
Bessborough CC 3rd XI 200-8 dec (46 overs)
North London CC 4th XI 204-7 (46 overs)
North London won by 3 wickets
MIDDLESEX 1987 CRICKET LEAGUE DIVISION FIVE
Old Actonians CC 4th XI 104-2 (19.4 overs)
Bessborough CC 4th XI 101 all out (36 overs)
Old Actonians won by 8 wickets
MTSSC tail wags to beat Bessborough
Having not tasted defeat in the league for 19 games Bessborough have now lost two on the bounce after losing to MTSSC by 68 runs in a remarkable Middlesex County Cricket League match on Saturday at Headstone Manor.
The Middlesex Tamils side elected to bat after winning the toss and were looking relatively comfortable before Sharuban “KP” Kanthasamy (4-35) trapped skipper Abdul Hamza (2) lbw in the ninth over with the away team on 32. There followed a sublime spell of bowling from KP, Jay Chavda (5-46, pictured) and Mitesh Vyas (1-47) that had MTSSC reeling on 64-7 after 21 overs.
Far from buckling under the pressure MTSSC’s lower order fought back with a vengeance. First, Thurkasuthan Kailasapillai (12) and number eight batsman Kavithasan “Kavi” Kannathasan put on 44 for the eighth wicket to get the away side to 108-8. But that was just the starter as Kavi masterminded a ninth-wicket partnership of 84 with Nishanth Paneerchelvan (23). Kavi finished just short of what would have been a well-deserved century on 93 not out when he ran out of partners. MTSSC closed on 196 from 51 overs.
Bessborough’s innings got off to a horrible start after tea as both opening batsmen, Jigar Shah – a former MTSSC player – and Ishan Shah, bagged ducks. Kushal Patel (28) and Ian Barrie (19) put on 45 for the third wicket to bring the home side back into the game but wickets continued to tumble with alarming frequency and other than a stubborn 26 from number eight Vyas Bessborough succumbed after 41 overs for 128. Incredibly, nine of the 10 wickets were caught with that man Kavi pouching five of them to cap off a fine game-changing individual performance for MTSSC.
The second eleven picked up their first MCCL points of the season with a winning draw away to MTSSC, which for the want of the final wicket would have been 10 instead of 4.
Batting first Bessborough started brightly with captain Phil Bush finding some form with 59 as he and fellow opener Adil Parker (24) put on 67 for the first wicket. After the quick exit of Sanil Shah (2), Bush and Talha Junaid (15) added a further 38 for the third wicket but thereafter it became a struggle as MTSSC bowler Sureshkanth Amalathas caused havoc with 7-46. At 129-7 the away side were in need of a boost and it came from a 53-run stand between Vinay Bhudia (14) and Eranda Jayasinghe (39) who helped Bessborough to a much more competitive 196 all out from 51 overs.
In reply, MTSSC’s innings was held together by opener Daud Haider (81) as he saw partners come and go in rapid succession. Young spinner Kibreeth Rameez showed off his talents with 5-59, his best bowling performance in a Bessborough shirt to date. Having picked up nine wickets the elusive tenth was denied to Bessborough by Amalathas (14 not out) and Gnanakalaharan Manoharan (2 not out) who survived the last few overs to secure a losing draw.
The 3s lost a dramatic Middlesex 1987 Cricket League Division 2 game at home to North London 4s on the very last ball of the game. Bessborough openers James Wheeler (65) and Vidoosha Jayawardena (77) set the game up with a brilliant stand of 140 but unfortunately the rest of the line-up failed to capitalise on that start with only three other batsmen making double figures. Skipper Ian Ridley opted to make an aggressive declaration on 200-8 after 46 overs in order to take the winning draw away from the opposition.
That bold move didn’t pay off this time as North London batted sensibly to keep up with the required run rate with wickets still in hand. In the end it came down to the final ball of the match. With the scores tied North London’s number four Harry Riley (72 not out) confidently drove straight back past the desperate dive of bowler Ridley for a match-winning boundary.
In Division 5 of the 1987 League an under-strength 4s team suffered an 8-wicket loss away to Old Actonians. Missing skipper Richard Ward and last season’s player of the year William Gill, Bessborough’s makeshift line-up fought hard but were outplayed by a very good Old Actonians side that are likely to be challenging for promotion come the end of the season.
Openers Simon Heaney (27) and Shyam Lakhani (25) did well to survive a very testing opening spell by young pace bowlers Ramon Bailey (0-12) and Rezaul Rasel (3-37) on a spicy track with most of their early runs coming from behind square. The pair added 53 for the first wicket, an impressive feat considering that Shyam is carrying a fairly serious knee injury and lacks experience in the role. The main instruction for the rest of the line-up was to occupy time in the hope that talismanic all-rounder Eddie Idrees would arrive after train delays to inject some quick runs. While most of the batsmen did their best Eddie never appeared and eventually the away side were “all out” for 101 after 36 overs.
The early wicket of Old Actonians’ captain Bilal Hussain (0) who played on to a Ravi Vyas (1-23) delivery gave the away side hope of a famous victory that later intensified when Prashant Dhayal (1-22) dismissed the other opener John Hawkins for 20. However, apart from one sharp gloved chance behind offered by Roger Masterton (31 not out) off Vyas, the home side coasted to the target inside 20 overs with Joshua Jayakar also unbeaten on 30.
On Tuesday evening the Bessborough Barbarians kicked off their season with a 10-run win over Ruislip. Rajan Modha was man-of-the-match with 60 runs and two wickets.
Bessborough CC 2015 Fantasy League - Week 6 MVPs
- Rajan Modha 122 points
- Vidoosha Jayawardena 117 points
- Jay Chavda 115 points