Saturday 31st July 2004
Saturday 24th July 2004
Saturday 17th July 2004
Saturday 10th July 2004
Saturday 3rd July 2004

Any views expressed in these reports are the views of the author, and may not necessarily reflect the views of Edmonton Cricket Club, its committee or its members. If you find anything offensive or inaccurate in the content of these reports, or if you have any queries reagrding the reports, please contact us via email, stating the report you're referring to and the date so that we can take any action deemed necessary.

Saturday 31st July 2004

1st XI vs. Mill Hill Village

Report by: Simon Roche

I think Saturday was a case of the day after the night before. After the usual post-BBQ shenanigans a number of the team looked decidedly jaded as they arrived at Hydeside on what was a scorching day. The exception to this was probably Captain Scarlett who seemed quite jaunty after his week long canal-boating holiday.

Wills duly won the toss and did what any good captain would do given the heat and decided to have a bat, the feeling was we could post a good total and put the pressure on Mill Hill who were desperate for a win to put them back into the championship reckoning.

Beeden and Roche opened the batting and after a slow start managed to get on top of the Mill Hill openers and put on 70 for the first wicket until Rochey perished to a tired looking cut shot which gave second slip some catching practice. Beeden continued to look very positive with Dodge, playing some lovely backfoot shots which brought him a well deserved 50.

The innings was moving along steadily at over three an over and with plenty of wickets in hand, it seemed just a matter of time until we would really get after the bowling and reach a decent total, however, Mill Hill had other ideas and their two spinners came on to bowl a very tight spell. After Beeden went, caught at deep square leg for 62. Barnard joined Dodge in the middle picking up singles here and there but neither could really get on top of the spinners. As the overs came and went the more we appeared to be struggling and wickets began to fall as a result culminating in one of their spinners grabbing a 3 wicket maiden.

At 168-7 off of 50 overs in strides Captain Marvel, who proceeds to smash the Mill Hill bowlers to all parts of the ground, ably assisted by Raj, in one of the best displays of six-hitting I have seen and surely proving that he should be batting higher than number eight. The last five overs turned the innings on its head yielding 53 runs and leaving us with a total of 221 and surely a chance of victory.....

..... Oh no.

All the good work in the first innings was laid to waste by a dire bowling and fielding performance in the first half of Mill Hill's innings. Doddsey and Varley opened up and looked dangerous, beating the edge on numerous occasions. The Mill Hill openers had an obscene amount of luck, the first 50 or so runs seemed to be exclusively scored through the slip and gully areas. But we were guilty of a couple of drops as well and heads seemed to go down very quickly despite the fact that it was a situation we had seen many times before at home i.e a team opens up brightly and then have collapsed as we keep the pressure on.

However, on this occasion rather than concentrating on our own game we seemed more intent on slagging off the opposition batsman, which rather than gearing us up seemed to have the completely opposite effect and our fielding went to pieces. Even the King of Spain managed to drop one off of his own bowling.

By the time the last 20 overs were due to start Mill Hill were sitting pretty at about 150-0 and our chances of even a wicket, let alone a win seemed very slim indeed. A quick teamtalk at drinks soon spurred us on and we began to play more like a team. Raj soon took a quick wicket and the Rabbit came on a bowled an impressive spell. For some inexplicable reason Mill Hill began to panic and try to slog their way to victory, slumping to 210-6 with only a couple of overs left, but ultimatey they squeezed home with an over left to spare.

Although we could take positives from the second half fielding performance - conceding only 75 runs and taking 6 wickets in 19 overs, the inconsistency with which we are playing is frustrating. Despite claiming to be the best team in this league we have claimed only 34 points from a maximum of 90 against the top 3 teams. This is made even worse by the fact that we are still very much in the hunt despite these results. We seem to have lost the art of winning but if we can rediscover it for the run-in against the weakest teams in the league promotion is still on.

3rd XI vs. Twickenham

Report by: Linserd Miller

It was a very hot summer's day and a long journey to the other end of Middlesex to play Twickenham, thank goodness for air conditioned cars.

The coin was tossed and again the Edmonton captain(Miller) called incorrectly. Twickenham decided to bat and Edmonton after an eternity travelling across the county of Middlesex had to field in the hot humid condition.

The bowling was opened by Thomas and Captain Kirk. The usually, reliable Thomas who is like a wind up toy, that you wind up and let go was not his usual accurate self, he was spraying like a sprinkler. In a moment of inspiration, which seems to come so easily to the captain, he decided to switch the bowlers around. Maish, was brought on for an over in order to switch the bowlers to the opposite ends. In his first over at the sightscreen end, Thomas produced a beast of a ball, which the opener edged to the keeper, who took an excellent catch.

Thomas found his rhythm and was bowling a good line and length just outside the off stump. At the other end Captain Kirk was having problem maintaining a good line and length. Captain Kirk was removed from the attack and replaced by Miller. This combination proved to be very effective, Miller bowling accurately kept the batsmen under control. The pressure began to tell on the batsmen and wickets began to fall at a steady rate. The pitch was producing irregular bounce and the occasional ball was stopping. Despite the problem with the pitch anything that was pitched too short are too far outside the off stump was summarily despatched to the boundary, therefore the bowlers had to maintain a good line and length, otherwise the batsmen would rack up too many runs.

Thomas and Miller continued to bowl well in tandem, and eventually bowled out the opposition for 158. The wickets were shared equally between Thomas and Miller, Thomas taking 5 for 50 and Miller taking 5 for 52. Apparently, during the tea break, Miller was heard murmuring that he would have to ask his wife for extra pocket money, as he had to buy drinks for the team.

It was now Edmonton's turn to bat, Captain Kirk and Panchal opened the batting, it was not a very good start by Edmonton. Captain Kirk was out in the second over following an excellent running catch by the captain of Twickenham. The fall of the wicket brought in Baker, who produced an excellent knock of 61, before he got an unplayable ball and lost his middle stump. Panchal was playing the holding role, playing straight and giving everything a dead bat. Panchal was hit, twice by balls that leapt off a length, but he never gave up, he defended doggedly, ensuring he did not let the bowlers have a sniff. This was on a pitch that was deteriorating rapidly; thank heavens for our home ground. At the fall of Baker's wicket, Bennett came in, he started slowly, getting use to the two paced pitch, once he got into his stride, he started to hit the boundary on a regular basis.

After a useful partnership by Panchal and Bennett, Panchal was eventually out LBW, being hit in front by one that kept very low. This brought in Smith, who scratched around for 5, before he was put out of his misery by the umpire. Apparently he was hit in front by a ball that kept low, although other sources indicated that the umpire gave Smith out because, the umpire wanted to go home and with Smith monopolising the strike, it was unlikely the match would end soon, even though only a few runs was required.

The fall of Smith brought in Reid, who hit the winning run, with Bennett not out on 41. Edmonton winning by 6 wickets, final score, Edmonton 159 for 4.

Men of the Match: Thomas and Miller (Judges could not separate them)

Team: Miller, Bennett, Captain Kirk, Panchal, Maish, Reid, Thomas, Baker, Benedetti, Brown, Smith.

Sunday 1st XI vs. Osterley

Report by: Adam Herron

On what was one of the hottest days of the year, having won the toss I decided to make the bold move of fielding first as we always (with the exception of Winchmore Hill!!!!) chase well. Opening the bowling was our Saturday 1st Eleven opening pair, Dodds and Varley and they carried on from where they finished off the previous day by getting edged all over the place by a shaky looking opening pair. Mark ‘Clothesline’ Varley eventually got a ball to do something with a consistent and good line and had the opener plum LBW. However, the runs were still coming thick and fast and the next wicket fell on 100 off about 15 overs after Danny ‘Mushy’ Mushchamp came on and got a wicket with his first ball (c! aught Alan ‘Captain’ Barnard). The opener and the number 3 then set about edging but also punishing some poor bowling from first Mushy at the top end and then when he came off, Danny ‘Little Cheese’ Billson (quote of the day after the number 4 hit a beautiful late cut for 4, ‘Oh your having a laugh!!’). Meanwhile, from the bottom end Ses ‘The Legend’ Jayasena was bowling very well but with no reward for his efforts as the batsmen couldn’t get to grips with his little away swingers and were edging him all over the place. With the score now at 215 off around 30 overs things weren’t looking very good and a score of well over 320 was a distinct possibility. It was time for a change at the top end and having bowled Dave ‘The Cat’ Hinnigan a few times before with some success I called upon him again to produce something special. After Ses had remo! ved the number 3 LBW for 105, ‘The Cat’ came on and bowled a nagging l ine and length and took the desired wicket when the number 4 played a poor shot and was caught by Ciaran ‘30 minute incident’ Dodds. Ses bowled out his 10 overs to a rapturous applause and Varley, who was eager to come back on near enough straight after being taken off, duly came back on. ‘The Cat’ took another wicket (bowled) and Varley also got one (caught Captain Barnard). We were now revitalised and had culled the runs with Osterley on 260 for 5 with 5 overs to go. Then came some special bowling from the ‘Clothesline’ with 2 wickets in 2 balls, both beautifully executed in-swinging yorkers that Darren Gough would have been proud of!! Unfortunately, he couldn’t find that hat trick ball but never the less he was the pick of the bowlers with a 4 for having bowled out his 10 overs. Doddsy was brought back on and eventually finished off the ta! il end with some straight bowling leaving Edmonton to chase 278 off 45 overs, a total that had inspired us to great things against Hanwell some weeks earlier.

The Legend opened with Gavin ‘Good One’ Mardell and with some lusty blows from the Legend we were up to 6 and over from the first 4 overs just behind the required rate of 7. Things took a turn for the worse when ‘Good one’ missed a good one and had his middle stump uprooted and cracked in the process!! Understandably upset he took a few seconds to leave his crease and was then told by Osterley’s skipper to run along home like a good little boy, causing a little rumpus with the ‘Clothesline’ and some of the Osterley team. This sort of behaviour is unwarranted and can potentially ruin a good game of cricket between two very competitive teams and I was particularly ! sad at the fact that it was there Captain who was guilty of this wrongdoing. A couple of overs later ‘The Legend’ was caught on the boundary when trying to move things on a bit after we had become bogged down by some decent bowling. Enter ‘Captain’ Barnard who joined ‘The Cat’ who was looking in good nick and was starting to get going. A runner was called for the ‘The Cat’ as he had injured his leg practicing a cover drive before going out to bat at number 3!!!! So ‘Good one’ rejoined the fray and was put to work straight away by ‘Captain’ Barnard who was looking to run everything in order to get the score ticking over and nearly lapped a clearly unfit ‘Good one’ several times!!!! ‘The Cat’ was in full flow now and hit a very good straight six back over the bowlers head, but unfortunately he misse! d a straight one and was bowled out for a good 47. The score was now 123 for 3 off 26 overs and we required just over 8 an over so I wasn’t feeling very good about our chances if I got out as I was the last recognised batsmen with 3 bats who on there day can score lots of runs but if they don’t come off it would be game over. I started positively looking to push the ball around, exploiting the many gaps that had opened up and knowing that whatever I called the ‘Captain’ was always going to make it. We were ticking along ok but were still behind the run rate and so I decided to take on the bottom end off spinner and tried to hit him back over the top for six but didn’t middle it and it flew ominously to a fielder at long on. However, as the guy caught the ball he carried on walking backwards and duly stood on the line, six runs!! ! After a stern talking to from the ‘Captain’, who told me in no uncertain terms to keep my head and keep pushing the ball around and not to give my wicket away, I got back to the task in hand. The ‘Captain’ was now in full flow making 1’s into 2’s and 2’s into 3’s and hit a lovely looking cover drive for four where upon he turned around to me and said ‘that was a beautiful stoke’!! He then made his way onto a half century, quickly followed by myself and it was game on. We were going at around 8 an over and when it was 5 overs to go we needed about 50 to win. The opening bowler was brought back on in the hope of pegging us back and restricting the singles and two’s that were coming so easily but duly bowled four leg side wides off his first ball!! We eventually took 14 off the over and gradua! lly got the run rate down to a run a ball. So with the last over to be bowled we needed 5 to win. The field remained the same as it had done all the way through and so I knew that we could get the runs in singles. However, the bowler had other ideas and dropped his first ball short which I gladly rocked back to and smashed for 4 over mid wickets head!! 1 to win from 5 balls was never in doubt and I pushed the next ball in between cover and point and set off for an easy single which subsequently sparked lots of loud cheering from the rest of the team on the sidelines!!

So, in the end a great win which leaves us at least joint top depending on how Brondesbury got on against Radlett and how Hanwell got on against Bushey.

Well done lads, lets go on to win this league as we are well capable of doing so!!

Team: Herron, Jayasena, Mardell, D Hinnigan, Barnard, D Bilson, Goddard, Benedetti, C Dodds, Muschamp, Varley

Saturday 24th July 2004

3rd XI vs. Winchmore Hill

Report by: Linserd Miller

Captain Kirk discovers new territory

It was a nice pleasant day, the first day of the summer I was playing cricket without a sweater. We were playing our near neighbours Winchmore Hill at home.

Edmonton won the toss and decided to field. The bowling was opened by Thomas and Cornwall; Winchmore Hill made a very good start, with the batsmen attacking anything short, or outside the off stump. The first bowling change was made with the score over 100, when the captain (Miller) bravely, brought himself on. He removed Cornwall from the attack, switched Thomas to the other end.

In Miller's third over he removed one of the openers for 75, with the score on 142. This proved to be the turning point of the match. Wickets began to fall on a regular basis, with Thomas taking 2 wickets, when Thomas began to falter, He was replaced by Cornwall. Miller and Cornwall were bowling a good line and length and keeping pressure on the batsmen. The scoring rate fell, and the last 8 wickets fell for 120 runs, Miller taking 3 Wickets and Cornwall 4. At the end of 52 overs, Wichmore Hill had scored 263 for 9 wickets.

Panchal and Captain Kirk opened the batting for Edmonton. Edmonton made a blistering start, scoring 100 runs in 12 overs, with Captain Kirk, going berserk. He was smashing the ball all over the ground; he lost 2 balls during the course of his innings, with balls sailing into the A10 on numerous occasions. Panchal at the other end was all technique, placing the ball deftly between the fielders and also scoring at a very good rate.

Panchal was bowled with the score on 132 and his contribution 41. Captain Kirk continued to put the bowlers to the sword, and in a flash had scored his first century at any level of cricket (Captain Kirk discovers new territory). Captain Kirk was finally out for 105, with Baker contributing a very good 40. Edmonton won the match scoring 269 for 6 wickets, with Greenway, hitting a six to win the match after Edmonton had lost 2 wickets with the scores tied.

Man of the Match: Captain Kirk

Team: Miller, Bennett, Captain Kirk, Panchal, Maish, Cornwall, Thomas, Baker, Greenaway, Brown, Tariq.

Saturday 17th July 2004

1st XI vs. Southall

Report by: Matt Worton

Hydeside 11.30am Saturday 17th July 04: 1st X1 practice. After the disappointment of failing to clinch a crucial victory against league leaders Turnham Green last week, it was agreed that a practice session would be useful in our preparations for this week's equally crucial game against Southall, a team who had leapfrogged us into second place after their fourth consecutive victory the week before.

I was extremely pleased to see the effort of all those attending, a sure sign of players commitment to erasing the memory of last weeks performance. Unfortunately the one area we did not work much on was our batting: and it showed.

We were put into bat in helpful bowling conditions with a tricky pitch and two very useful opening bowlers to contend with. We never really got out of the starting blocks. An innings should be based on a solid platform, followed by some middle order punch providing smooth acceleration through the innings culminating in a respectable score. Frankly we dismally failed to put this into practice. Alan Barnard and Adam Herron came together at 39-3 and set about some damage limitation/repair. However most of the damage was irreparable as after 32 overs we were 63-3. Adam and Alan started to get into the groove though, picked up the scoring rate and our prospects for winning this game improved by the over. Unfortunately Adam got himself out after reaching a deserved half-century as the need to push the score along became a necessity. Alan was seventh man out, falling just short of an equally deserved 50. In between and after Alan and Adam though, Danny Hare, Wills, Raj, Matty and Varley contributed very little to a way below par score of 165 all out.

All hope was not lost, we are a combative cricket side and largely deserve our position at the top end of league. However critical I can be about our batting display, I cannot be more fulsome in my praise for the way we took the game back to Southall in the field. We bowled and fielded as if this was a must win game, which unsurprisingly it was. First wicket to fall was their opener, a top bat who scored a ton against us in the first game of the season. He was undone by a sublime piece of skill from Barnard who swooped low as the bat took a quick single and threw down the stumps whilst still on the ground. Matty removed the other opener, caught by Wills at second slip and after another run out (engineered by Billy) Southall were 21-3: Game on!

Wickets continued to come at regular intervals but we couldn't effectively stem the steady flow of runs. Someone commented to me after the game that the wickets always seemed to fall two or three overs too late and to be fair Southall never really fell behind. In the end the game just slipped away from us as their No. 6 scored a good, if not chanceless 50 as Southall got home by 3 wickets with 11 balls to spare.

In conclusion I would firstly like to offer my congratulations to Southall for an excellent all round performance, most notable in the field. The match was played in a good spirit and they are a good bunch of lads. I was displeased to see some of our team walk off without applauding the opposition. We need to remember that sport is sport and sportsmanship plays an equally important part of the game than merely winning or losing. Yes they ran onto the pitch, yes they shouted and hollered in the changing room but frankly we would not have reacted any differently to the way they did. They knew how big this game was: and they won-fair play!

This brings me to my final point. The last two games have been massive for us yet we haven't performed anywhere near our best. 60 points from these two games would have meant promotion was ours for the taking. We got a total of 23 points. We now find ourselves 27 points adrift of 2nd place and only 31 points clear of Mill Hill Village in 4th. Let us all remember that to play 1st team cricket should be an honour. You don't play as an individual, you don't even play as a team, you play as a club. If we are successful that then feeds back through the club. The 2nds and 3rds have their own motivations and perhaps we should take a leaf out of their books as they have outperformed us this season as they sit proudly at the top of their respective leagues. I expect there to be a great deal of soul-searching this week. We have to raise our game to the required level. No-one should ever walk off a cricket field win, lose or draw wondering if they could have given any more for their team.

So that's it then onward and upward, seven games to go. Let's not let this season be another one of regret at the end. I must say the feedback I've received this week has been positive. The will to win and the attitude to see this through is obvious but this has to now be converted into performance on the field. No more slip ups and no more mistakes: COME ON THE E-UNITS!

Team: Willett, Beeden, Roche, Billimoria, Barnard, Herron, Hare, Rajesh, Worton, Dodds, Varley

2nd XI vs. Indian Gymkhana

Report by: Martin Loveday

The journey was quite swift as there was not the normal traffic problems. We got to the ground to see Khazi standing around. When asked if he had looked at the pitch he laughed and said it was a shocking wicket, probably the worst we have played on in the last 3 years. Everyone else arrived and the normal warm-up and fielding practices took place on the outfield. Kev went to the wicket (if you can call it that) for the toss and came back with the news that they had put us into bat. It was quite worrying when Kev asked their skipper how they got on last week and he did not know and that was the same for most of the players, so we knew that they had loaded their side with a few players from the first team.

Dom and Asif padded up as normal and prepared themselves for what was to come. The bowling from the start was pretty poor and wayward but when the ball was in the right areas the ball was seaming square, bouncing or not bouncing. I think it would be fair to say that it was going to be a hard days work to set us up for the day. Dom was looking more comfortable just as he played and missed a good yorker and was given lbw with the score on about 35. Khazi joined Asif at the crease and was in a positive mood. Asif hit a few more runs to take the score onto 56 before he was caught behind off a ball that had a little extra bounce and drew him into a cut shot. Jilesh was next in and didn't look in any trouble in the middle. Khazi was beginning to realise that the runs were not going to come easily and had to pick his shots. They started moving the balls into the gaps and Jilesh was just getting himself set when he gave his wicket away after creaming a long hop straight to extra cover who caught it at the second attempt. It was a bad wicket to lose as Jilesh had just played some lovely strokes and was starting to look set and he and Khazi were rotating the left and right hand partnership beautifully. The score had moved on and we were now in a position of 4 batting points. James went in at five and the expectations were high after the past couple of weeks but was soon walking back after he received a very good ball which turned and bounced and left him absolutely no chance of getting the shoulder of the bat out of the way and giving the keeper a sharp caught behind. Ikbal then came and went within a short space of time as he drove at a wide full toss and edged the ball up in the air to point.The score was around about the 135 mark when the returning Mini Smith joined Khazi at the crease.

It was good to see that Mini had not lost any of his confidence and carried on where he left of whilst looking at ease on a tough track. He and Khazi who was looking a little tired out there in the heat were working the ball around the large outfield.175 up and the boys started to playing more freely and looking for the big shots after there spinners had slowed the run rate down. The 200 mark was reached and full batting points were in the bag. Khazi fell for 92 just missing out on his ton but non the less a very important and hard worked innings which put us in the position of taking the game to the opposition. A few smaller partnerships were had with Stav and Danny helping the run rate along to strengthen our position in the game before the skipper joined Mini at the crease and although he hadn't batted for a while on a Saturday he looked at ease working the ball around. The declaration came after 54 overs with the score on 246 for 8. Twickenham and North London may want to take note of how to play the game. If we can go out on that terrible pitch and grind out 246 in 54 overs then they should look at the way they have approached the game when coming to our ground and not even attempting to post a score on the best wicket in the league (a batting paradise), then I suppose it just goes to show how poor they are.

I think its fair to say that they definitely seemed to lack some quality in the field and depth in bowling as they heavily relied on their left arm spinner who bowled well and the young lad who I think must have been about 13 but bowled very well, however this did give an inkling into how they might go about their batting.

Tea was had with a mixture of spring rolls lots of sandwiches and cakes.

Stav was given the new ball at one end and Loveday would bowl from the other. From the start Stav was bowling a good line and was getting some good bounce which was causing the opposition quite a few problems. Loveday at the other found an extra yard of pace from the week previous but unfortunately could not find a good length on a helping wicket and was dispatched for his first couple of overs. However it was Loveday who got the breakthrough with a well bowled slower ball and the catch was well held by Ikbal at gully diving forward. Loveday was soon replaced though and Ikbal took over the mantle. Their batsmen were not hanging around and quite clearly they were going to have a go. With the score at 50 for 1 after 7 overs they got the start they wanted. Ikbal got the next wicket a lovely swinging yorker that hit the batsman right in front of the stumps and was given lbw.Stav got his well deserved reward when he Dom took a good catch at mid off. A partnership was beginning to grow although it was all down to their no.3 and skipper was next and proved that he could put bat to ball both going for his strokes or picking the gaps in the field. Stav was bowling very well and kept causing the batsman problems with a few near misses. In the end though it took a full toss that was missed timed and popped up to Jilesh at point for a routine catch. The top 3 batsman could all play their shots and did as the opposition moved on 140 for 4.

By now Kev had replaced Ikbal and was bowling very well also confusing the batsman almost every delivery. The two spinners were bowling very well with a good mixture complimenting one another's styles. Stav continued to be unlucky despite having 2 wickets but it was Kev who turned the screw. Kev took his first as the batsman was bowled off stump trying to cut a ball that was never there to be cut. Then it was a cheeky quicker ball that accounted for the next wicket. Men were getting round the bat as we closed in and put the pressure on. Not that they were needed as Kev's next victim was bamboozled when he left the ball down legside and it came round and hit the leg stump. 7 down and obviously very little left Stav got the eighth wicket with one of his not so good deliveries that was a little bit short and as he attempted to play a big pull shot he top edged it and was caught by Kev at shortish mid wicket. 5 men round the bat for Kev's next over but we were not needed as with his fifth ball of the over he got another lbw as he played across the line to a straight delivery and was plumb in front. We now had 13 balls to get the last wicket as their youngster came into bat. But victory was claimed when Kev got the final wicket with the first ball of the last over and very well held caught and bowled even if it was off a full toss. the cheers went up and the mighty E's rejoiced in a well deserved victory as the oppo were bowled out for 154. All credit must go to the oppo as they played to win and had their moments in the game but we were always a little bit too strong for them. After a few weeks of playing teams with no ability or drive to win it was nice to play a competitive game of LEAGUE cricket and not that village shit that Twickenham and North London play.

We got into the bar quickly got ourselves tucked into a corner with a jug of lager followed swiftly by a lovely curry. Before setting back to Hydside for Doddsy's 18th birthday party. Well done to the boys it was a good win although maybe we wasn't at our best, but here's looking forward to a good game and crucial game against birckbeck college on Saturday and hopefully another 30 points.

WALK TALL YOU E-UNITS...............................

Team: Lawrence, Carr, Harte, Elia, Loveday, Muschamps, Asif, Khan, Pahtani, Mardell, Hazell.

3rd XI vs. Acton

Report by: Linserd Miller

The Return of the Prodigal son

It was a pleasant day, the sun shone for most of the day, but there was no joy for Edmonton. The first half of the season completed and the second return match was taking place Acton against Edmonton. Going into the match, the team was very confident, as we had turned them over easily at home, so playing at Acton should be a challenge the team would be equal to.

The toss was spun and again the captain called incorrectly, with indecent haste, the opposition decided to bat. The captain opened the bowling with Thomas and Captain Kirk. The bowlers maintained a good line, kept the scoring rate down and generally kept control of the game, but wickets were not falling. Thomas took the first wicket, after the openers had put on 30 runs. Captain Kirk was removed from the attack and replaced by Maish, who bowled a very good line, but had no luck. The captain then brought himself on in place of Thomas.

What followed next was the was the most fascinating aspect of the days play. We had two completely different players batting, their captain watchful and defensive, not getting the ball off the square and their number 3 aggressive trying to smash almost every ball to the boundary. Maish bowling a good length, the captain accurate spin bowling trying to contain the batsmen. The 50 partnership came up with their captain only scoring 5 runs. The number 3 was 50 not out and his confidence growing with each ball bowled. It was all quite on the Edmonton front, the score was now over 100 with only 1 wicket down, the captain knew his team was looking to him for inspiration and he had to do something otherwise Acton was going to run amok and take the game out of Edmonton's reach.

The captain decided to switch end, he removed Maish from the bowling and brought on Cornwall from the end he (the captain) was bowling. Cornwall had not played for the past 4 weeks as apparently he went to Barbados, the home of fast bowlers to be trained in the art of fast bowling (for those not aware, this is a small country in the West Indies that has produced more fast bowlers per capita than any other country in the world, e.g. Malcolm Marshall, Joel Garner, Sylvester Clarke, Wayne Daniel, Wesley Hall, Charlie Griffith (older generation) Tino Best and Fidel Edwards (current generation) etc. By this time Cornwall was fuming, after spending all that dosh to go to Barbados, and now he was being brought on as the 5th bowler.

Cornwall with all his energies focused, he took his frustration, out on the Acton batsmen. In his first over he cleaned up their number 3, bowling his thunderbolts. At one end we had flight and science and the other raw space and reverse swing. This was to prove a deadly combination, with the last 9 wickets falling for less than a hundred runs. The captain was heard muttering during the tea break, how his master plan had worked. Apparently, the plan was to wind up Cornwall so bad, that he would run through the opposition. Acton was bowled out for 205 with Cornwall taking 6 wickets all bowled. Edmonton went to tea quite confident they would now win the game, time being the only factor.

Edmonton opened the batting with Captain Kirk and Panchal; it was a very good start for Edmonton. Captain Kirk had smashed 5 boundaries in 2 overs from the opening bowler, while at the other end Panchal was facing Jolly, the spin bowler who was turning the ball square. I have not seen such attacking field placing for a spin bowler, not even in a test match, especially at the start of an innings. The opening partnership had reached 30 when disaster occurred; Panchal was caught in the slips off Jolly. Jolly was bowling with three slips and everyone one else around the bat. Panchal had done well to survive 3 overs. Edmonton had not come up against an opposition bowler of such class. It turns out, Jolly, was their overseas player. The very next over Captain Kirk was caught on the boundary, going for one shot too many.

The score was now 30 for 2, it was clear that all Edmonton could hope for now was a draw. Jolly was turning it square at one end, while at the other end, the bowling was pretty ordinary. The plan, was to try and survive against Jolly and pick up runs at the other end to get some batting points. This plan did not work either, as batsmen in their haste to cash in at the other end gave away their wickets. Acton seeing our panic against Jolly and trying to buy wickets brought on their pie chuckers. Smithy was heard cursing as he walked off, when one of the pie chuckers toss the ball so high in the air that it took an eternity to reach him, but somehow he managed to top edge the full toss to the wicketkeeper. Edmonton had now lost 5 wickets for 70 runs and Jolly had only taken 2 tickets as everyone was trying to survive against him and were throwing wickets away at the other end.

Edmonton somehow managed to escape with a draw, and ended the game on 96 for 7 wickets. Lessons learnt, never underestimated the opposition, and learn how to play a good spin bowler. I trust Edmonton do not play as badly again, and this was a one off

Man of the Match: Cornwall

Team: Miller, Bennett, Captain Kirk, Panchal, Maish, Cornwall, Tariq, Smithy, Gosai, Thomas, Baker.

Saturday 10th July 2004

1st XI vs. Turnham Green

Report by: Alan Barnard

As we made our way round the North Circular to play Turnham Green at the Fullers Ground on Saturday, it quickly became apparent that we may not be able to fit a game in, as we passed though several heavy showers, punctuated by strong sunshine. On getting to the ground, the tarpaulin style covers meant that the wicket was dry, and looking in reasonable condition, and Wills won the toss, and had no hesitation in inserting Green on a track that from past experience had got easier to bat on as the day went on.

Doddsey and Matty opened up, and the Green openers looked comfortable, capitalising on anything short pitched, to move the score along at about 3.5 runs an over. It was hardly inspiring stuff from Edmonton, as the first of two rain breaks forced us off. With no wickets down, Rajesh was brought on from the bottom end, and started to extract a degree of turn from the track with his controlled slow left arm spinners.

Northern was given a blast from the top end, and looked threatening and wayward in equal measure. Rajesh took the first of his wickets thanks to a simple catch from Barney at mid on, and the run rate began to slow as he bowled the right lines to make it tough to score for the batsmen. Wills replace Northern from the top, and settled into an excellent rhythm - it really was as good as spell as you're likely to see, as the batsmen seemed unwilling to take any risks against line and length bowling.

Barney and Herring combined smartly to seal a run-out from deep backward square, and with the run rate drying up, and the pressure building on the batsmen Rajesh picked up another couple as Herring took a sharp stumping, and Wills plucked a routiene catch at mid off. Things were swinging back further our way, and Green struggles to assert themselves in the last 15 overs.

They stuttered to 167-7 from 55 with Rajesh bowling beautifully for his 6-37, taking his last 3 wickets in the last over of the inning for just 1 run off the bat. Wills from the other end bowled equally well, going at just under 3 an over for his 13, and was unlucky not to get anything in the wickets column. Another sharp rain shower at tea meant that we were unlikely to get more than 38 overs back, on a track that we'd already shown was tough to score runs on if the bowling was in the right areas.

Rochey kicked the innings off with Tim, but neither opener lasted long as they fell to a combination of poor shots and sharp fielding. Dodgy and Herring came to the crease, and started to build a promising partnership when both were victim of suspect umpiring decisions, claiming (quite rightly it seemed) that they did not hit either of their caught behind dismissals.

This left Barney and Rabbit in, and they ticked the score on nicely, until Dan played a rash shot and was bowled. With 6 an over required, Wills came in and looked positive, until his was run out by a direct hit. Raj came and went as did Matty, and things were now looking more like a draw, as Wills gave the instruction fmo the boundary to get the 150 batting points. Doddsey chased a wide one on the penultimate ball, and was dismissed by a very sharp slip catch.

Barney, at the non-strikers end was wondering what had hit him, as he had almost run out of partners. Northern walked out confidently, and played something resembling a cover drive to ensure that we had a fairly even share of the points. On the face of it, a bit of a disappointment, but we took more points than we would have done, had they not had covers. Southall next week, and then it's going to be a tough run-in, as we play team that see we're up the top, and want to beat us even more. I'd like to think that we're up to the challenge - let's raise out game and make sure I'm proved right.

Willett, S Roche, Beeden, D Hinnigan, Herron, Barnard, D Hare, Rajesh, Worton, C Dodds, Varley.

2nd XI vs. North London

Report by: Pat Carr

THE LONG BAD SATURDAY!!!

We won the toss and decided to field.

Monster opened from one end and Prabhu, in his farewell appearance, bowled from the other. The guys bowled well and contained the batsmen without too much trouble. The overs were ticking away fast and the batters were in no rush to score. A Twickenham repeat was on the cards. A couple of wickets fell and Geoff Boycott and his twin brother occupied the crease, without attempting to score for an eternity. Hydeside, as we all know and love, is a batting paradise. The fact that NLCC found it so tough is a testament to their cricketing abilities. The 47/8ish over point saw the heavens open and the covers applied. The score had rocketed to around 132-4. It was 3.55pm. Tea could have been taken but the NL Skipper decided to wait (I wonder why). 35 mins later we were back on the field, tea-less. They batted on until 5.30ish and after some out and out slogging ended on a total of 246.

In the last 21 overs NL scored 110 runs – What the f**k were they playing at all afternoon.

Words were exchanged and tea was finally taken. Hells Bells was berating one of the NL players for being exceptionally rude to one of our tea ladies. It is a measure of NL’s snake like attitude that they have to vent their aggression at girls and not apply them on the cricket field.

Were were left with the princely sum of 36 overs to ‘make a game of it’. We only needed just under 7 an over. We could do it!

The Rock and Massif started positively and got us off to a good start. The heavens opened once again and we left the field. We needed to make an official game of it (25 overs) so the non cricketing NLCC didn’t get the 10 points for an abandoned game. When the rain stopped we had already received 11 overs and there was just enough time to get in the required 14 more overs.

Our target was 175 which meant we needed 122 from 14 overs, 8.7 per over – Never say never. Rock departed and Prabhu came to the crease and hit some lusty blows. Massif was out next and Mr B took over smashing the ball to all parts. Prabhu was caught and James H entered the fray – James, for the second time in 3 weeks demolished the bowling to all parts, his masterpiece was 25 from one over. We passed the 175 runs with 3.5 overs remaining – picture the scene – Carnage!

Well done boys!!!

There were some reluctant hand shakes at the end of this debacle. NL did not stay for a drink and chat (at least Twickenham had the decency to socialise). NL were probably far too embarrassed to show their faces in a proper cricketers environment. They are only 60 points behind us now so lets watch for a late surge from them!!!

We will now change our tactics and not allow this to happen again. If some teams are happy to wallow in mid table mediocrity season after season then good luck to them – We are not content with survival, we are winners!

Thanks Mr D for umpiring what was a test of patience to say the least! – Cheers Big Yin!

Team: Beefy, Khazi, Mr B, Massif, the Rock, Jil, Jimmy H, Stavmeister, Trouble, Monster and Billy the Kid.

3rd XI vs. Mill Hill Village

Report by: Linserd Miller

It was another overcast day; the weather forecast was not very good. The captain, Miller, was hoping to win the toss against Mill Hill Village, ask them to bat, then bowl them out quickly and then go with all guns blazing to get the runs quickly, before the rain arrives.

For apparently the first time this season, the captain won the toss and put his cunning plan into action. The bowling was opened by Thomas and Baker, it was steady bowling, but wickets were not falling quickly enough for the captain. With the score at 62 for 1, he removed Baker from the bowling and put himself on to bowl his accurate but deadly spin bowling.

The first over from the captain was his usual maiden over; in his next over he bowled the opener for 42. He then continued to take wickets almost at will. He was ably supported by Thomas who took three wickets. Thomas was removed after bowling 15 overs and replaced by Greenaway. The twin spin kings were no bowling in tandem in order to get through the overs quickly and also to bowl out Mill Hill Village quickly. In a moment of madness, when the captain felt the first trickle of rain, with 8 wickets down for 89 runs, the captain removed himself from the bowling attack. He instructed Captain Kirk, his fastest bowler to clean up the tail before the rain came down, by bowling fast and straight to the tail enders. Captain Kirk had other ideas, he bowled his thunderbolts at express pace, but no where near the stumps, and the only people in danger were the slip fielders. Apparently, the wicketkeeper offered his gloves to second slip, as he was heard to say, you need the gloves more than I do.

The captain removed Captain Kirk after one over; apparently the slip fielders said that Captain Kirk had one over too many. The captain took over from Captain Kirk and in his first over had another wicket. The rain came down and the teams went off for an early tea. Shortly after tea, the game resumed and the captain took the final wicket in his first over after tea, Mill Hill Village being bowled out for 115. The captain bowled 12 overs, taking 5 wickets for 17 runs. The first part of the plan had been completed; it was now up to the batsmen to knock off the runs before the rain came again.

The opening batsmen went out, under instruction to knock off the runs quickly to ensure 20 points for Edmonton to keep them top of the table. The batsmen did not disappoint. Edmonton lost their only wicket at 43, when in the push for quick runs Panchal was bowled for 18. Captain Kirk and Baker completed the win for Edmonton, knocking the rest of the runs off. Baker was not out on 41, and Captain Kirk not out for 42. Another good win for Edmonton as their unbeaten league run continues, with 7 wins, 2 draws and 1 abandoned game.

Man of the Match: Miller (Captain)

Team: Miller, Bennett, Captain Kirk, Panchal, Billson, Goddard, Brown, Benedetti, Greenaway, Thomas, Baker.

Saturday 3rd July 2004

1st XI vs. Calthorpe

Report by: Alan Barnard

What a game! I challenge anyone that claims that cricket is a boring sport to sit through the tension, excitement and out and out jubilation that the E-Unit went through this Saturday just gone and stand by their claim. What can only be described as a must-win game started badly, when Wills lost the toss as he seems to be doing so often this season, but Calthorpe didn't do what we expected them to, and decided to bat on what looked to be another Hydeside belter.

I think this decision was based around them trying to get maximum batting points, and using 55 overs to bat us out of the game, with them picking up 5 points for the draw along the way. Given that our game plan was to bowl 55 (or preferably less) and restrict them to as low a total as possible, I think both sides can be happy with the visitors batting first. Matty opened up from the top end, and looked good straight away, whilst Doddsey took a couple of overs to get into his rhythm, but soon settled down.

Calthorpe's skipper, a very good bat was looking to be as positive as ever, and may as well have been the sole run contributor in the opening partnership, as the No. 2 struggled to find his feet. A couple of quick wickets followed, as Doddsey picked up one, and then some good work from Dodgy Dave H capitalised on a slip from the opening bat, resulting in a run-out. At 40-2, things were looking good for Edmonton, and Rajesh and Danny H were introduced to stifle the run-rate in the same way that they had done the previous weekend.

Things started to get a little bit sloppy from here on, our fielding was not up to it's usual standards, and we let the Calthorpe batsmen get away from a us a little, as they played by numbers against Raj, and capitalised on some uncharacteristically wayward bowling from Danny H to accelerate. We are normally so sharp when it comes to taking catches, but we put a few key ones down, which really wasn't good enough, and is something that absolutely must improve if we're to gain promotion.

Just when our frustration was coming to a head, Rajesh got one to do a bit, and bowled their No. 4, who took the interesting decision of standing his ground claiming that Herron behind the stumps had knocked the bails off with his pads. This decision was particularly strange, because if Herring had done that, he managed to do so in such a way that the bails ended up about 2 yards behind him. As the No. 5 had already made his way to the wicket, Barney felt obliged to politely* point out that it was a game of cricket, and we don't normally play it with 3 batsmen at the crease, so would the No. 4 mind leaving the field (or words to that effect).

*This may not have strictly been the case

Their skipper continued his innings past the century mark, but was dismissed shortly after, as Edmonton fought back inspired by Simon Roche, who bowled as well as I've seen, and really stifled the scoring, bowling into the wind and getting through overs from the bottom end that had been so problematic all innings. We kept things tight until the last 3 overs, which went for almost 30, which was a blow, and accelerated the visitors total up to 234 from 55. We knew that this was a gettable target on a good wicket, but we'd given ourselves a lot more work to do than we'd have liked, and a couple of wickets, especially early on would really put us under pressure.

Simon started up the innings with Tim, and the score was progressing nicely early on, thanks to Tim capitalising on anything short pitched in the same way that he had done the weekend before against Polytechnic. Sadly, his innings was cut short when he chased a wide one, and got an edge through to the keeper. This brought in Dodgy Dave, who looked a little below his normal high standards, but batted comfortably to push the score along with Simon, who was batting fluently. Si passed his 50, and was still going strong when Dodgy went for 27. Billy came in, but we lost the wicket that we didn't want - Simon for an excellent 71.

We were beginning to slip behind the run rate, as Barney came and went for 22, and when Billy followed Adam Herron came in. A fantastic stumping from their keeper was spoiled by the fact that he called Herron a cheat, something that Ad took exception to, and all hell threatened to break lose until a few of the more sensible visiting players and Doddsey of all people stepped in to intervene. When things had calmed down it was Danny H and Wills at the crease, with us needing between 5 and 6 an over, and 6 wickets down.

Danny crashed a straight drive for 4, before getting out, and we were really staring down the barrel at this stage. Wills was joined by the King of Spain, and he batted sensibly, whilst Wills mixed solid defence with some crashing drives and cuts to keep up with the required rate. The assembled crowds (and there probably was about 60 or 70 people watching by this stage) were enjoying the spectacle and the excitement, but I for one was having kittens, and I'm sure a lot of the team were pretty concerned too.

We needed 30 points to be sure of keeping ahead of Southall, and when Wills ran himself out with about 25 runs required (which in reality was an excellent piece of fielding), we all began to fear for the worst. Matty came in and batted sensibly, but I've never seen such a worried bunch of spectators, there was a hell of a lot of pacing up and down as Raj and Matty set about running well, and picking off the odd boundary to keep the required rate at 5 an over, and our hearts in our mouths.

Dave Smith made the valid point that as we only had 13 points, it was well worth gambling losing 5 against gaining 30, especially to a team that were unlikely to threaten our league position come the end of the season. Wills gave the instruction to push singles where we could and keep the run rate ticking. We all knew that after the various incidents with their wicketkeeper, losing was not an option we wanted to entertain, so we were praying that no wickets would be lost.

The sight of our team pacing up and down and generally looking very concerned must have been quite something to behold, even the skipper looked rattled, despite his normally very calm persona. Ricky popped off to the bar to buy Barney a beer to calm his nerves, but this had little effect, as the Dinosaur spent most of the time with his head buried in the hedge or kneeling down hiding behind the chairs. Matty was warned for backing up, and then 'run out', but the umpire quite rightly pointed out that there had been a rule change recently, which meant that this was no longer permitted, and that it was under his jurisdiction to penalise 5 runs for excessive backing up. Matty politely* asked the bowler to get on with things

*This may not have strictly been the case

3 overs to go, 16 runs needed… a couple of dot balls and a single or two here and there improved things, but it was going to go to the wire. Rajesh thumps a four through square leg to send the crowd wild, and we need 9 from 12 balls. More singles gets it down to 5 from 8 balls with 2 wickets in hand - suddently things start to look a little rosier, but then disaster strikes. Rajesh gets bowled trying to be a little bit too positive, and we now have 1 wicket in hand.

8 balls left - 1 wicket in hand, 5 runs to win. Doddsey walks out to the wicket - now we really are sh*tting it in a big way. Noreen had joined the army of people pacing up and down, and we could hardly watch. Doddsey defends the first ball resolutely, and gets sledged, saying that he's a tailender, and all he's going to do is block the ball. Taking exception to this, and noting that the next ball is in his slot, he thumps it straight back over the bowlers head for four, sending the crowd absolutely mental.

1 run to win, 1 wicket in hand, 6 balls left. This became 5 as Matty blocked the first ball, and we struggled to find out what the points share would look like if the game was tied. Matty produces some kind chip over the infield, and all hell breaks lose, as everyone jumps on everyone else. Barney is caught on video bouncing around like a complete loon, and Rajesh runs onto the pitch to hug Matty. The video of the celebrations should be online soon - it's really worth a view if only for comedy value.

30 points in the bag, and the celebrations continue into the dressing room in probably the most vocal fashion since British Airways away in 1995. Bring it on - what a superb game of cricket, not good for your health though. The party went on into the night, as we made our way to you know where, where Ricky excelled himself, a complete lunatic Irish bird stalked Matty, and Varley punched a 12 year old. Splosh and Nosh!

Willett, S Roche, Beeden, D Hinnigan, A Bilimoria, Tigger, Herron, D Hare, Rajesh, Worton, C Dodds

2nd XI vs. British Airways

Report by: Pat Carr

COME FLY WITH ME LETS FLY LETS FLY B.A.

First visit to BA’s ground for most of the E’s two’s.

Nice ground with good facilities and pleasant views of planes taking off and landing!

We win the toss and field.

BA get off to a decent start due to some below average bowling from our usually spot on spinner. Young northern bowled superbly picking up 4 wickets in pretty quick succession. The BA batsmen rode their luck a little and the score went from 23-1 to 42-4. Lloydy replaced Trouble and bowled well. Khazi replaced young Northern and bowled like a dream (unfortunately it was a f*****g nightmare). He was removed from the firing line after two overs and should have been promptly executed outside the boundary markers. The Rock swung into action. Lots of playing and missing and some good lusty blows saw the flyboys up into three figures, 112-5. Team talk from an unimpressed skipper and we set about removing, with Stav and Rock, the remaining wickets for only a further 42 runs –good effort but we should not have let them get anywhere near this amount considering the start we had.

Beefy and Khazi decided to put a ban on sledging this week to see the effect – It worked well by keeping us focused on the team element until the Stavmeister decided that a ‘quite close’ LBW decision should have been given the finger. The “you cannot be serious” McEnroe-esque display was something else!

Tea was taken – I thought it was quite average but I stand corrected by my peer group who thought it was exemplary – There is no accounting for taste is there?

Rock and Massif Asiiif set about the chase prior to tea and faced 5 overs accumulating 12 runs. The boys continued after tea until Rock was out with the score on about 22. Khazi and Massif took the score onto 43 when Asif holed out. Mr B joined Khazi and things were pretty comfortable with the runs coming quite easily. Khazi departed at 98-3 with 28 overs left to score the 55 runs required. Jimmy H, who hit the only six of our innings, partnered Mr B to see the league leaders achieve another maximum.

The BA guys were a decent bunch.

Huge welcome back to ‘Haircut’ who performed well on his return.

Apologies to Kim for not having a scorebook but thanks for managing – It won’t happen again, promise! Big Ray was his usual competent unbiased self.

Team: Beefy, Khazi, Mr B, Asiiif, the Rock, Northern, Jimmy H, , Stavmeister, Trouble, Chris ‘Haircut' Goddard and Lloydy.