Saturday 2nd August 2008
Saturday 23rd August 2008

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Saturday 2nd August 2008

1st XI vs. Birkbeck College

Report by: Alan Barnard

Another weekend, another fixture, and let's be honest, none of the fixtures in this league are particularly easy. This week was Birkbeck College's turn to visit Hydeside, and on a day where it was likely that some time would be lost to the weather, it was important that we performed to the best of our ability to get the maximum number of points available. On winning the toss, and with a slightly damp wicket and overcast conditions, it was decided that we would field first, and try to restrict the visitors to a manageable total.

Things were going well after about 40 overs, with the score at about 140-4, but an excellent partnership from the Birkbeck no. 5 and no.6 took the game completely away from us. It goes to show how difficult it is to restrict sides on our wicket. In particular N. Maan batted well, blocking the good balls, and working the bad balls away, and then towards the end of his innings of 73 hitting a number of big shots to take the game away from us. At the end of 55 overs, we were facing a target of 257, which, while not impossible, was pretty improbably, given the time that we lost for rain earlier in the Birkbeck innings. Mention must go to Wali Khan, who bowled his 18 overs for just 29, and Tony Willett, who took 4-89 from 22.

After tea was taken, and play resumed, it became clear that we would only get 40 overs back, and Birkbeck were in defensive mode with their field settings, looking to defend, and take wickets that way, which wasn't a bad tactic given the circumstances. Despite Chris Arul's 38, and a brisk 16 from Hussein Shabbir, things never really got going, and it became clear that we would need to settle for the target of 175, and pick up the maximum batting points. A breezy 48 from Wali Khan set us well on the way to that, and a patient unbeaten 42 from Alan Barnard, as well as some late hitting from Adam Herron ensured that we finished on 184-4, with 13 points.

All in all, not a great day at the office, but we remain unbeaten. There are a number of sides that are breathing down our neck in the league standings, and we have to play them all before the end of the season (just 5 games now). I can't help but think that how we play in these couple of fixtures will eventually determine where we finish in the league. Can we be top at the end of the season? I think we can, although it will need a combination of some very good cricket, and some good fortune along the way. Here's hoping we have something to celebrate come September!

Arul, Beeden, Shabbir, Barnard, Khan, Herron, Willett, Sharma, Hare, Lawrence, Varley

Saturday 23rd August 2008

1st XI vs. Indian Gymkhana

Report by: Alan Barnard

This really was a day of 'what ifs' if ever I've seen one, with the chance to secure a win against one of the hardest sides to beat in the league handed to us on a plate, after some brilliant batting, and then thrown away by some poor decision making. Anyway, Indian Gymkhana were the opposition, and after travelling round to Isleworth we were pleased to see some impressive new changing rooms, and not too surprised to see a spinner friendly wicket had been prepared.

Winning the toss, skipper Lawrence decided that fielding was the best option, after consulting with his senior players, and the game began with umpire Patrick McLaughlan vociferously calling play from the bottom end in a style that he's made his own. Willett and Khan were the usual opening bowling pair, and settled into their rhythm pretty quickly, bowling a series of tight overs after a couple of sloppy early overs. In fact, it was Khan who made the first breakthrough, bowling Patel with a full swinger of a ball, but Tony Willett was to prove the most effective of the opening bowlers, as he proceeded to pick up 4 wickets for 54 in 17 excellent overs, including the two batsmen that caused us so much trouble at home, Jariwala and Chaudhary.

Things might have been so much better, had Mark Varley taken a tough chance to dismiss the opener, Khade, but it was not to be, and we were made to pay as he went on to score a fantastic 114, putting on 150 for the 6th wicket with Patel and taking the game seemingly out of our reach. A couple of late wickets from off-spinner Aravind Medur meant that we were able to stem the tide of runs, and a fantastic, yet almost totally luckless spell from Mark Varley also slowed things down. In fact, the hosts were able to declare on 236-8 with 9 balls to go before the 55 over mark, and knowing how tight their spinners bowl, it was always going to be a massively difficult task to secure anything other than a draw.

Tea was taken, in the clubhouse, and a plan formulated for the run chase. Aravind Medur opened for the second week running, after his excellent 88 the week before, whilst Dave Hinnigan returned to the top of the order after a few weeks out with injury. In fact, both batsmen batted superbly, taking the game to the Indian Gymkhana spinners, who were unsurprisingly brought on after 2, then 4 overs. Their superb stand of 116 in 26 overs meant that we were always just about in the hunt, and it was particularly enjoyable to see both batsmen use their feet to the spinners and hit cleanly over the top.

Just as things were starting to go really well, we lost a couple of wickets, but the incoming batsmen continued to bat positively, with Hussein Shabbir hitting a vast straight six, and Wali Khan doing what he does best, and putting away some big leg side hits. Despite a steady loss of wickets, we were managing to keep up with the required rate, and in some overs, even reduce it, as Danny Hare, and Wali Khan looked to close in on the target. It was a rash decision from Hare that saw him stumped when all we needed was singles from the last couple of overs, but the equation came down to us needing 4 to win from the last over with 4 wickets in hand, which became 2 to win from 5 balls with 3 wickets in hand after Barney (incorrectly with hindsight) scarified his wicket in a run out at the non strikers end to give Wali the strike.

It was a combination of bad shot selection, and poor running, as well as some excellent pressure bowling which saw us tie the game, with just 1 run, and 3 wickets coming from the last 3 balls, 2 of which were run outs. You have to hand it to the hosts, who stuck in there when everything seemed against them, but it was a bitter blow to our promotion hopes not to finish the game from the position that we were in, and you could tell from the dejection of our players, and the elation of the Gymkhana players as to who were the happier. Still, there are a number of positives to come out of this game. Willett's bowling was excellent, the openers of Medur and Hinnigan batted as well as I've seen for the last few years in very tough conditions for scoring quickly, and Khan and Hare hit the ball cleanly down the order. That said, we'll look back on this, and a couple of other games at the end of the season, and think that we could have done so much better under pressure.

Medur, Hinnigan, Shabbir, Khan, Willett, Herron, Hare, Barnard, Beeden, Varley, Lawrence