Saturday 5th August 2006
Saturday 12th August 2006
Saturday 19th August 2006
Saturday 26th August 2006

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1st XI vs. Harrow St. Marys

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2nd XI vs.

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1st XI vs. Old Lyonians

Report by: David Smith

2nd XI vs. Uxbridge

Report by: Darren Bennett

Arriving at the club on Saturday and seeing the sky as grey as it was, with the prospect of an hours drive down to Uxbridge was not the most pleasant. However, the troops arrived in hearty spirit and off we set on our way westwards. Here is where the fun and games started... We set off in 4 cars and upon arriving at the ground some 50 minutes later we seemed to be missing 2 of them?? Upon Tim making a few phone calls we discovered that two of our convoy decided that rather than play cricket they preferred to play Wacky-Races, doing laps around the North Circular road… I believe 2 full laps were completed! Once the rest of the team arrived at the ground they were met by an Edmonton side batting first on a ground that had just taken an hour of heavy rain yet still seemed to be bone dry!

With what was initially a depleted side (due to some interesting driving skills), in true captain courageous style Stav decided to take on the role of opener along with young Danny. Resistance was offered early on to an attack that didn't look up to that much, however the wickets soon started to tumble. From memory I believe that several people got in and made 20's but not many went on to convert these in to bigger better scores. The exception being Chat, who once again looked very comfortable in the middle showing an array of shots normally reserved for someone his senior. We eventually ended up with 132 runs to defend. In a game that we desperately wanted to win in order to secure a place in this league for next season. We took to the field in positive mood. The team was high in spirit and fight after a rallying from the ever inspiring Stav! The bowling started with Ash bowling well from one end and yours truly running in to a gale that would have taken yards of pace off of much lesser bowlers... The breakthrough took some time but we eventually got a wicket and as the saying goes 1 brings 2…, 2 brings 3 etc. and soon we found ourselves in a position whereby although limited by runs in the bank, we were still in the game and the mood was still that of a team trying their very best to compete! Captain Stav again leading by example and keeping one end incredibly tight. Unfortunately, the inevitable finally crept up on us and we ran out of runs. It was a spirited fight but we always had our back against the wall with only a small total to defend.

And so the fight continues to stay in this league…

1st XI vs. Calthorpe

Report by: Mark Varley

Hello again lads, week 15 against Calthorpe. After a much needed and well deserved victory the week previous the first team knew it would take a lot of hard work to keep up that sort of tempo until the end of the season however with the return of Wony Tillet and Hanny Dare to the side the team looked as strong as ever.

Unfortunately the weather had been atrocious the week preceding the Saturday and the limited facilities at Calthorpe had left the wicket resembling a swamp. Not to worry though as both skippers agreed to cut another strip on the square as both teams were eager to gain as many points as possible with the end of the season drawing close. So it was to be a long and tedious wait until 2pm when the play was to get underway and with Adam losing the toss we were put into bat, the logic being to bowl us out cheaply on what looked like a wicket that was going to play up a bit.

To our benefit though, the wicket held firm, with the occasional pea roller, but nothing too dramatic. Gav and Smithy topped the line-up and Gav was soon underway playing a couple of sweet drives. Gav's downfall was to come prematurely however as his old nemesis the over stretched cover drive brought him to nick one to the keeper. Dave never looked comfortable at the crease and this was summed up when he missed a full toss on middle stump. The two wickets brought Prabsticks and Barnard to the crease though and both players looked to take control. Prabhu was the more aggressive of the two batsmen to begin with, and when he launched a lusty blow into the neighbours' garden early in his innings it was obvious he was seeing the ball well. Barnard got off to a slow start getting his eye in patiently, but when he got into the swing of things balls were screaming to the boundary. A quality 100 partnership was forged and the Unit could now think about setting a competitive total. When Prabhu finally departed for an impressive 70 it brought Danny "wakeup" Hare to the middle. He and Barnard didn't relent with the run rate though, and with 175 passed and 10 points safe in the bag it was now to the skipper to contemplate the declaration. 200 came and went and with the knowledge that we would have limited time to bowl due to the delayed start the skipper declared on 232 when Danny Hare was run out to some very sharp fielding in the covers, and Barnard just 15 short on what would have been a well deserved ton.

The total was extremely impressive in those conditions and it was the kind of grit and determination shown by the batsmen that was going to help the bowlers if they were going to bowl out the Calthorpe line-up.

A very nice tea was had and the boys prepared to take the field.

It was to be the dynamic duo of Whalli & Varley to open up with instructions from the skipper that we were here two take 10 wickets and if it wasn't happening early doors then he was going to try something else. With the wicket starting to show a bit of turn for Calthorpe at the end of our innings it wasn't going to be long before the Prabinator came into the attack. Varley got the first breakthrough with an early Yorker which beat the ever dangerous Darren (Shotgun). After ten overs it was time for the change as we knew we would only have 35 maximum to try and bowl them out. Prabhu came on for Whalli and the Rabbit far Varley as the unit was starting to pile on pressure with numerous dot balls. Prabhu got the next breakthrough quickly followed by a wicket from Dan. The wickets were falling at a steady rate and it was going to take something half decent from Calthorpe to stop us from cleaning them out. Danny finished his spell with three big wickets and was replaced by Willet bowling tight probing lines. Prabhu then came into his own and cleaned up the rest of the recognised batsmen. When the number nine arrived at the crease it was time for the unit to tighten the screw and the pressure was to much for the poor fella and in attempting a suicide run to stay off the strike gave his wicket away when all Calthorpe wanted now was to save face. With eight men down and the score a hopeless 80 it was down to the numbers eight and ten to try and block out the remaining ten overs. They were doing a spiffing job until the number ten batsmen fished at one down the leg-side and being caught behind the stumps by Herron off Tony's bowling. With nine down and a Varley wannabe arriving at number 11 the E's could smell victory and with five overs left it was unlikely there would be any other result with Prabhu bowling magical stuff from one end. Unfortunately Calthorpe's number eight Jenkins was up to the task of blocking it out.

Very frustrating in the end lads as we were by far the best team on the day we played with more conviction and determination than the oppo and we were robbed of ten points due to the time lost because of the weather. However not to worry as with only three games left if we play with that kind of spirit in our remaining games there is no one in this league that can beat us.

Looking at the league table it is noticeable that we have only lost 2 games this season only Osterley and HSM have lost fewer games and I cant remember us batting out this season to save a draw very often there is no reason we should be where we are in the league all we need to do in future is turn a few of the draws into wins that means a little more effort in the field week in week out, and we will be where we want to be, up there challenging for the title!!

COME ON LADS THREE WINS THE LAST THREE GAMES ITS WHAT WE DESERVE!! !!!BELIEF BOYS BELIEF!!!

Team: Herron, Smith, Mardell, Balachandaran, Barnard, D. Hare, Pattni, W. Khan, Willett, Cornwall, Varley

2nd XI vs.

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1st XI vs. Osterley

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2nd XI vs.

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