Saturday 4th June 2005
Saturday 11th June 2005
Saturday 18th June 2005

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 4th June 2005

1st XI vs. Hanwell

Report by: Alan Barnard

After last week's excellent victory against British Airways at Hydeside, our stock as contenders to avoid the two relegation places had risen considerably, as we look to cement our place in Division one of the Middlesex Championship. With that background, we travelled round to Hanwell to take on the strugglers of the division, who had lost all four of their games so far, despite not being bottom, thanks to picking up full batting points on several occasions.

It was a bad start when only 8 players made it to the ground on time, thanks to the advanced scouting party that was sent into deepest Isleworth to find us a wicketkeeper. As Barney and Mini-Smith returned to the ground, the skipper was forced to bat, despite winning the toss. It was a decision that nobody argued with, as Hanwell's track has historically been sporting to the bowlers later in the day, and we'd had success in bowling them out second before. Also, the lure of posting a tough total, and registering 10 batting and 5 draw points against an lower opponent seemed sensible.

Ses and Venki started things off due to the delay to Gavin, and ticked things along quite nicely, despite a few early scares that are typical of a slow stopping wicket. Luckily, the ball avoided the fielders, and an excellent 150 run partnership ensued. It looked easy, but this was far from the case I suspect, and both batsmen showed their class in dispatching the lose deliveries, and showing restraint to the threatening deliveries.

As the ball grew older, the two openers took a few more chances, and the scoring rate ticked along quite nicely at around 5 an over - very healthy for Hanwell's wicket. In fact, the only real scare came when Venki was too quick onto a hook, and gloved the ball into his temple - it was a worrying moment for the Indian, and his team mates, but after the ice pack was removed, it seemed that bruising, a headache and a sore jaw was the bulk of the damage.

It was Ses who fell first for an excellent 67, bring Dave Hinnigan to the wicket, and he started steadily, as Venki eased into the nineties for what seemed to be a dead cert for a centaury, but sadly he was denied on 95 as one stopped, and he was caught. This brough Barney to the wicket, who crashed it around with Dave to finish on 50 not out when the declaration came at 266-2 off 53.1

Tea was taken, and although I've got no major issues with peanut butter and monster munch sandwiches, it wasn't up to the usual Hanwell standards. Fair play though, it seems the captain had got his sister to make it at very short notice on the day, and we certainly didn't go hungry.

We took the field, and Hanwell immediately outlined their intentions to chase the total, with the openers pillaging 30 off the first three with anything remotely wayward, or even pitched up being thumped for four. Matty and Doddsey, who after his first over bowled an excellent spell picked up a couple each, and things slowed down drastically. The pick of the wickets were a fine catch from Mark Varley at mid on to give Doddsey a wicket, and Matty bowling a fantastic off cutter to deceive the Hanwell number 4 all ends up, and give us a sniff of victory, with 35 overs still to bowl.

Sadly, Hanwell showed little or no intent to go for the total from this point onwards, as they decided to shut up shop for the game, and settle for 5 draw points, and whatever batting points they could get. With this decision taken, things became very tough for us, and we tried every combination of spin, seam and downright garbage (step forward Ses - surprisingly and Dodgy) to break down the partnership. We were also reduced to 10 after Northern's spectacular diving effort on the boundary led to him leaving the contest with worrying back problems, and Helen Dodds declined to don her whites and take on the 12th woman role. A couple of good LBW shouts were turned down, when the umpire decided to gift us a harsh LBW that appears to hit their skipper on the thigh pad. He was obviously as bored as us by this stage.

With 5 wickets down, a few overs to go, and Hanwell past the 175 required for maximum batting points strange things started to occur. Whereas most teams would shut up shop so as not to give away a wicket, and gift Edmonton any more points, the two batsmen through a combination on inexperience, and downright strange cricket decided to embark on a number of risky singles, and aggressive batting. This clearly pleased the on looking Hanwell players, but confused and amused the Edmonton players, who smelled more points. Unfortunately, it was not to be, and we had to settle for 17 - a decent return, but not the 30 that we'd hoped for.

As we retied to the pavilion (and the best showers in the league), we were disappointed, but realistic. We've just played two of the weaker sides in the league, and taken 47 points from a possible 60. We shouldn't go down if we apply ourselves like we can, and play our potential, and if we keep this core of players, we can make a bit for the County League in the next few seasons. Hanwell are a top bunch of blokes to a man, and they're a pleasure to play against - I hope for their sake that they don't go down (although not at our expense), but they need to start picking up 30 against the other strugglers.

Oh yeah, and fair play to the fella who accepted a lift from Matty back to Finchley - we warned him, and I suspect he's never going to be the same after that experience - I just hope he wore his seatbelt!

Team: Willett, Jayasena, Venkatesh, D Hinnigan, Barnard, Herron, D Hare, Mardell, Worton, C Dodds, Varley.

2nd XI vs. North Middlesex

Report by: Pat Carr

Bit of a gloomy day but the pitch is in its usual great condition. I arrive to find half of the 2nd XI in the nets with the bowling machine in full swing also.

Beefy has to stand down at the last minute so it's down to me to skipper again.

NM won the toss and elected to bat, this was the first time we had lost the toss and not been made to bat.

Monster opened from the top and Archer from the bottom. Monster bowled well and deserved better results. Anil replaced Monster and Dom took over from Archer. Anil could not settle and was replaced by Stav. Stav and Dom then bowled through to the end and after 54 overs NM declared on 239 - 4

Beefy spilled their jug avoiding (99) opener when he was on 14 to what can only be described as a dolly and then blamed everyone for shouting before he had secured the catch - GIRL!!!

We needed 204 for a winning draw or 240 for the full 10 points.

Khazi and Asif opened with Khazi being bowled early doors. The openers were bowling a good line and stuck to their task well. Last weeks hero joined Asif and the runs came quite quickly until Anil (33) got a leading edge. Asif was in very good nick and looked solid. Our other lefty, Jilesh, joined Asif and they both played some great shots and looked very comfortable. Jilesh departed (41) and Beedo joined the chase. James was looking eager to get at the young spinner and got his chance when Beedo was dismissed for 13. James took full advantage of a full toss and hit it into the trees next to the score box, a smashed four followed and then a mistimed pull saw him caught (10). We were always up with the run rate and passed the 204 in the 40th - The full 10 points were still in sight.

Lloyd strolled out and immediately stamped his authority on the bowlers with a few boundaries. Asif departed on 75 (quality knock again) and Stavmeister arrived to see us through to a good win and an invaluable 10 points.

North Middlesex are a very good bunch of lads with a lot of up and coming youngsters!

Fantastic knock from Massif and great to see all of ther order who batted making a good contribution, except me, must be the captaincy curse!!!

Team Khazi, Massif, Anvil, Justifier, Beedo, Jimmy, Lloydy, Rock, Stavmeister, Arch, Monster.

3rd XI vs. M.T.S.S.C.

Report by: Linserd Miller

It was calm a calm spring day at Edmonton with a gentle breeze, the sun shining brightly, but this calm was to turn to a storm in a matter of hours. Colin Bennett, acting in the absence of his captain (who apparently was going to be late as he was at church) won the toss. Bennett decided to bat; apparently he was under instruction from the captain.

The captain arrived just in time to lead his side out on the field. The bowling was opened by Adnan and Patrick Coombs. It was not long before the wheels came off the captain well oiled plans. Adnan broke down after 2 overs stating his elbow had gone and he could not bowl. Andrew Thomas was brought on to replace the injured Adnan, the bowling was reasonable, both bowlers occasionally bowling the wrong line or length which was immediately dispatched to the boundary.

It was not long before the openers had put on a partnership of 100, without many overs being bowled. It was all quite on the Edmonton front and the captain knew he had to get his players motivated and energised. It appears that his players were all sleeping on the field; they had not recovered from their Friday night party?

The captain knew he had to do something quickly as the game was running (sprinting) away from Edmonton. The motto of the captain is, 'don't ask someone to do something if cannot do it'. These thoughts running through his rusty brain, he took off Coombs and brought himself on. In his first over he managed to curb the run rate by bowling a maiden over, the next over only produced a few runs. The captain quickly assess that he needed another spin bowler to contain the batsmen. He turned to Adnan, who he knew could bowl spin and asked him to turn his arm over for the cause.

With spinners on at both ends, Edmonton slowly got back into the match and slows down the run rate by bowling an excellent line and length. The batsmen now that had to take risks to score runs and the screw was slowly tightened by the bowlers. It was now a matter of who would crack first under the pressure the bowlers or the batsmen. It was not long before the batsmen cracked. The captain then gained the first wicket through the caught and bowl method, pulling off an excellent catch when he outfoxed the batsman. The first wicket pair had put on a partnership well over 100; well it was nearer 160, but who is counting.

With one end opened the captain, did the only thing he knows, he applied pressure on the new batsman, got his team pumped up and went for the kill. Edmonton really turned the screw, the team woke up and started to play cricket. Both spinners were really enjoying themselves, and stated to control the game. From a position of 171 for 1 wicket, MTSSC lost their remaining wickets for less than 50 runs. MTSSC was bowled out for 224, with Adnan taking 6 wickets for the second successive match, only this time, he as applying science (Spin) instead of brawn (Pace). It was impressive bowling by the captain and Adman. The team then went off for well deserved tea, after such an impressive comeback.

After teas, a whirlwind hit Edmonton, it started to rain sixes and fours and everyone was running for cover during the storm. Errol Crawford (Baje) took a liking to the bowlers and developed a Greenidge (Gordon) like limp. Apparently, he is from Barbados, like Greenidge and he looks like Sobers (Garry). After Crawford develop a limp, he decided he was not going to take singles and only dealt in boundaries, he batted like Greenidge in his prime, when he had a limp, and he was brutal on the bowlers. Before you could say 'it is a nice day' Crawford had reached fifty, and before you could boil a kettle, he had reached his century. At the other end Kamal Panchal was watching in amazement, trying to keep out of harms way as the balls kept flying in all direction.

On reaching his hundred Crawford decided to let Panchal have a bat and fed him the strike. Panchal grew in confidence and starting stroking the ball around hitting a few boundaries and eventually end up on 72 not out. Crawford not one to win a match by taking a single, smashed the ball for six in getting the winning runs and finished unbeaten on a 124. His score was achieved in less than 70 balls and must be something of a record. The openers made 227 without being parted, the runs coming off 22 overs of mayhem. Is this a 1st Wicket record for Edmonton? Panchal and Crawford are checking with Edmonton historians, to see if they have created history and whether this is the fastest 200 scored off the least amount of balls.

After the game the captain was giving talks on his captaincy style and was offering to provide training to anyone who aspires to captain a team. Clearly, the captain had one orange juice too many and it was the orange juice that was talking. He elaborated on how he encouraged the batsmen to value their wicket and not give the opponent any chance to get back into the game.

Finally, the champagne moment of the game was when our shopkeeper, sorry, wicketkeeper, Chris Goddard took a catch, his first of the season (well done). This is how it happen folks: Adnan ran in to bowl, ball drifting towards leg, the batsman sweeps, Goddard, turns away trying to avoid the bat. Goddard is looking to see where the ball is, everyone is laughing and the batsman is walking off bemused. Goddard wonders what is happening, someone shouts out look in your hand, and low and behold the ball is stuck in his gloves. Yes, Folks, the batsman got an edge, the ball flew up in the air and on its way down, it fell in the wicketkeeper's gloves, while he was trying to locate where the ball had gone. How can anyone say this amazing game is boring?

Team: Miller, Thomas, Bennett, Coombs, Baker, Adnan, Britz, Panchal, Maish, Goddard, Crawford.

5th XI vs. Indian Gymkhana

Report by: David Sans

Saturday 4th June, looked like it could be a good day for the fifth team. That was until I had a phone call from team secretary, Andy Cooper at 11.20 am: "Dave, Kev Lawrence has cried off can we leave a player at the club for the third X1, and we'll promote someone from them to the 2nd XI"

Oh **** was my first thought but as I didn't want to be rude to Coops, I only said, "who do you want?" the reply was "Kamal", "ok" I said, and in to the wings steps dad...

So after getting to Boston Manor playing field, and yes it does sound exciting doesn't it, we all have a look at the wicket and agree to bowl first if I won the toss.. Well as it goes I lost only my third ever coin toss but thankfully they chose to bat first.

It was going so well we had them 50-5 how they got 180-7 god only knows. So to the batting: well we weren't doing that bad 'cos we were 47-2...BUT THEN how we got to 55-6 is another question I want my team to answer!!!! But not finished there we decided to give away four wickets in for balls and Jonathan Squires being the hat trick ball wicket and the first time he has ever been given LBW.....

And yes I got my fourth golden duck in six innings and NO I wasn't swinging across the line for the six time I played a forward defensive, obviously I aint got that worked out right yet...

55 all out...

Still the results from the league say we got 81 all out so we got a batting point lads… we can only improve.

Saturday 11th June 2005

1st XI vs. Twickenham

Report by: Mark Varley

Greetings one and all, it's your favourite northerner here to type up some sort of match report that resembles Saturday's game against Twickenham CC (the T's).

The day started off as the last couple of home matches have, with the majority of the team turning up at 11:30 for a net and warm up to the days forthcoming events, barring a couple of lads who had their own reasons. Unfortunately it wasn't the best of nets for anyone really as no one could be bothered to get the bowling machine out, but still it got us in the mood for the big game we knew we were about to encounter. As we stood around the nets chatting away about the usual things i.e. Gavs' porn collection, we could here the very distinct sound of our oppositions Aussie and Saffa accents (deep joy). They arrived early also (keano's!) and joined us down at the nets. As you can imagine the session didn't last much longer and we made our way to the changing rooms where the rest of the team had now arrived. Anyway enough small talk lets get on with the serious stuff. The skipper made his way out to the centre to do the honours of losing the toss, and we were, as we thought we would be, put into bat. Usually there seems to be quite an edgy atmosphere in our dressing room when this occurs, however this week was different for some reason, maybe it was the lovely weather, maybe it was the look of the outfield with its uncharacteristic short boundary and ever flat wicket, or maybe we have finally come to terms after last week with the potential and strength we have in our batting line-up.

Anyway we were underway with the same opening partnership that brought us a good start the week previous at Hanwell. Our "Indian professional" Venkatesh and the legend that is Sesri Jayasena. The first five or six overs were a god send with some very wayward bowling from the opening pair of the T's and some extremely efficient batting from our numbers one and two. Matty and I did notice however that there was still a bit of extra bounce in the track if you bowled the right lengths. But to our prevail Venki and Ses evaded all danger and got us off to a flying start with the first six or seven overs crashing 50 in no time. Ses in particular playing some extravagant shots of his legs using his trademark footwork, especially towards the short boundary where there were to be many more runs as the day progressed. For some reason the T's kept on persisting to bowl short to our batsmen who therefore persisted in despatching it to all corners of the ground. Only around 15/17 overs into the game and the E's had passed the hundred mark and were on about 120 when Venki, after playing some "lusty blows" holed out to backward point. Another top platform for our ever improving line up to build on. In came Dodgy Dave Hinnigan, and after a steady start knocking a few singles around while Ses carried on the onslaught at the other end, began to find his range to the rope despite a couple of miss timed shots. The pair adding another invaluable 50 partnership to the E Units ever increasing total. This came to an end though as a knackered looking Jaya holed out in the deep for a fantastic knock of 119. This brought in the ever steady Adam Herron to the crease, who then proceeded to run himself out after not to long.

Not to fear however Barney was here. Not in his usual nervous state though, as the board looked an impressive 200 odd for 3, and he and Dodgy carried on with a steady flow of runs which included the always impressive running between the stumps from Alan. Although one umpire kept niggling at most of the Edmonton line-up for running on the wicket which was a bit unusual but there was very little notice taken from either side. As the boundaries kept coming and the run rate never looking to cease it started some talking within the ranks of when to declare. This soon ended when we all came to our senses and realised who we were playing against, namely top of the league and probably a strong contender to take the top spot come the end of the season. We knew deep down that batting the full 55 was the most sensible option to take and anyway it was great fun watching our batsmen rip apart some slightly hostile fielders. As Al and Dodge passed their fifty partnership and our total came ever closer to the psychological mark of 300, we lost Dave's wicket which wasn't to bad as there were only two or three overs remaining and he had already made a steady and impressive 73. This brought in Danny (the rabbit) Hare who proceeded with his now usual cameo role of smashing the ball to all corners whilst running his pants off with Alan. This accumulated a mammoth 319 at the close of our innings. Alan finishing with another top knock of 54 without losing his wicket.

Tea passed with no incident and we took to the field with no intentions of losing this game. We knew we were going to face some top batsmen in the next few hours but no one had any thoughts of doubt in their minds that we weren't going to come out on top after that sublime show with the willow. However we did realise that we had only completed half the task and the team huddle expressed its intentions from the calm words of the skipper Tony Willett and his co-advisor Alan (the bounce) Barnard. They let us know the importance that everyone, even Dodgy, was going to have to be on top form today in the field, we spoke a little about tactics with the time and over rate, to give ourselves the best understanding about what we were about to embark upon.

The T's batsmen came out and from the off expressed their full intentions, despatching any wayward bowling to the boundary and putting all fielders under pressure when running between the wickets. They made a steady start and after the first nine or ten overs had reached the 50 mark without loss. Our two opening bowlers being Matty and Doddsey. They bowled a few deliveries that had the batsmen troubled, some top line and length and beating the edge on a few occasions but the batsmen evaded any trouble and mixed in some lovely shots as well as some miss timed shots into gaps, and taking full advantage of anything astray. Matty was replaced by Tony from the top end as it seemed the umpire didn't like Matt's run up, calling a few no balls which later on were found to be a mystery to all including one of the T's batsmen who was stood at the non strikers end. This was quite frustrating because the inevitable catch was taken off a no ball and it seemed to frustrate Matty who wasn't firing as his efficient self afterwards.

So anyway as I said TW took the top end and steadied the ship whilst I replaced Doddsey from a decent spell from the bottom. Tony looked sharp from the off with his consistent line and length and picked up the first wicket. I on the other hand seemed to have other ideas and gave the T's number three some lovely deliveries to get his eye in, and he promptly despatched me over the rope on four occasions in my first over along with some interesting comments I'll go no further. After that blip however I found my rhythm and myself and TW tried our best to stem the flow. Tony was bowling exceptionally well and picked up another deserved wicket of the T's other opener. This brought in the T's opening bowler to the crease I'm not sure if this is his usual place in the order but still he seemed to be able to hold a bat. Not for long though as I took the edge of his bat and it carried into the ever safe gloves of Adam.

We started to get the upper hand a bit in the field with some very good pressure bowling and very sensible fielding from the lads not trying to hard and risking mistakes it was a steady job well done. The T's batsmen then seemed to find their range again and were knocking the ball around well. A good 50 partnership was forged, and drinks came. The unit gathered for another talk and we all kept relaxed and understood that we could still pick up the remaining wickets quite easily as the batsmen were starting to play some risky shots to keep up with run rate, and we knew they would continue to do so as they had no reason not to. Another wicket fell as the number three missed a yorker bowled by myself I might add (serves him right gobshite!). The E's now realised that 30 points could be taken from this game and the tempo started to raise in the field and the lads started geeing on the bowlers. TW took another couple of wickets with the batsmen being trapped in front. But the T's line up was relentless and every man who came to the crease looked as though he could threaten the total with some top shots being played by all. I was replaced by the rabbit at the bottom end, although Danny never seemed to find any rhythm and the T's batsmen seemed to take a liking to his bowling and for a spell of five or six overs the T's batsmen really got on top and were getting worryingly close to the required run rate. Another wicket fell to the skipper and this slowed the RR down effectively as is usually the case when a wicket falls. The T's were now seven down and only having ten players present on the day due to unforeseen circumstances only had two wickets remaining.

Matty replaced Dan from the bottom to add some experienced bowling at the supposed tail end. The pair still played some extravagant strokes but found little success in finding the needed boundaries due to a very sharp looking Edmonton field. With time running out for the T's batsmen there were some loose shots beginning to appear and when the number 7 or 8 lofted a skier out to deep mid on it was looking promising for the E's as he seemed the only remaining threat to the total, however as luck would have it the ball slipped away from the fielders grasping hands, and a look of disbelief shone on all the E's players faces (he shall remain unnamed). It wasn't all doom and gloom as his partner got himself out which brought the number 10 to the wicket (the T's last man). With only three or four overs left and a tempting 40ish runs required it was interesting to see what the batsmen were going to do, as all day they never relented in chasing down the huge target. They did however, opt for the sensible choice to see out the remaining overs with some solid looking defensive strokes, rather than risk the five drawing points by playing any rash shots, as the five points could be very valuable to a team looking for promotion.

The T's ended up on an antagonising 280 odd and gave it a good old go. This was great to see as a lot of teams would not have had so much confidence in their batsmen to even dream of chasing down that total and it made it a thrilling encounter all round right to the end.

A great result for the E's and a top performance all round. It was good to see our batsmen all getting in the runs against an above average bowling attack and it was also good to see that our fielding was top drawer even when the chips seemed a bit down, and the bowlers did their best to bowl consistently with another stunning performance coming from the skipper with the ball taking 5-82 from19, against some of the strongest batting we are likely to see in this league.

Good stuff lads and if we perform like that every week I'm sure we can do a lot better than we think in this league. Bring on next week.

Team: Willett, Venkatesh, Jayasena, D Hinnigan, Herron, Barnard, D Hare, Mardell, Worton, C Dodds, Varley

2nd XI vs. Harrow

Report by:

3rd XI vs. Alexandra Park

Report by: Linserd Miller

Edmonton entertained near neighbour's Alexandra Park, the captain won the toss and after a short deliberation, elected to field.

The bowling was opened by Adnan and Coombs, both immediately found an excellent line and length. Adnan broke down in his second over as his elbow gave way. He finished the over by bowling spin. He got the breakthrough in his second over when the opener got a top edge trying to hit him out of the ground. The captain replaced Adnan with Archer Cornwall, as he wanted the fast bowler to utilise the new ball.

Cornwall was playing his first game for the third team this year, the veteran Cornwall did not disappoint, he bowled a good line and it was not long before he took his first wicket. Coombs bowled well, but was very unlucky and the captain replaced him with Vikram Maish. With Maish and Cornwall operating together, wickets fell at a regular basis and Before long Alexandra Park were 148 for 7. The eight wicket pair, then put on a partnership of 50, but this was just the start of a bad day for Edmonton. The number 9, who apparently was playing first team cricket a few years ago came out and before you could count to 100 had smashed 101 and took the total to 312 before he was out, the same total that Alexandra Park was bowled out for. Cornwall ended the match with six wickets, however; some work is required to resolve the no ball problems.

After returning from tea, the batting was opened by Errol Crawford and Kamal Panchal. It was not long before the fall of the 1st wicket, when Crawford was caught at slips for 11. Marcus Burger came out to bat with a lot of pressure on him, but he soon settled down and played a wonderful innings. Following a misunderstanding between the batsmen, Panchal was run out for 28.

James Hazell, made 11 before he was caught in slips, which brought in Adnan for his first bat of the season. Burger and Adnan then put on a partnership of 116. In the partnership Burger contributed 28 runs while Adnan bludgeoned 72 runs, in less time than it takes to bowl six overs. Adnan was bowled trying to go for one shot too many. This brought in Chris Goddard for his first bat for the season. Burger advised Goddard he needed 20 runs to get his century, therefore he must feed him the strike. There were only three overs to go, but with precision planning Burger got his century with 2 balls to go. Edmonton finished on 240 for 4, and ended with a draw, which was a creditable result in the circumstances.

Team: Miller (Capt) Crawford, Burger, Goddard, Bennett, Panchal, Maish, Adnan, Cornwall, Coombs, Hazell.

5th XI vs. Harrow

Report by: Davis Sans

Well what can I say, firstly I have to say sorry to Chris Barnes who in our defeat last week, I forgot to mention that he took 5-59 my apologies Chris.

With that out the way on to finally a very good report…

Saturday 11th June looked to be a good day and that's how it turned out to be. For the first time as far as I can remember I had selection on Monday and I didn't lose a single player so thanks to all you teams above for no cry offs.

2nd placed Harrow were the visitors to Holtwhites and for the fourth time in five coin tosses I won and with my batting line up changed by four players from the week before I decided to bat, and boy did it pay off.

We scored most probably the highest score the fifth team ever have, with an opening batting partnership of Justin Benedetti {47} and Bill Bilimoria {26} scoring 95 for the first wicket things looked to be going good. 17 year old Randy Noel went in and only got {2] but then in went Sunny Nahal who got {52} who might well have scored more if on the same ball as being dropped he hadn't run him self out. Then came the Tony Brown show who scored {59] not out and after only being able to play once last year, all I can say is well done we all knew you can still do it!!!!

So after racking up 267-5 came the fielding, and after an attacking start with no luck defensive play was in order. Thankfully after needing 60ish off five overs and Sunny Nahal taking 5-60 they needed 38 off the last over with their score being 230-6. Surely there was no way they could get it so I bravely decided to bring myself on for the last over, and what can I say but a MAIDEN OVER although the umpire was very generous with not giving a very wide ball down leg side......TA DAD!!!!!!

So point wise 13 to us and 7 to Harrow and after now only being 17 points behind them surely this year me and my team will do our dam best to try and get promotion although it is a big ask we gotta go out and be positive, especially and the very good players I've had in my team this year.

Finally I would like to say well done to all the other captains on Saturday

Sunday 1st XI vs. Harpenden

Report by: Adam Herron

The first league game was upon us and it was very much welcome after some of the poor teams we had played against in recent weeks. Harpenden made the relatively short journey over to the Hydeside from Hertfordshire and having lost the toss found themselves batting first.

We started the day with 10 men as Alan 'I'm on call' Barnard got the dreaded call from work and was unable to start. This then turned into 'I can't play at all' 33 overs into the match and so we soldiered on without him. The opening pair looked pretty steady and started well enough without really looking to get off to a flying start, until Archer trapped the number one LBW. Things again ticked along with Archer picking up his second wicket caught behind as the E's looked to pile on the pressure. However this was very hard to do as a series of dropped catches meant that Harpenden were allowed to get a lot more runs than they might have. Doddsy took a wicket with his first ball of the over and bowled reasonably well while Muschamp also got a wicket in his first over. More dropped catches and more runs to the Harps batsmen and after the 45 overs had been bowled they had reached 213 for 8. It really was a poor fielding display and we really have to buck our ideas up if we want to win this league because against the top teams in this league we will be punished.

The batting line-up was strong and having seen out team crash 319 the day before felt in a confident mood of chasing 213 which was at least 50 runs short of a decent total on our track. I opened up with Adam Billimoria and immediately signalled my intentions crashing the first ball for 4 after the bowler sent down a leg side long hop. Some more wayward bowling saw me dispatching the ball everywhere and I had reached 34 and the total was 60 after around 10 overs when I decided to chase a ball that was wide outside the off stump and edged the ball to the keeper. Here in the game got pretty boring as Billy and Dodgy, both of whom weren't in their familiar groove, pushed and nudged the ball around occasionally putting the bad ball over the boundary line. Billy got his 50 and departed shortly afterwards Dodgy got his half century and added 23 before playing a tired looking shot and giving the fielder an easy catch. Ses and Hare finished off what was needed at the 42 over mark.

So we won having never really got out of second gear, but we do have to improve if we have aspirations of gaining promotion for a second season so I hope everyone will pull in the same direction in the following weeks.

Team: Herron (Capt./Wk), Billy, Dodgy, Ses, Hare, Goddard, Dodds, Muschamp, Archer, Varley, (Barnard absent).

Saturday 18th June 2005

1st XI vs. Indian Gymkhana

Report by: Alan Barnard

After making the long trip around to Osterley to take on Indian Gymkhana, it was clear from inspecting the wicket that it wasn't going to be the longest game of cricket in history. On a full length at the painted tree end there was a bottle top rolled into the wicket, and there appeared to be considerably more grass on the Astroturf nets that there was on the wicket. This led to a patchy surface that wouldn't be conducive to batting, but most definitely would take turn.

2 hours later, it was clear why the pitch had been prepared in this way, but more of that later. We won the toss, and decided with the heat that we should bat first, on what would most likely prove to be a result pitch. I know some people were a little surprised at the decision, but in the end I think it was a very close one to call.

Ses and Venki opened the batting, and looked in control early on, playing some crisp shots, and not looking in a lot of trouble to the seamers. Against the run of things, Venki chased a wide one as was caught behind. This brought Mardell in at 3, and he set about constructing with Ses what would prove to be the best partnership of the innings, as the two batted well to ease the score on to 60-1. This is where things started to go wrong.

Gavin was bowled by a useful looking left arm spinner, and when Hinnigan followed shortly afterwards after playing all around a Yorker, Barney came to the crease. He could only watch on as Ses was adjudged to be LBW after he offered no shot, and then his solid defence was broken when he too left what was to all intents and purposes a straight ball on off stump (as that's what it hit). Danny Hare came in to join Adam Herron, and despite one over where Herron took the attack to the home side, both players were back in the pavilion without causing Chris too much trouble under the tree/scorebox.

With wickets tumbling, left right and centre Willett and Doddsey came and went, and our chances of reaching 100 looked remote with Cornwall and Varley at the crease, and the score on a pretty horrific 93-9. Mark and Archer though had other ideas, and put the top order to shame with an impressive display of selective hitting and solid defence to push the score along to 130 when the inevitable last wicket fell. Gymkana's overseas player picked up an impressive 5 wickets for not a lot, and bowled with excellent control in the heat (although to be fair to the fella, he bowled in a jumper for pretty much the whole game!).

After a tea that should have contained more in the way of the impressive spicy bhajias, we took the field in the still stifling heat to try to turn around the mess that we'd gotten ourselves into. Despite some bad balls, which were punished accordingly, the openers bowled excellently, and picked up a wicket apiece, thanks to some sharp work at point from Barnard, and a magnificent catch in front of a bemused, but jubilant Mardell at first slip from Herron. When another wicket fell, it really was game on and at about 30-3, we knew that things could easily swing our way if another wicket or two followed quickly.

Next was to follow the what would pove to be the defining incident of the game, when their overseas player (and also their best bat) - complete with jumper - played a hurried pull shot to a short ball from Varley, and skied it towards mid on. It was tantalising, but the ball just dropped out of Dave Hinnigan's hands at full stretch, and unfortunately for us, he didn't give another chance in his innings of 60 not out.

Herron took it up on himself to go one better than his catch, as Willett strayed in line, and he took a breathtaking leg side stumping that had the umpire in as much shock as the batsman and the fielders. Sadly it was too little to late, as the Gymkhana number 6 rode his luck with some questionable shots to seal the win. All in all, a very disappointing day, and one that we'll do well to forget as quickly as possible, as quite honestly we were embarrassing with the bat, and just didn't turn up in all honesty.

The only positives to be taken are Ses and Gavin's solid batting, Varley and Archers dogged tail end resistance, and Herron's excellent keeping, on a track that proved to be a minefield. From being in the top 4 before the game, we are now in the bottom 4, and just 19 points off a relegation place. I think this should be a wake up call to the team that if we perform like that again; we will be in big trouble. On the plus side, Bangladesh beat the Aussies - happy days!

Team: Willett, Jayasena, Venkatesh, Mardell, D Hinnigan, A Barnard, Herron, D Hare, C Dodds, Cornwall, Varley & the rarely mentioned but very much appreciated C Barnard (scorer).

2nd XI vs. Hornsey

Report by:

3rd XI vs. Brondesbury

Report by: Linserd Miller

The relatively short journey from North London to North West London safety navigated, we arrived in scenic Regents Park, to play Brondesbury. The captain called incorrectly, while the coin was in the air and Brobdesbury elected to bat. It was a glorious summer's day, in a lovely setting, what better to do than play cricket.

The bowling was open by Patrick Coombs and Vikram Maish, both bowlers put the ball in the right place and the pitch did the rest. The pitch as very difficult to bat on as some balls kept low, while others on the same spot would leap at the batsmen throat.

Coombs and Maish bowling well together, got an early break through, with the first wicket falling at 10. They soon reduced Brondesbury to 34 for 3, but this was to our last wicket for sometime. The Captain( Linserd Miller) came in and immediately started to crash the ball around and together with their number 4 batsmen started to get on top of Edmonton.

Vikram was removed from the attack and the captain brought himself on, to try and slow down the run rate. Coombs who had bowled a lengthy spell without much luck was replaced by Kirk Brown, whose first 3 balls were dispatched to the boundary. Kirk soon got his revenge as in his next over, he bowled the captain. The 4th wicket pair had put on 104, before they were parted. Wickets then fell on a regular basis and Brondesbury were eventually bowled out for 209, with Brown and Miller taking 3 wickets each.

After tea was taken at a leisurely speed, it was Edmonton's turn to bat; we knew the task would be difficult due to the variable bounce. Edmonton made a reasonable and put on with openers Errol Crawford and Marcus Burger putting on 20 for the first wicket, when Crawford was out, Burger followed shortly afterwards with the score on 33. Colin Bennett came and went before you could take guard, his first ball was a low full toss which he missed and was bowled middle stump. Bennett excused was that he cannot bat without a sightscreen, this coming from a man who played most of his cricketing years without a sightscreen. It is strange, what the excellent facilities at Edmonton do to one.

Unfortunately, it was not long before we lost our 4th wicket, courtesy of the run out rote, due to lack of proper communication between Dave Smith and Adnan Akmal. The blame lies squarely on the shoulder of the batsman who was not run out. The unfortunate victim in this victim was Smithy.

Edmonton had lost 4 wickets with less than runs on the board, Dave Baker and Adnan then proceeded to repair the damage. Adnan playing shots to all parts of the ground and outside of the ground. together they put on a partnership of over 100. Baker was eventually bowled for 53, which brought in Kirk Brown, who played and missed everything, but somehow survived. Adnan playing kamikaze cricket ran himself out, for a well made 75. Archie McArthur hit the winning run, with Edmonton winning by 3 wickets.

Team: Baker, Bennett, Miller, Brown, Burger, Coombs, Crawford, Smith, Maish, McArthur, Adnan

5th XI vs.

Report by: Davis Sans

Sunday 1st XI vs. Twickenham (Ibex Cup)

Report by: Adam Herron

In what turned out to be the hottest day of the year Hydeside really was looking in spectacular condition, and Twickenham, having lost the toss found themselves batting. It turned out that they were surprised by this, but knowing that no score is safe on our wicket and that we have chased some big scores down last season it was never really in doubt once the toss was won.

We knew that we had to get early wickets and restrict them to as low a score as possible as they batted all the way down their order and so Varley and Archer opened up and lo and behold we got the early breakthroughs we needed with Varley and Archer taking a wicket in their first overs and the score was 2 for 2! Twickenham's Bajan Under-19 International, Kirk Edwards, was now at the crease and proceeded to put together an innings of the highest order as he set about giving the T's as big a total as possible. In fact had it not been for him the score would have been rather embarrassing as most of the top order failed to make an impact and rather than nudge the ball around and give Edwards the strike they tried to cart the ball around. Some good bowling from part time seemer 'Dodgy' Dave Hinnigan and Anil 'Saturday 2nd XI overseas player' Sharma and a good catch from 'Chris' Ciaran Dodds helped rip the heart out of the middle order. The only notable partner Edwards had was the T's number 9, Bendelow, who did exactly what he needed to, giving as much of the strike as possible to Edwards and hitting any loose balls delivered to him. Bendelow came to the crease when the score was around 180 for 7 and by the time Edwards had departed for a quality 160 the score was 280. The T's finally ended up on 286 for 8.

We felt that this total was very gettable having chased 278 twice last season in the Chess Valley league against opposition from this division and so knew exactly what we had to do. We were hoping that the T's bowled as poorly as they did against us a couple of Saturdays ago but to their credit bowled very well and Scriven in particular bowled a good line and length removing Mardell at around the 30 run mark and myself with the score on 60 odd. Anil at the other end was looking good and hit some big shots right from the beginning doing his best to keep up with the run rate but with Hinnigan and Barnard also failing to trouble the scorer very much the score was around 130 odd for 4. Adam 'Billimore' Billimoria came to the crease and started ok helping Anil to as much of the strike as possible. Anil was in his zone by this stage and fired up by some unseemly remarks in Punjabi made by some of the Southern Hemisphere contingent in the T's team. This only served to fire up Anil more and he raced past his hundred with Billy ably supporting him all the way. Anil finally succumbed to tiredness and was run out on 128. In came Chris Goddard knowing full well that a lot of pressure was on his shoulders with 100 runs needed off the last 10 overs and that he would face immense pressure but he rose to the challenge admirably and set about putting on a magnificent show crashing 46 n.o. off 30 odd balls taking the T's opening bowler apart. Meanwhile at the other end Billy normally Mr. Correct played some audacious slog shots one of which went miles and sent the E's players and supporters into raptures. With 2 overs to go we needed 24 and with a 6 and two fours plus 3 in singles we only needed 6 to tie and win due to the fact we had lost less wickets. It was during this penultimate over that tempers flared, when Goddard quite rightly running the correct line, not deviating at all and quite legitimately making sure he was going to make it to the crease while the ball wasn't. One fielder called him a cheat and did his best to put Chris off the remaining balls but true to form Goddard gently explained to him, "if you don't like it, don't play the game".

Last over and 6 runs were required to get a tie and win by having lost fewer wickets. Both batsmen managed to scramble 5 off of 5 balls and it was left to the Yak man to get the remaining run. He missed the ball but good backing up from Billy saw him reach the other end safely and with Chris also managing to scamper to the other end we had done it! Cue jubilant scenes on the side lines from players and supporters alike.

I'd personally like to thank every player on my team for contributing in whatever small way they did and would like to say a big thanks and well done to Anil, Billy and Goddsy. This game goes down as another piece of Edmonton history as lets not forget the T's were runners up last year and up until now had not lost a game, so it was a massive achievement.

COME ONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!

Saturday 25th June 2005

1st XI vs. Southall

Report by: Matt Worton

A gloomy, overcast day at home to last season's other promoted team saw us put in a spirited performance with a much depleted team. Stand-in skipper Adam Herron duly lost the toss and unsurprisingly we were put into bat in favourable conditions for swing bowling.

Star openers Jayasena and Venkatesh went out and despite some good bowling from the opening pair were quickly in their stride. From my new vantage point in the scorebox, the scoreline rattled along until another century partnership was achieved. By this time however, Jaya had become a little bogged down and was out soon after the ton but for a well earned 35. Venki had looked in good nick throughout his innings but was given out shortly after, lbw to a ball that was arguably missing leg stump.

Gav and Dodgy were next men in and as would be expected in such conditions, the scoreboard slowed to a trickle as both guys struggled to get going. In fact it all got a little too much for Gav who gave their spinner the charge and was routinely stumped. A procession of batsman came and went, Barnard and Herron both fell cheaply, Goddard (who had brought his bird along in the hope of reproducing the swashbuckling innings of the previous Sunday), Matty (first bat of the year!) and Baker who all gave their wickets in the pursuit of quick runs as the innings drew to a close. Star No. 10 Micky Billson came in for the last 3 balls and we reached a fair score of 225-8 from 55. Credit goes to Dave Hinnigan who produced a gritty 68 not out in difficult conditions and hopefully is rediscovering his form of last season.

At tea time we all agreed that we had set a decent total for our visitors in view of the conditions. A par score at home this season would seem to be in the region of 260-280 but 225 was not a poor score on a day like this.

The innings started well for us when we had their opening bat dismissed in the first over off Matty. Southall were scoring at a reasonable rate though and we had to work hard in the field as both bats knocked a few boundaries. Matty got number 3 out lbw with a full inswinger and we looked to be in with a fair shout of victory as the ball was doing a fair bit. The other opener looked in good touch though and as their total approached 100, a change of approach was decided upon. Dave Baker and Dodgy were asked to bowl to a plan and they did so fantastically, backed up by an outstanding performance in the field. Excellent catches from Goddard (deep off Baker), Venki (diving at square leg off Dodgy) and then Baker off his own bowling put us in with a great chance of victory. At this point Southall clearly opted to settle for a draw, disappointing really considering they needed under 6 an over with 25 to go with wickets in hand. They finished on 163-5 and so a good draw had been gained.

I would like to finish by praising the commitment and attitude of a team which was essentially dragged together from all corners of E.C.C. We could easily have lost such a game and then blamed it on limited resources but everyone who came in played their part (yes even you Mick B) and it is nice to see we have players who wear the shirt with pride.

Team: Herron, Jayasena, Venkatesh, D Hinnigan, Mardell, Barnard, D Hare, Worton, D Baker, Billson, Cornwall

3rd XI vs. Richmond

Report by: Linserd Miller

Edmonton was playing Richmond at home on this pleasant afternoon; the Richmond captain called incorrectly and Richmond were asked to bat.

The bowling was open by Vikram Maish and Kirk Brown. The less said about the opening bowling, the better. But, unfortunately this is a report and what happened has to be reported. Brown was more intent on hitting his toes with the ball rather than trying to get the ball in the batsman half of the pitch. The result was a barrage of boundaries from the batsmen. Brown was removed from the attack after only 2 overs. Brown was replaced by Sunny Nahal playing his first game for the 3rd eleven this year. Nahal immediately bowled a very good line and length and Linserd Miller brought himself on from the other end and between Miller and Nahal, they started to stem the flow of runs.

It was not long before Nahal took his first wicket, and Edmonton slowly started to get into the game. Miller and Nahal bowled a long spell together, with each bowler getting 2 wickets each, before Nahal was replaced by Adnam Akmal, this only brought another spurt of runs and Adnan was replaced by Brown. Brown forgetting his opening spell, once again bowling short was despatched to all parts by the batsmen. Thankfully, the Richmond captain had Pity on Brown and declared with the score at 259 for 6.

After a well deserved tea, the Edmonton openers Nahal and Errol Crawford went out to face the music. Nahal did not last very long, before giving a catch in the covers. Vince Drayton playing his first match on a Saturday replaced Nahal. It was quite clear that Drayton was out of touch and he struggled against the bowlers. At the other end Crawford was playing in his usual attacking manner, and raced to 50, before you could tie your shoe laces. It came as no surprise when Drayton was caught at square leg, his dismissal brought in Colin Bennett, who came in and made Geoff Boycott look like Chris Gayle.

Crawford, eventually departed for 90, bowled by a full toss that he was trying to hit into Hertfordshire, instead of the A10. Adnan replaced Crawford and started swinging like an open barn door in 90 miles per hour wind, apparently the only way, he can bat. He did not make many singles; most of his scoring strokes were 4 or 6. It was not long before he had reached 90. The game was now at a stage where Edmonton required 7 runs to win and Adnan needed 10 runs for a century. Adnan smashed the last ball of the over for 6, the score was now tied and Bennett was to face the next over.

Apparently, Adnan promised Bennett money, a free trip to Pakistan, to pay his match fees, if he played out a maiden over. Adnan did not have to make any such promises, as Boycott Bennett, who had gone to the crease before Adnan was on 7, while Adnan was on 96. Surprise, surprise Boycott Bennett, played did not score from the over, the first ball Adnan faced he smashed for 6 and ended on 102 not out, Edmonton winning by 7 wickets. Unfortunately the last ball that Adnan smashed for 6, smashed the car window of Ses Jayasensa, one of our first team players, apologies to Ses, please send the bill to Adnan.

Finally, a big thank you to Andrew Cooper, who stepped in at the last moment to make up the shortfall in our team, when Mickey Billson had a last minute call up to the first team. Thank you Coops, you are a real club man.

Team: Bennett, Miller, K Brown, G Brown, Nahal, Crawford, Cooper, Maish, Drayton, Gokul, Adnan