Saturday 25th May 2002
Saturday 18th May 2002
Saturday 11th May 2002
Saturday 4th May 2002

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 25th May 2002

1st XI vs. Sudbury Court

Report by: Alan Barnard

Sudbury Court Away was the fixture, and fuck me, were we rubbish! All 11 players have to hold their hands up and take collective responsibility for what has to be one of the worst Edmonton performances in the last 3 years. It begs the question: 'What do we need to motivate us and make us treat every opposition with the respect they deserve'? Do we need another inspirational Dick Owen "Do you want to play on parks?" speech? (and who in the current team remembers that? Streety? Rochie?). Do we need extra fielding practice on a Tuesday night? Whilst there is clearly no readily available answer, we need to do something to arrest the loss of form in the last two games, that has seen us slip to 56 points off the pace with 4 games gone.

Skipper Willett won the toss, and made the only sensible decision to put the opposition in on a questionable, and very soft track. We made quick inroads with Willett catching like Kenway to help John Street to a wicket off a poor ball. Matt Worton, who was steaming in and looking threatening took their openers outside edge, but batsman and umpire were unmoved, Matt's reaction was understandable, but a bit over the top, and Willett was forced to intervene to avoid confrontation. Matty got the same batsman out again a few balls later, and this time the umpire had no choice, and Matt has to be commended for not reacting at all.

With two down, and after a rain break, their two best batsmen set about compiling a large partnership, helped in part to some questionable fielding, and generous bowling. By the time we'd woken up, we'd conceded 30 more runs than we should have done, and given Court the initiative. Stav Elia, and Ricko Lewis bowled 34 overs between them, Stav being the pick. Ricko looked threatening in places, deservedly taking five, but the strong wind didn't help his usual good line, and he will be the first to admit he was more expensive than he should have been. With a spate of quick wickets, including a blinding catch from Willett, we dismissed them for 166 from around 52 overs.

We started brightly, with Ses, Venki and Es batting 1, 2 and 3 respectively, and were looking good when Venki was given out for a questionable LBW. Es followed, misjudging the length, and getting bowled and Ses fell the same way soon after, but we were looking OK until Barnard got one that stopped, and poor shot selection led to him presenting a simple caught and bowled. Willett and Worton offered little resistance, and Bubble was incredibly unlucky falling victim to a terrible umpiring decision, being caught behind off the arm. Even the bowler was embarrassed, and to his credit said later that it wasn't out, and would have called Stav back if his skipper had let him - to be honest, I think we would have taken the wicket in that situation. Wickets tumbled, and the only real resistance came from Dave Hinnigan. With 9 down, and over 20 overs left, we were staring down the barrel. The impressive Neil Roche hung on for 12 overs with John Street, but the inevitable happened after a less than convincing catch from a Court fielder.

What can we take from this match? Not a lot - only Dave Hinnigan's batting, who hung on doggedly whilst wickets fell all around him for over an hour, and arguably Stav Elia's best bowling for some time. We've now lost more games in the first 4 than we did all last season, but on the flip side, we've won more, than we had done in the first seven. Court to their credit bowled well, and got more out of a poor wicket than our bowlers had done, and they deserve to be above us in the league on our last two performances. Having said this, all 11 of our players know full well that they can do better, and will have to against Calthorpe at home next week. With the second team looking so impressive, and with so many in-form players, a few first teamers should seriously be looking over their shoulders, and have no complaints when they drop down to the second team. First XI: Willett, Ses Jayasena, Venkatesh, Prinsloo, D Hinnigan, Barnard, Worton, Elia, N Roche, Lewis, Street

2nd XI vs. Turnham Green

Report by: Martin Loveday

Turnham Green at home was the fixture and yet again Loveday was late as was Beeden in fact it was all Beedens fault. I think 6 players were fined for not taking to the field in fully dressed whites by 1.00.

For the first time this season Kev won the toss and elected to field. Everyo0ne was pumped up as we started to take the field and as you looked around the team it was the strongest imaginable for the 2's except for the absent Cooke who is sunning himself in Trinidad. Loveday opened from the top end and was hitting the spot early doors, whilst Anil was coming in from the bottom end. Anil seemed to be unplayable as the batsmen did not have a clue as to how to hit the ball. Loveday was causing a few problems and an outside edge raced away wide of the slips for 4. Anil then got the first with a good away swinging well held by a diving Beeden behind the stumps. In came no.3 who seemed to have a good eye but for some reason was laughing. He hit a big six back over the bowlers head and in his next over Kev put Dom out in the deep mid on position where laughing boy managed to pick him out with ease off the first ball of the over. Saying that though Dom didn't pick it up till late and held onto a great catch. They were now 10 for 2. Loveday had a sharp effort dropped behind but carried on causing the batsmen trouble. Anil the took a third wicket, superbly caught at 2nd slip by Daz. The bowling remained toght and at 15 for 3 off 17 overs a change of bowling was introduced bringing Pat on at the top end. Pat was bowling really well again as the batsmen could only score with streaky shots over slips and edges just between gully and point. Daz replaced Anil from the far end and Kev replaced Pat to add a dimension of spin to the attack. It was a good decision as Kev managed to pick up two wickets in an over both bowled a was showing a good variation which has been missing from the 2nd team attack over the last couple of years. Daz was on the spot and I think that the batsmen were frustrated with the lack of scoring opportunities and in the end we forced the wickets to flow as Daz proceeded to take 3 wickets all bowled. Kev also finished up with another two, one caught at first slip by Daz and the other was caught by Adam Billimoria who was making his first appearance for the 2's this season. It was at this stage the oppo were all out for a total of 102, which on our ground is a total well within reach.

Tea was had and the batting order decided, but to be honest the top 10 batsmen could have been in any order as the line up was so strong. It was decided that Pat and Dom would open with Anil 3 and Adam 4. Dom was playing well taking no risks and just knocking the 1 and 2s to good effect. Pat started of the same but soon found himself getting bored and tried to end the game as quickly as possible before a misjudged second led to him being run out. Anil went in and looked good hitting a six and 4 off consecutive deliveries in his 4th over. Anil was next to go as he tried to flick the ball to leg and slightly miss timed the shot and was caught at square leg. Billimoria was 4 and looked fairly at ease running well with DOM and bringing the run rate up a fraction. Dom was still not troubled and continued to play a slow but good innings. Adam played forward to a good delivery which he just nicked and was caught at bat pad. Enter Beeden, who made light work of the bowling and started playing some nice shots and dispatched the bowling for a quick fire 16 not out. Dom carried his bat scoring 30 I think and I think it was fair to say a fairly easy victory in the end as we still had 15 overs left and never really tried to accelerate the scoring.

Kev was pleased with the win and I think its fair to say a pretty much faultless performance as we always had the upper hand and never let them back into the game. Whenever they had a good spell we resumed control and the effort, concentration and passion was as good as I have witnessed for a long time.

We went into the bar and started on the drinking which there was a good amount of. I think this was due to all the fines being induced by Kev. Loveday attempted to play pool but was thrashed by Varley who I think had the ump after I managed to drop a full pint of lager over him, sorry matey. At the moment we are looking forward to every game, with Daz making himself available for away games and the awaited return of Cooke, and Danny Fuller playing in the 3's, the 2's are looking very strong, so lets hope for a successful season fella's and keep up the good work...

3rd XI vs. Brondesbury

Report by: Micky Billson

Well what can you say about a game of cricket like that. Firstly Kevin Fursse won the toss and decided to bat first as i was not there yet. It was a cloudy day with the prospect of heavy showers all day which only materialised once. I strolled over to see us batting and that we were 20 for 1 the man out being Danny Fuller yes that Danny Fuller for 0, that left John Hinnigan and Colin Turner at the crease so at that stage i thought i had time to run the police assault course which is at Bushey's Met Police ground, having got half way round the course and feeling pretty pleased with myself CT was out blaming the rain for getting on his glasses and blurring his vision, that bought in Ray Bullen who was then run out running a single which would of been a 3 if some able bodied cricketers had been at the crease. At this stage we were about 25 for 2, enter the skip Kevin Fursse, if ever there was a time for a captaind innings here was it but Kevin didn't read the script. Next to go was John Hinnigan who batted for a creditable 25 (no not hours). This was my cue to enter the arena, 50 for 4 pissed off that it was not called off and fed up with Ciaron Dodds and Mark Varley getting excited about the planes flying from nearby Elstree Aerodrome. I departed shortlty after making 10 runs in about 3 overs, enter Ciaron (u wanna see how many porn videos Loveday has) Dodds, after hitting 9 he was soon back to where he belongs scoring. Next in Gary Green, next out Gary Green, by now we were 80 for 7 looking like we would be home to see the Eurovision Song Contest. Next in Glen Brown but the next to fall was our skip Kevin Fursse, now we were in big trouble. The last 3 wickets tumbled easy with Sam Jayasena & Mark Varley the last to bat, we finished up with 101.

During the tea interval intelligent conversation was had by all including Ciaron Dodds saying "thats not fair they had pork pies". Kevin Fursse gave us he prep talk before we left to bowl which reallly fired us up( right).

First 2 batsman came into bat, one of them who looked like a horse which brought cries of Nay Nay from certain members of the team, after a single Gary green steamed in and took the openers stump out of the ground YES 1 for 1. The other opener (the horseman) then proceeded to slog at everything and magaged to hit a few of them, that took the score to about 30 for 1 and i thought yes i will be home for the Euro Song Contest, but then the horseman was out with more cries of Nay Nay. That left them 30 for 2 still alot of work for us to do. Then Kev bought on Sam Jayasena and after his first ball I thought has Kev got to get home early, but after a shaky few overs finally took a wicket when Ciaron took a catch at point, proving he can catch. But they were still 80 for 3 and game won as far as they were concerned, but on came Mark Varley (dont know why) who took 2 wickets, both caught by Gary Green.

80 for 5 and very interesting, it was that interesting that i had to put my phone away and stop texing people. Gary Green changed ends and took 3 more wickets leaving them 90 for 7, getting intesting. Then Kev had a master plan he borought me on to bowl and immediately had to catches put down (Ray Bullen and Ciaron Dodds) but thankfully one went to someone who could catch, Gary Green and that left them 94 for 8. Next over Green got another wicket leaving them 94 for 9 leaving the stage for me to take the final wicket with the first ball of the next over. Game won and never have i seen so many people who could not play cricket before on 1 pitch.

Saturday 18th May 2002

2nd XI vs. West Harrow

Report by: Martin Loveday

Away to West Harrow was the fixture. After a horrible night previous and the weather forecast it was not looking good. We arrived at the ground to be told that we had 6 minutes to get changed under new second team regulations. As it turned out Beeden didn't make it and was handed a club fine as was, Loveday for his shocking time keeping the week previous.

It would have been a good toss to win with the wicket very wet and green. Kev and Dom opened the batting and were up against a massive task of trying to score runs on an almost impossible wicket. The boys waited for the bad balls and played some nice strokes, with a wet outfield very little was going to the boundary so we found that everything had to be run hard. Unfortunately the run rate was very slow but we had all our wickets in hand. Kev was given out LBW from one that kept low which left us about 30 for 1 off i think about 15 overs. This bought Anil to the crease and he looked a good bat. Playing some lovely shots but mainly straight into the fielders. He did however hit a couple of sweetly timed shots and was looking to pick up the singles with Dom. It was unfortunate when Anil was dismissed as he was looking for the run before being sent back and without slipping he would have made it back easily, (certainly a case for wearing spikes). This meant that it was Pat's turn at the crease and he looked to be batting reasonably well playing straight and trying to dispatch anything loose. They changed there opener (who i think was about 110 years old), this lead to a wicket with his first ball as Pat chased what would have been called a wide delivery and knicked it to the keeper. At this stage the score was still quite low at about 85 for 3 of i think about 30 overs. Beeden went to the crease and looked at ease with the bowling attack playing some nice shots and running like an angry rhino. Dom was dismissed with score at about 95 - 100 for 4. Dom batted very well keeping our batting steady and supporting all the new batsmen. Stockman walked into bat to support Tim who started playing some quality strokes (even off the spinner) started to accelerate the scoring. Beeden went charging down the crease and missed the ball but luckily there wicket keeper was as bad as Beeden and missed the ball and gave Tim a second chance. After his slice of luck Tim struck a big six straight back over his head and raced on to a score of 45. With the score on roughly 150 off 40 overs, we started losing wickets very cheaply and Mardell despite looking very good just mis timed a shot through the covers and was caught. I missed the dismissal of Ciaran Dodds as i was padding up but again another wicket went quickly followed swiftly by Cooper going first ball caught behind. Loveday went into bat facing a hat trick ball and was able to leave it well alone and leave Stockman the strike for the 49th over to score th 8 runs required to get the full batting points of 175 before the 50 overs. But Chris got one that stayed low and was sent back to the changing room. This meant that our last batsmen was Mark Varley who did well to survive the last 3 balls of the over from there best bowler by far. Loveday now had the strike and a 8 runs were required still to get the max points from just 6 balls. Unfortunately only 6 runs were got which left us 2 short. Mark then thought he would try and take the attack to the bowlers for the last 5 overs but got an thick edge and was caught in the covers, leaving us a score of 173 all out.

We took the field quite hyped up and aggresive after a good talk from Kev. Pat opened up from the top end and Loveday the bottom. Pat was showing good pace and had an outside edge flash just wide of the slips off his third ball. Loveday couldnt really get going but kept it tight at one end. Pat still looked like taking wickets and got a bit of luck when a short delivery was miss timed and edged up to Loveday at fine leg who took a nice catch. The fielding and the effort from the bowlers was top notch. A special mentioned has to go out to Ciaran Dodds and Mark Varley who fielding was exceptional. They must have saved the team 40 runs in the field between them and were always awake and alert. There was good voice in the field and we kept our spirits up. Pat took another as the new bat tried to cow him and was caught at mid wicket by Mardell. Every one was working for each other and the next break through came when Kev decided a change in attack was required and was right as in his first over he dismissed the other opening bat, who may have been a little inexperienced at 14 but certainly didnt lack good technique and a decent shot selection. Kev bowled one and the boy tried to smash over deep mid wicket where Mark Varley was to take a very good catch ruuning in. Dom had a short spell but again he couldnt get going into full flow and was replaced by Anil. Anil bowled exceptionally well and could have polished up the rest of there batting with a little luck but ended up with no wickets but great figures of 12 overs for 11 runs. Kev managed to get one more wicket before the end a nicely taken caught and bowled. We restricted West Harrow to under 100 runs off 40 overs and a great performance by all when i think it would have een a comfortable victory if we could have won the toss. We took more points than the oppo so considering how everything went against us i think its fair to say it was a good result. A quick drink in the bar followed before the hospitality of the opposition run out and we were asked to leave so they could attend a dinner and dance.

It must be said we came up against a side who once again tried intimidating the umpires with constant appeals, which started to wear thin towards the end, and if we consider that they refused to give a blatant LBW i have to conclude that this is the third league fixture this year and despite our attempts to make it a fair game by giving LBW'S, stumpings and run outs we have yet to be given a decission ourselves by any opponents, (poor show fellas). Once again the teas were shocking and the prices charged were extraordinary for what was on offer.

Food was at a premium back at the club however as Graeme Dickenson had rented the hall and invited everyone in to eat drink and dance. A good time was had and thats despite Ses's dancing exploits and even Rhino was drunk, (boys i think hes finally been filled up).

Saturday 11th May 2002

1st XI vs. Polytechnic

Report by: Alan Barnard

With the second round of league matches being played, the first XI made the trip to Chiswick to play Polytechnic, in a game that we needed to win to cement our solid start to the season after a draw with Mill Hill Village last week. Incredibly, Ses Jayasena was at the club on time, in fact he was there before most of the other players, which has to be a first - obviously someone has bought him a new watch!

After the usual boring journey round the North Circular (stopping at Hangar Lane to pick up Venki), we arrived at the ground to see a very spongy wicket, and a very worried looking third XI. The Threes were also playing at Poly, and they had already been out to inspect their wicket - hence the worried faces. I can honestly say that it was the worst wicket that I've ever seen in senior cricket, and that's saying something. It was as if a tractor had been driven over it in the winter when it was wet, and it had been rolled as an afterthought once it had dried out. Not that ours was a lot better, but at least it was reasonably flat.

Willet lost the toss, and just as he was facing up to the prospect of batting first and trying to set a score on a potentially poor wicket, their skipper did something bizarre, and decided to bat?! At 20-2 his decision seemed a bad one, but some big hitting for their No.4 took the total up to about 60-2. Streety had taken two wickets, and was getting the ball to do loads, and always looked a threat, despite being carted for some huge sixes, whilst Matty Worton was working hard from the bottom end, and not getting a lot in return.

A mix-up by their two batsmen who were looking dangerous led to a sharp run-out by Dave Hinnigan / Venki, and the outgoing batsman aiming a cheeky "you twat!" at the not-out batsman. A good catch from Hinnigan at long on off Streets bowling led to their No. 4 going for 30 - this was effectively the end of their innings, with their best two bats out, and the total at about 60. Cue Barnard coming onto bowl at the tail on a wicket that doing loads, and a ball that was swinging miles - I like it when that happens.

With Rico bowling tightly at the pavilion end, Alan managed to take figures of 5-9 (including 3 wides). It should have been 6-8 had it not been for the umpire making one of the more interesting decisions I've seen; a Poly batsman chased a wide one, and got a nick, which Venki snapped up behind the stumps, the team looked at the umpire expecting a raised finger, but all he did was signal a wide!? Having said this, the guy holed out to Willett in the covers a few balls later.

Special mention at this stage has to go to Matt "juggler" Worton for some 'questionable' fielding. Matty had dropped a sharp chance off Rico's bowling at square leg, then proceeded to drop an easier one that looped up, and he managed to get his hands to. Lastly, he dropped perhaps the easiest chance (all three coming from the same batsman) I've ever seen go down - it was as if someone had underarmed him the ball, but the ball hit the floor to cries of "bad luck Matt", "what the f*ck was that" and "how much are you paying him, batsman?" It was starting to look dubious when Matty was seen receiving a brown envelope from the aforementioned batsman at tea, but I guess that goes some way to explaining his lack of fielding ability.

Tea was amusing as ever, with Willett and C Barnard coming in for some abuse as they were both nursing hangovers. Quote of the day has to be Chris Barnard after Rico complimented him on his scoring; he responded: "you obviously can't see all the tip-ex marks then?" Our batting, chasing a score of 88 was both sublime and ridiculous, Ez Prinsloo hit some huge sixes, Ses Jayasena played some cracking pull shots, and we somehow managed to lose 5 wickets along the way. In the end it was quite comfortable, and a few of the wickets can be blamed on the poor track, but we need to get our batting together for the visit of West Harrow next week, who will provide more of a test.

As we finished early, we decide to watch the 3rds game for a bit - which was proving to be a bit of a lottery - Nick Waker was hit above the eye (that means the ball had to get up to around 9 feet), and Cieran Dodds was swinging wildly at balls that were either flying past his head, of rolling along the ground - all from the same length. Once Ez and Ses had proved that they both play football like girls after having a kick-about with Dave Bakers son we headed back to the club to watch the 2nd XI record a superb win over Southall.

Loveday (who had apparently turned up 1 hour late) was steaming in at their last batsman, and in the last over, managed to get one to do a bit, and uprooted the off stump amid wild celebrations from players and supporters. Much beer was consumed by both sets of players, and we even had a bit of a sing-song with classics such as "Where's your eyebrow gone?" and "where's my trophy gone?" getting rolled out. With Loveday and Barnard both buying Jugs, the celebrations continued into the small hours with the usual poker session.

It has to be said the twos were looking strong, with a few first team standard players playing, and this can only be good for the club as both team look to get promoted from their respective divisions. First XI: Willett, Ses Jayasena, A Bilimoria, Venkatesh, Prinsloo, D Hinnigan, Barnard, Elia, M Worton, Lewis, Street.

2nd XI vs. Southall

Report by: Martin Loveday

Southall at home was the fixture. Loveday decided he would try his best to p*ss of skipper Kev Lawrence by turning up 1 hour late. Upon arrival it was good to see that Kev was at the crease until I realised that I had to go and do some umpiring as Kev was carrying a bat which worried me slightly. Dom and Kev got us off to a good start I think it was about 80 runs before the first wicket when Dom was dismissed. This bought S.Roche to the crease and it wasn't long after this that he was going back after being given out lbw. Pat then wandered into bat and stayed around to calm the possible storm, and was a witness to see Kevs 50 although no-one really knew he had reached this mark. Kev was stumped on 51 after parading down the track and kinda watched the ball go past him.

Beeden was next in and looked settled enough but a dodgy second run led to him being run out by a country mile, Tim decided that he would try his luck and stand firm at the crease hoping that a drunken Loveday would not give him out. This is where the game was won by bringing Daz in who I must admit produced some of the best shots that I have seen in a long while. Picking off the bad balls for 6's and 4's he raced along to 70 in about 16 overs or so. Pat played a steady innings and scored at a steady pace although never seeming to be totally happy with game. The boys took us to a score of around 200 before Daz got caught at deep long on trying for another 6. Mickey Bilson went into partner Pat but unfortunately Pat was dismissed after a couple of overs. With about 5 overs remaining A.Cooper went into bat with the score on about 220. Mickey demolished their bowling scoring 30 runs in about 4 overs. The 55 overs were bowled and we finished on 265 for 6.

Tea was great with lots of banter mainly aimed at Loveday and Beedens run out, Oh but lets not leave out the story of Mini Smith's eyebrow. In his attempt to emulate a certain Mr.Beckham he managed to make it look like somebody had run a lawnmower over his face.

Back out on the pitch we took our positions and were very hyped up. Loveday, steaming in from the top end and Pat swinging the ball from the bottom, Southall seamed settled despite not scoring no early wickets were taken. This soon changed as Loveday dismissed 3 of their batsmen. Pat then felt the need to catch up and replied in similar fashion including a hat trick ball being bowled, and having an 11 - 0 field on the off side. Loveday took one more wicket before the two openers were rested. Daz, Dom, Kev and Little Daz all had a go at taking the last two wickets required as they only turned up with 10 men. No more wickets were taken so Loveday and Pat were brought back on with seven overs remaining.

Loveday took another wicket with his second ball, and continued to cause the batsmen trouble with Pat unlucky as one went flying through gully (Cooper diving out of the way). It was left to the last over with Loveday bowling and tension high. By now the first eleven had returned and were giving some encouragement from the side. Loveday sprinted into the wicket and bowled a lovely delivery, which dismissed the last man and breaking the off stump.

Lots of celebrating was done and lots of beer was drunk, resulting in a highly amusing night. Ez made a new friend by offering a little boy some of his crisps. Mini Smith (Mardell) was avoiding everyone hoping that no one would comment on his accident, sorry I mean fashion statement. All in all a good day for the club and a good night followed.

3rd XI vs. Polytechnic

Report by: Alan Porter

The 3rd X1 ste out to polytechnic on saturday for there first league game of the season, along with the first team who were playing on the opposite pitch.On arrival the first task was to look at the pitch this came as a severe shock to see a was good club produce a wicket of such poor quality that your average back garden would have been better prepared than this strip that was presented to play a gsme of cricket on and how long are people goin to have to put up with sub standard facilities for 3rdX1 cricket. Sooner or later someone is going to get seriously hurt and not just a cut eye and a bruise here and there.

No matter what team you play in the oppotunity for the skippers to mark pitches whether they play in the 3rd X1 or 1stX1. it will be the only way we are going to improve the standard of pitches we play on.Bearing in mind sometimes colts are picked for 3rd and 4th team fixtures is it right that we should ask them to play on such sub standard wickets.

As for the game from the Es part there is not alot to be said we won the toss put the opposition in and had them at 52-7 which was about par for that cabbage patch but as usual we let the opposition off the hook and let them get to 111allout with newcomer Gary Green impressing on his debut by grabbing a couple of wickets.

The batting in reply was very poor and bad shock selection by the openig 4 batsmen left us reeling on 24-4, it was left to J Hinnigan to guts it out and good efforts from J Hazell and Nick Waker left us with a shout but once these three had departed we folded completly and were all out for 87 not a particularly good start but things as they say can only get better and with players returning in the higher teams maybe the 3s will get some batsmen to strengthen the side.

Saturday 4th May 2002

1st XI vs. Mill Hill Village

Report by: Alan Barnard

With the 2002 season well underway now, the first XI played host to Mill Hill Village at Hydeside - a team that were relegated from Division 1 last season, and are looking to bounce back as quickly as possible. With the weather forecast good and the pitch good as ever, we decided to have a net before the game (well, all except Ses, who seems to be operating on a different time-zone to the rest of us!). The team was slightly under-strength, with Worton, Willett, Si Roche and Prinsloo all absent, but it was good to see Venki again after close to 8 months away.

Stand-in skipper Beeden won the toss, and decided to field first, the right decision given that we were looking for a win. Cocker and Quality opened the bowling, and Neil picked up the first wicket with a lose ball smashed to the right of Barnard at point who reacted well to hold onto a very sharp catch. Streaty bowled as tightly as ever, and caused the batsmen problems throughout his spell with a nagging line and length.

After a few bowling changes things were going well, Beeden at second slip took one of the best catches seen at this level diving full-length to his right in true Free Willy style to cling onto a bat pad off the bowling of Barnard. Mill Hill Village we struggling along at 2.5 an over after 40, and the game looked to be well within our reach, but their No.4 and No.5 batted excellently to take the attack to the Edmonton bowling, and after some abysmal fielding, they managed to reach 221-3 off their 55 overs.

In fact, the fielding was so poor that Barnard lost the plot after another couple of needless runs were given away, aiming a verbal torrent at the team, and generally making a twat of himself. Slightly more constructive was the decision to get the team together before tea for a meeting / pep talk about what went wrong, and how we could improve things. I think all 11 players were in agreement that we gave away 30 needles runs, and this was to eventually cost us a win.

Village started brightly after tea, picking up the wickets of Fuller and Venkatesh cheaply. Venki, who had got off the plane the night before from Chennai was obviously tired, and didn't bat up to his usual high standards. After Ses was given out to a slightly harsh LBW decision, we were reeling at 40-3. Another wicket at this point, and the tail could have been exposed far too early. Fortunately Dave Hinnigan was in defiant mood, and batted superbly with Alan Barnard to ensure that the game was saved.

Whilst we were never likely to lose, the win just eluded us, and we finished 30 (told you so!) runs short in the end. We would have been happy with 125 at one stage, but Barnard gave it some late stick to finish on 75* (the last 50 coming in about 25 minutes) to boost the score up to 181-3 from 48. The Village players were clearly frustrated, aiming a number of jibes at us for not getting on with it, but considering that we scored at the same run rate than them for our innings, I don't think they had a leg to stand on.

Barnard and Hinnigan seemed to respond to the fielders chat, taking the run rate up to 7 an over for the last 10, ensuring that we got the maximum points, and didn't give any more wickets away. It must be noted that the fielders were slightly quieter for the last 10 even though it was them who were asking us to get on with it a few overs before. Hmm.

Special mention to Dave Hinnigan, who played as good a knock as you'll see for his 61* and is likely to have cemented his place in the team for a while. On the positive side, two players who found runs hard to come by in the Saturday 1sts last year seem to have hit form. Also, with at least 3 first XI regulars returning next week, Willett and Beeden are likely to face the sort of selection problems that a few seasons ago we could only dream about. Team: Beeden, Ses Jayasena, Fuller, Venkatesh, D Hinnigan, Barnard, Elia, M Bilson, Lewis, Street, N Roche

2nd XI vs. Sri Lankan Cavaliers

Report by: Martin Loveday

Edmonton 2's turn up to the ground (well i say ground, but its not called warren FARM for nothing) after having to sit in traffic and wait for Cooke to turn around after Mardell (little smith) told him to turn right instead of left because he was holding the map the wrong way round. Pat won the toss and elected to field. The oppo showed early signs of a big score when there persistent cow shots were paying off as the ball went every where in there air except to hand. Wickets fell at intervals but this didn't stop the scoring. With the smallest boundary i have ever played senior cricket on they raced to a score of 330 for 6 declared. I should add that they kept on batting for 3 hours 45 minutes and killed of any chance of a result from the game as a score of 270 would have been sufficient. Tea was now upon us at 5.15, well i say tea but i think a better description would be a packed lunch for 5. They even had the cheek to charge £35 for the teas which would have cost no more than £4 in total, thanks fellas.

We went out to bat, well run down the 38 overs which we would be given to chase 330 a run rate of 9 was required from the first ball. We had persistent appealing and whinging from ball one at every chance the oppo got trying to intimedate our young umpires but little smith and little daz did not respond to the harrasment even under 2 stringent interrigations from the opposition captain. the game was safe after 20 overs as no wickets were lost but the spinners managed to take 6 wickets in the end with long hops that kept low, and then running round like little school girls who have just met robbie williams or something. The game was a draw and a waste of a day. The only notes to be made was a 50 from Mustafa, a huge 6 from Cooke and the knowledge of knowing that if they had played the game properly and declared givig us a target of around 280 they would have had another 10 overs to take the remaining 4 wickets. I just hope that our club isnt a let down to the opposition when they come to Edmonton as we have all now witnessed the true standard of our opposition the facilities they have and the unsporting endevours involved when playing cricket.

3rd XI vs. Brondesbury

Report by: Alan Porter

Whilst the 1st & 2nd X1s were involed in the start of the league season the 3rdX1 continued the early season warm up with a match against county league side Brondesbury. They came with a fairly strong side and this was obvious when their 2 opening batsmen proceeded to take our bowling apart with considerable ease and even though we as a side were not bowling badly it was clear that the opening bats were a couple of classes above what we usually face. The Bondesbury scored mounted and a one stage we were looking at chasing somewhere around the 300 hundred mark but they must have taken sympathy on us and they declared on 243-0. With both openers making centuries.

The batting was opened by Fursse and Turner but neither batsmen got anything like the start we needed with Turner going caught and Fursse being run out Langdell came in with a few lusty blows but was completely undone by a slower ball and was bowled J Hinnigan came and went again after looking in good nick this left only J Hazell who scored his first 50 of the season but his was the only resistant put up with anything like the score we needed to compete with the oppostions score.

The game slowly drifted away to the inevitiable defeat with the highlight of the the closing overs being an all run 4 by A Porter and J Hazell and it was debateable who was more tired ageing AP or James but the innings came to an end when AP had a big yahoo and was bowled and the 3s had lost by 70 runs.