Saturday 5th May 2007
Saturday 12th May 2007
Saturday 19th May 2007
Saturday 26th May 2007

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Saturday 5th May 2007

1st XI vs.

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2nd XI vs.

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Saturday 12th May 2007

1st XI vs. Old Lyonians

Report by: Mark Varley

After a positive start to the season with two wins from the warm up matches, the team were looking forward the official start to the season. However the week leading up to the game was not looking promising with most days sodden with rain, even up to late Friday night. But as usual the British summer weather never ceases to tease and when we awoke on Saturday morning the sun was shining and there was a lovely breeze perfect for drying out any potential wet outfields.

The day didn't take long to start going against us, after leaving relatively on time and picking up our crazy Afghan from Finchley we soon hit the FA trophy final traffic on the A41. This set us back a good half hour, and again our match preparations were a bit delayed. Well we got underway eventually with our usual jog round the field and our stretches all going to plan. Meanwhile the skipper was in the middle taking the toss. We lost the toss and were made to wait for approx. ten minutes. When we then made plans for batting, only to be a little shocked when their skipper informed us that they wished to bat. Just as we were changing our plans slightly and were preparing to field the heavens decided to open up for the first time of the day.

Things didn't change for a good hour and a half and the pitch began to look wetter and wetter due to a lack of covers of any description. The umpires took a few trips out to the middle to check on progress when it looked as though it was going to subside, it didn't.

Just as it got to the point of no return the rain disappeared and the sun began to shine. The decision was made to take tea, as it was ready, and it should give the pitch time to dry out. We finished a very nice tea, the umpires took another look, and they wanted to give it some more time, so we played a game of our own with a tennis ball wrapped in tape. Wali proceeded to bowl full pace in swinging Yorkers and we won, we asked for thirty points but to our despair they denied.

The umpires took one last look after the oppo's skipper mopped up the excess water with a towel, and they came off the pitch stating that the game was off as the pitch itself was too wet. We were all a bit gutted as there were twenty two players all desperate to start the season. The captains then took the umpires to one side and explained that the players were willing to play on the pitch despite the extreme conditions. So the umpires agreed to begin the match at around 3:45pm.

The equation was simple for us we needed 10 points or more to make the game worth our while, and with the weather threatening to deteriorate once more we knew we would have to act fast an efficiently. Wali and Varley opened up, and with the runs looking very hard to come by began to build pressure. The wickets didn't take long to come and with some help from the pitch and the umpires the pressure told as Old Lyonians were pinned at around 30 - 3 after about 15 overs. The pressure continued to mount and they were restricted to around 90 - 7 after 35 overs. We were in prime position to take the game by the scruff. However as has been the case too often in the past we lost our concentration and the period of the game that Old Lyonians had lasted a good 10 overs too many as they posted another 100 runs in the last fifteen overs of the innings. The pick of the bowlers was Wali however he didn't have half the luck of Varley who took the lion's share of the wickets with 6 - 60.

We left the field extremely disappointed as we could and should have nailed them down to around 100 runs. This left us with only twenty two overs to reply and we needed to reach 75 runs to get past the ten point marker. This doesn't sound too difficult but when you consider we would have had a chance at thirty points it was hard to get motivated, unless you were from Afghanistan.

We knew it would take a miracle for there to be a result in the match, so we set off at a steady safe pace with Dodgy and Adeel making a sensible opening stand of 45 when Dave holed out trying to get on with it. We then sent in Wali as a last chance of a result but to no avail as he too holed out in the deep. It was then down to Dave Rai and Jules to bat out the remaining overs the 75 runs were reached comfortably in the end not helped though by the umpires who denied Jules of a clear six that they would not take our word for on the boundary. We finished the innings at 92 - 3.

At the end of the day we left with 11 points which is more than we expected after the rain but that wonderful thing hindsight we knew we should have taken our chances and beaten a weaker side quite comfortably. The weather is easy to blame but if we were honest we had the chance in our hands and we let it slip.

On the bright side we have 50+ overs of league cricket under our belts and we have one more point than at least four other teams in the league. We can also take the fact that we know we have the ability to totally dominate a team and we also now know our weakness of losing concentration and letting our heads drop when things come on top. If we iron out the creases and perform for 50 overs in the field rather than 35 we would have won on Saturday and I'm sure there aren't many teams in the league who could cope with us. Here's to next week at home against Osterley.

Team: Lawrence, A Saeed, D Hinnigan, Khan, Rai, Fletcher, Awan, Barnard, Mardell, C Dodds, Varley

2nd XI vs.

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Saturday 19th May 2007

1st XI vs. Osterley

Report by: Gavin Mardell

It is Saturday the 19th of May, and today the visitors to Hydeside are Osterley CC, winners of the Championship for the past 2 years, and a well-organised and accomplished outfit who will prove a tough test.

Most of us arrive nice and early, in time to avoid any financial punishment from the skipper, and we are in our whites by the time Dan "Barry Manilow" Hare and Adam "Spurs took him on to get his brother's services" Herron arrive, somewhat worse for wear after celebrations the night, and most of the morning, before. Needless to say, fines were imposed.

With the absence of Alan "Admin" Barnard to motivate the troops during the warm-up, this was restricted to a close catching exercise introduced by Dave "PE Teacher" Hinnigan. In theory this was a good format, and a lot of fun, but the idea of trying to catch-pass-and-move in short proximity to others was a little lost on a few individuals, in particular the Afghan and Pakistani contingent, so eventually this turned into what can only be described as a minor shambles. Jules "Holland" Fletcher, the greatest Personal Trainer ever to leave South African shores, then led us through some pre-match stretches.

The skipper won the toss, and we elected to take to the field. Idea being that against an opposition of proven quality, we could apply some sustained pressure and limit them to a score which we could later chase down.

Wali "Boom-Boom" Khan and Mark "Gets wickets with bad balls" Varley as usual opened up, and both bowled with good pace and discipline to leave Osterley on 36 for 2 after 15 overs. The opening pair Manoj and Laeeq not looking at all comfortable on a quick yet flat looking Hydeside wicket. It has to be said that the bowling was backed up by some good energy levels and tempo in the field early doors. We had started well and were very much on top.

Abid Ahmed then joined Ashraf Ali in the middle for Osterley, and what was to follow was a partnership of 216 that was to all but end any hopes of an Edmonton victory. Some fine batting, particularly by their overseas No.3 batsman Ali (who finished on 158), mixed in with some indisciplined bowling and fielding, led to them amassing a rather healthy 322 for 5 from 50 overs. It was not a day for the Edmonton bowlers it has to be said, but credit to Wali "Dodgy Run-up" Khan who kept plugging away and finished with 3 for 86 from 19 overs. Not much more to be said really on this half of the proceedings. Agreeably it is easy to say that we let ourselves down with the ball in spells, and standards definitely did drop in the field after an impressive start, but it must be said that you just had to take your hats off to an impressive 3rd wicket partnership. On the most part we stuck at the task and toiled on a typically excellent wicket for batting.

Tea was taken at Hydeside, and as always, in my opinion, it was not up to much (ask anyone who played the following week at Birkbeck to disagree with me?) A bit of pasta or diversity wouldn't go amiss. For instance, the opposition were asked "You are meat eaters aren't ya?.......cos I ain't been told any different?" (note the cockney tone). To which their skipper replied "Yeah it's fine", in a 'I know these teas are poor but I don't want to be rude' sort of way. Good job really, because we continously lay out copious amounts of sausage rolls, ham sandwiches and pepperoni covered pizzas week in week out. Anyway, I've had my rant.

It was decided that Gavin "Lego Hair" Mardell and Adeel "Toe-Punt specialist" Saeed would open the batting, and the general feeling was positive. We needed a solid start, and with a strong batting line-up like ours anything was possibly. Thoughts of being bowled out and losing the game never came into our heads. At the very least we would be looking to pick up our maximum batting points posting a solid total of 200 plus for the loss of not very many.

Like I was saying, with the score on 6, Mardell was the first to perish, bowled through the gate. This somewhat put pay to our solid start, and Addy was joined by Dan "Copacabana" Hare a little earlier than expected. However, they set about building a healthy partnerhip of 86, before the "Rabbit" fell for an impressive and destructive 56. An ECC minor collapse followed, and by the time Addy "Stinging nettles are his nemesis" Saeed had been off with cramp, back in, and out caught for 30, we were sitting at 105 for 4 with 27 overs of the game remaining.

Jules "in love with Gav's heavy bat" Fletcher and Wali "said too much about him already" Khan proceeded to smash a quickfire 65 run partnerhip in the space of 6 overs, with thoughts of winning the match, somewhat unrealistically, still in some peoples' heads. 170 for 4 quickly became 171 for 6, and with 19 overs still to negotiate our lower order were looking very exposed. Jules went for 43 (he hit a massive 6 which somebody brought back from the grocers by the way) and Wali went for 33. In hindsight, batsmen started to realise that they had been a little to positive too early on in proceedings, and that now it had been left to the lower order to hopefully cling on for the draw. Was the win realistically ever on the cards? We should have made the opposition work a lot harder for our wickets, and simply made sure that we claimed our batting points.

Dave "Dhoni" Rai came and went, as did Ash "Grammar boy" Perera and skipper Kev "never does a lap with the boys" Lawrence. Edmonton were now reeling at 184 for 9 with another 11 overs still to face from the Osterley attack, and with heads in hands we were staring down the barrel. Adam "puts his footie before cricket, tut tut" Herron and Mark "Aussie lover" Varley had other ideas however. Ad had seen 4 batsmen come and go, and I mean BATSMEN, and now he was left with the task of seeing out the game with the flamboyant tail-ender in Northern. It was backs to the wall stuff, and not because Barnard was about!!

11 overs later and the boys had done it. Herron and Varley had dug deep in an unbroken stand of 37, to salvage a draw and some pride for the E-Unit. In the process gaining us a further 5 points and importantly stoping Osterley from picking up an extra 10. Adam was in for a hour and 7 minutes for his unbeaten 36, and Varls finished with 1 not out after an admirable knock which lasted for over half a hour. The feeling in the dressing room afterwards was a mixed one. Lessons were there to be learnt from today's performance, mainly towards attitudes in the field and people needing to take more responsibility with the bat. However, in avoiding defeat to the current title holders, and holding them to what I would say to be a creditable draw (albeit for a certain partnership), some positives could be taken. No matter what the scores depict, we competed with them for large periods of the game, and they were never coasting.

Like the skipper keeps saying, we are a young team with huge amounts of talent and ability, but the only way to turn that into a successful team and a winning formula is with everyone giving 110% and working their socks off week in week out, out on the field and at the crease. Talent doesn't automatically guarentee runs or wickets, we have to put in the hard graft and effort too.

Team in batting order: G.Mardell, A.Saeed, D.Hare, D.Hinnigan, W.Khan, J.Fletcher, A.Herron, D.Rai (wk), A.Perera, K.Lawrence (Capt.), M.Varley.

2nd XI vs. Enfield

Report by: Martin Loveday

Saturday 19th May Edmonton 2nd X11 travel just down the road to Enfield CC.

Most players got to the ground before the fines were issued but there was much mocking of 2 people in particular. Chat Gallage and Dave Baker who did not know where the ground was. The weather was fine and the ground looked great. The outfield was maybe a tad damp still and the pitch protected by the covers looked perhaps on the green side.

Stav lost the toss and was asked to have a bat by the Enfield skipper. Stav gave everyone there order in the batting line up sent James Hazel and Dave Smith out to start things off.

The boys looked fairly solid especially James who played some nice strokes to get us up to 18 off 4 overs but was soon on his way back to the pavilion after been perhaps harshly dismissed LBW for 15, The ball looked high but not offering a stroke proved to be his downfall. Danny Muschamp was next to the wicket and was also the next back to the pavilion after driving straight to cover with the score on about 21 but had to be carried off the field after feeling faint. Next in was young Chris Arul making his debut at age 14. He and Smith looked to play themselves in but Smith was undone when there opener changed ends and delivered an in ducker that had him trapped LBW right in front of the stumps. The opening bowler had his 3rd wicket of the day and was hitting his line and length constantly. Chat Gallage to the crease and it wasn't long before a sublime cover drive produced his first boundary. It was also his last as he gave a return catch to the bowler off the leaning edge as we slipped to 48 for 4. Chris Goddard came to the crease but he was on his way when he was bowled by a full delivery and it was 55 for 5.

I should mention that young Chris Arul had batted very nicely considering it was his first senior game he was patient and played some glorious strokes. Dave Baker entered the fray and soon settled into his distinctive batting style. I say this because Dave did look fidgety but solid enough. Dave wasted no time in asserting himself and hit their best bowler over the short cover for four as well as coming down the wicket to upset his line and length forcing the keeper up to the stumps where in truth he didn't look comfortable.

Young Chris went with score on about 80 for 6 when he gave another return catch to Lee Robertson for his fifth wicket. Chris batted very well before falling on 24 and he definitely has a bright future ahead of him. Ex Enfieldian Daz Sivathasan joined Baker in the middle. We now had our 2 most experienced cricketers at the crease and when I say experienced I mean old... Sorry boys but the rest is nothing but love...

As the previous sentence would suggest Dave and Daz started to repair some of the damage and were perhaps helped when the opening bowler came off for a deserved rest and spin was introduced. Although the pair are natural hitters they also played the balls into gaps and took runs where they could. The spinner in truth was too short on many occasions and the boys wasted nothing by putting the bad balls away and the scoring rate started to pick up. The boys were batting really well when Daz presented their skipper with a sharp chance at gully which was put down. This however did not stop the fellas achieving their 50 partnership. It was at about this point Mr Robertson was re-introduced and although he did perhaps slow the scoring rate the partnership continued into the 80's. Dave Baker reached his fifty after a great innings certainly considering the position at which he came in and the boys in the pavilion where on their feet applauding. Maybe the emotion of the situation got to Dave as he was bowled on 51 by... You got it, Robertson for his sixth of the day. Dodds was the next man in and we were now hopeful of reaching 200 with the score on 168 - 7.

Unfortunately Daz went soon after when he tried to smash another boundary and was caught in the 40's. The skipper walked out and he and Dodds both looked to play their shots and run hard. They managed to take the score up to 179 when Stav was bowled going for a big shot. Loveday strolled out to meet Dodds and they both strolled back next ball when Dodds hit a huge shot which everyone thought was a big six that ended being caught on the deep mid off boundary and we were all out for 179 off 46 overs. Their opening bowler Lee Robertson returned figures of 19.1 overs 7 for 48.

We had tea and Stav stated what he wanted from us in the field. It was agreed that we needed to perform better in the field than we did last week and hold our catches and we could put them under some pressure.

Loveday opened up from the top end and Dodds the bottom. It was a good start with both bowlers hitting their stride early on and reward for Loveday in the 3rd over when he picked up a wicket caught by Goddard behind the stumps.

It was a good catch as the ball was dying but he took it well to get us off to the best possible start 2-1. Their number 3 looked to be positive and hit a couple of nice shots as well as some airy shots that just evaded the fielders of both bowlers. It wasn't long though before Dodds got the 2nd wicket of the innings (24-2) with Smith taking a superb diving catch at Gully which lifted the fielder's spirits. Loveday picked up the 3rd wicket when he got the 3rd trapped LBW and had the oppo at 47 for 3. Dodds continued to beat the outside edge and had a couple edges just fly through the gaps between slip and gully. Loveday picked up the fourth when he got one to move up the hill and hit the middle stump. 59 for 4 and former Edmonton colt Eddie Barber came to the crease. Eddie set his stall out early by punishing anything short or over pitched with powerful drives and pulls.

Enfield were in a similar position to us at this point and were looking to do the same by rebuilding with a partnership. The bowlers kept plugging away but some solid batting had Enfield score creeping up slowly. Loveday managed to pick up another wicket when another good LBW shout was given. It appears that the batsman was not happy as he thought he got an inside edge although none of the fielding side heard a second sound. We were just happy at another wicket 70-5 but still aware of the threat that Eddie was posing.

Stav came onto bowl replacing Dodds and caused problems from the first over but the occasional short delivery was punished by Eddie and we really wanted to take his wicket as he was definitely the danger man. Stav got him: Eddie was caught at slip by Smith taking a good low catch, Eddie had batted well and looked set but he was dismissed for 39. Loveday hits the middle stump to get a fifth and that's 2 quick wickets that has ended the partnership and put Edmonton on the front foot again with 2 new batsmen to the crease. It was obvious that they were not going to try and survive they were still playing positive shots going for the win. They were certainly not your normal lower order batsmen as both looked to drive hard and punish anything loose 110-7. Loveday picked up his sixth when a good ball outside off stump was edged to Dodds at second slip who had no problems with the catch and the boys were elated and could feel a result was coming.

Stav took his second and the ninth wicket when the ball stayed low and had their number 10 trapped right in front with the score on 127-9. Stav was bowling well and keeping the pressure on the batting side with nothing loose.

Loveday bowled a good delivery which took the outside edge and flew to second slip where Dodds took a spectacular one handed diving catch above his head and the game was over a superb ECC win. But no it seems Dodds dropped it as his arm hit the floor but the batsman was walking and Smith picked up the ball and rolled the ball under arm at the stumps when the batsman realised that the catch in fact was dropped but Smith missed and they were still in the game. Maybe it wasn't going to be our day, But the very next ball resulted in the final wicket as Loveday took his seventh wicket of the innings when the number 8 played onto the stumps and Enfield were all out for 131. Loveday returned figures of 19.4 overs 7 for 58.

It was a good game played in the right spirit. I have to congratulate Chris Arul for his performance with the bat and his concentration in the field although to be fair everyone was good in the field catches were taken and misfields were left to a minimum. Dave Baker and Daz Sivathasan were excellent with the bat and changed the game in our favour and gave us a total to defend. The bowling was good only 3 used but Loveday, Dodds and Elia all bowled with good control.

Team (in batting line up): James Hazell, Dave Smith, Danny Muschamp, Chris Arul, Chat Gallage, Chris Goddard (wicket keeper), Dave Baker, Daz Sivathasan, Ciaran Dodds, Stav Elia (captain) and Martin Loveday.

5th XI vs. Perrivale

Report by: David Sans

Another season is underway for the 5th XI and after a called off home game last week, Perivale away was our call of duty.

Well Myself and the team were at Ealing Central Sports Ground at 12.55pm, I first clapped eyes on their captain at 1.20pm, only 10 min before the start, and from there on in time wasting was the name of the game.

We got started on time and proceded to 13-0 when we lost our first wicket of Peter Pate. In comes Thomas Joyce a new member at the club was quite unluckily given out LBW first ball. So stuttering on 13-2 the ever reliable Mr Andrew Cooper and Alan Lord proceded to put on a 126 partnership for the 3rd wicket.

Alan Lord was finally out for 68 with the score then 139/3 off 23 overs. Tony Brown (1), Alan Waters (13), Adam Lord of the U13's (3) and his brother Jack Lord from the U11's (0) came and went leaving the score on 209/7 with young Mr Cooper on 98.

Thankfully another new member Scott Day went in and helped Coops reach a final score of 101 and our final score was 229/8 dec after 48 overs, may i add at 5.05pm!!!!!!

Any way we got off to a good start and had them 20-2 off 8 overs when we were called to come and finally have our food at wait for it........5.55pm, bloody disgrace.

After which we had them struggling on 57-5 then the words block it out came into play. So with them on 87-5, i decided to bring on Adam Lord and his brother jack at the other end, and thankfully it worked with them both getting a wicket however they managed to survive and finish on 113/7 after 33 overs.

So a draw was the result just unlucky we didnt win but 20 points out of 2 games aint bad and if we carry on like we preformed today then the 5ths are looking good.

SO COOPS CARRY ON PLAYING FOR US PLEASE MATE.

Saturday 26th May 2007

1st XI vs. Birkbeck College

Report by: Adam Herron

Setting off early in order not to get caught in any unnecessary traffic everyone got there with plenty of time to spare, that is of course with the exception of Dave "can't follow simple directions" Hinnigan's car!! Eventually they turned up with a few minutes to spare enabling the skipper, who had one the toss, to put Birkbeck in to bat.

With the usual team talk about being positive and taking the opportunities when they come, not switching off etc. Walli and Mark opened up the bowling. What followed next was nothing short of extraordinary, their number 1 bat smashed Walli for 6 deep down into cow corner territory. It must be said though it wasn't a slog, it was just a pure aggressive shot which told us that this batsmen meant business and would be attacking from the get go. So we prepared ourselves for a torrid over as Walli ran in to bowl, however this time Walli dropped the ball slightly shorter and with the batsmen expecting the ball to come on faster than it did could only manage to pop the ball up for an easy catch for Danny "Manilow" Hare at short leg!! However, the next batsman was just as attacking and with both bowlers going for boundary we still knew it was going to be a tough day. Again though in Walli's next over a shorter ball came up trumps providing Hare with an even easier chance at short leg. Mark "Reprobate lover" Varley was replaced by Hare after just 3 over's and Hare went about his business as usual bowling good lines and lengths but along with Walli still going for regular boundaries. Walli then struck again this time LBW and Hare also got in on the wickets and they were about 60 for 4 runs and wickets continued to flow Walli bowling particularly well taking 2 more LBW's and ending with figures of 5 for 54 off about 19 over's. What was very good to see with Walli's bowling was that on a slow pitch like the Birkbeck's and his pace effectively nullified he varied his balls very well and showed a lot of maturity for someone who is still relatively new to the game. The rest of the wickets were shared between Hare (2), Fletcher (2), a run out (Herron/Mardell) and a welcome return to overseas sensation Prabhu "best tash in the league" Balachandarin (1). It must be said that our bowling and fielding (particularly a one handed diving catch in the gulley from Dave "can't catch" Hinnigan, was very good indeed and with the home team restricted to 160 runs we felt that this should be our first 30 points of the season.

However, the cricketing gods that were so implicit in us bowling/fielding so well vanished when we went out to bat. Hinnigan got a dodgy LBW decision and things went from bad to worse when Hare played a poor shot and was caught out with the scorer hardly being troubled. Jules "likes to leave the straight one" Fletcher was then bowled, leaving the straight one and we were reeling. Alan "captain of the canal boats" Barnard was the next to go gifting gulley with an easy catch trying to cut a ball to the boundary and Herron entered the fray with Edmonton still requiring just over 100 runs. Unfortunately he couldn't produce his heroics from last week and was run out backing up too much and heads were well and truly down. All the while this was going on Adeel "the man who speaks a 1000 languages" Saeed was batting soundly and putting the bad ball away when required was looking in good nick and along with Walli "boom boom" Khan who looked to play his shots from the start set about building a partnership. When Walli was given out to a dubious LBW decision things again looked bad and Adeel soon followed along with Prabhu and the score was 90 odd for 8 with Gavin "big hair" Mardell and Kevin "Big show" Lawrence at the crease. This was Gavin's big chance to be the hero and he set about constructing an inning's worthy of winning any match ably supported by the skipper and things started to look up as we declined to come off for the rain and the total needed began to shrink. Kev eventually edged one and it fell to Mark "mammoth innings required each week" Varley to join in a last wicket partnership this time to win the match as there were far too many over's to bat out. When Varley pulled a short ball for 4 the E-Unit were on there feet and suddenly it seemed we could snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, with only 8 runs required to win. Gavin was still looking strong and determined to get the job done and when he punched a ball towards mid on was confident he could get to the other end safely. However, the fielder picked up and threw down the stumps with Gavin stranded and our dreams up in smoke.

Another case of what should have been and the batsmen really do have to look at themselves as with 10 proper batsmen in the team, not being able to chase a small total such as 160 it's really not good enough. We could be top of the league now instead Indian gym are and we must really step up to the plate if we have any ambitions of ever getting out of this league. We cannot rely on someone else to do our job for us and the buck really must stop now, having all the talent in the world means nothing if we fail to use it.

Team: Saeed, Hinnigan, Hare, Fletcher, Barnard, Herron, Khan, Prabhu, Mardell, Lawrence, Varley.

2nd XI vs. Bessborough

Report by: Martin Loveday

Saturday 26th May Edmonton host Bessborough.

The weather was horrible and it was dark and cloudy, the general consensus was we would be lucky to get a game in today.

Stav went to toss up with their Skipper and lost his 5th in a row. They decided to put us in on a green wicket. We had a strong line up with Beeden, Ashley, Roche and Willett coming in and they would definitely bolster the batting. Stav sent in Smith and Hazell to open up and they had to deal with a swinging ball even though the bowlers did seem to lack accuracy, their keeper was flinging himself down leg and in front of second slip but there was amazingly very few wides given. The boys both looked solid and in the second over their left armer feed Smith boundary ball after boundary ball although some were stopped in the covers and at point 10 from the over got us off to a flyer.

Both guys were watchful and looking to punish anything bad but there was a lot in the wicket. Smith went when he tried to turn the ball through mid wicket but just chipped up into his hands on 26 no sorry that was 28..... Willett was 3 and was on the attack almost straight away. Their 2nd change left armer was feeding him rubbish that he dispatched and looked to be on for a big score. It was another poor deliver though that proved his downfall as he went to put away a leg side full toss but miss timed it up to mid on and Willett was gone for 12. Young Chris Arul was next in at 4 after his good knock last week and he and James set about regrouping and keeping the scoring rate going. The boys both played some good looking shots and didn't ever really look in trouble. The score went past 160 and Hazell reached a very well constructed and patient 50, Chris was not far behind on 35 at this point. Chris also reached his maiden senior 50 and he looked very good. Hazell departed with the score on about 185 and Roche joined Chris at the crease. 42 overs gone and we were hoping for a score of around 240. At this point Roche and Arul started to swing the bat as we had many wickets in hand and the score started to increase at a good rate Chris with some subtle timing and Roche with some powerful strokes over the boundary. Roche was out on 48 overs and Perera went in but we declared with the score on 232 for 4 off 49 overs. Chris had amassed 85 runs not out and I don't recall him even giving the oppo a half chance to grab his wicket.

Tea was had and everyone agreed that there was enough in the wicket and we had the bowling to bowl them out.

We started and already rain was in the air. An early wicket from Loveday caught by Dodds at Mid on got us off to a good start. Dodds followed this up with an early one himself, slower ball and bowled we were in control. It should be mentioned that they would only have 9 wickets as one played dislocated his finger whilst fielding and would not bat. The rain was getting heavier but not enough to stop the game although the ball was getting very wet rapidly. Dodds got another and was bowling well, an under edge was well caught behind. With the ball getting wetter and the ground slightly slippery some bad deliveries resulted in some boundaries. They were 4 down when Loveday bowled their number 5. Dodds got their 6 with a full toss which had him bowled middle stump and we were in total control. 21 overs gone and we left the field as the rain was relentless and although Stav was eager to get back on and take the 10 points we deserved it was the sensible choice to stop as the light was bad, it was slippery and both Loveday and Dodds struggled with their footing and it was still raining.

The captains shock hands and that was the game.

Team in batting order: Hazell, Smith, Willett, Arul, Roche, Perera, Baker, Beeden, Dodds, Elia, Loveday.

5th XI vs. South Loughton

Report by: David Sans

We were due to play Ickenham in a league game at home but for the third game in a row Ickenham forfeited the game and 20 points to us.

They say they had 17 players out within the club due to exams, I aint so sure about that, I reckon they got worried after hearing coops got his maiden ton, cos after all exams in half term week, still not complaining the 20 points has put the 5th XI in 3rd place after 3 out of 18 games, also unbeaten, and only 8 points off top.

Well on with the match, we managed to get a fixture off the Internet, with the oppo being South Loughton CC.

For the second time of the season I managed to win the toss, 2 out 2 not bad hey. I decided to have a bat and opened with Peter Pate and Andrew Cooper. You'll have to forgive me here as I don't have the book in front of me, so I can't say the exact partnership scores, but I can remember some scores. Well Coops got out for 20 and we had about 30 on the board for the first wicket. Peter Pate was then out for 16, that was two down, then Andy Belcher and Thomas Joyce put on a little partnership before Thomas was out for about 12. Andy Belcher then carry on ticking the score over with others chipping in and Andy was finally out for about 33 I believe.

Might not sound a lot but on a square that is only two years old, so is still keeping a bit low and slow it was a good knock. I had to declare on 164/6 off 45 overs with it being 5pm and getting colder by the minute.

So we had tea then made our way back out onto the field, joined by a umpire, hang I know that bloke... it's Roger... Cheers dad you gonna do some umpiring...yes you know that. Well yes I have to admit I did as he has said he will umpire the second innings of our home games.

But after Adam Lord from the under 13's got the only break through of our bowling, the heavens opened, and dad and the other teams skipper decided to call the game off, after all it was starting to get very heavy. So a abandoned game was the result, just a shame me dad had to ring the oppo's fixture sec, the following day for their tea money.

I hope this match report meets the standards of the last one, cos I was amazed with the compliments about the last one, after all I will admit I wasn't great at English at school. So come on the 5th's, bring on Highgate 4th XI away at the Wilf Slack ground this Saturday, weather permitting.