Village win a thrilling and very tight cricket match

The Development side returned to action after a convincing first win over N2 last week. This time around they were playing Mayfield CC. Captain Phil Smith lost the toss and the opposition sent the Village in. Farzan hit 11 of an eventful first over, while nearly losing the ball twice, before being caught by the bowler. The first ball that he faced was an almighty six, before cracking a lovely four on his second ball. There were other good starts from Village batsmen, but no one went on to make a big score with Inthi (13), James S (12), Sonny (10) and Ronit (13) all getting starts and scoring boundaries before getting out. The pick of the batsmen in the top order was 13 year old Aryan who made a well-crafted 25 with three boundaries along the way, he was well supported by Inthi in a 42 run partnership for the second wicket. Mayfield were short of numbers but were helped by the home side rotating fielders every five overs, to push them up to 10 fielders throughout the innings.

With his side in a bit of trouble, all the top 6 gone and the score being 106 for 6, out stepped skipper Phil. He used his powerful shots well to score 8 boundaries: 7 fours and a massive six. The Village could not quite get past 200 as Alexander got bowled and Mo was caught on the boundary after he was dropped by the same fielder, who took a good catch to dismiss him on the second time of asking. James got run out looking for a second run and with Jack getting injured, he was also unable to complete a second run, off the fourth last ball of the innings, so Phil ran out of partners. Nevertheless it was an impressive skipper’s contribution making 54 not out. The first innings score ended on 194 all out.

Chetinder and Jack opened the bowling. With his accurate line and length, Chetinder was a constant menace to the Mayfield batsmen. He bowled very well for the four opening overs to claim two wickets due to an lbw and a catch. Despite being injured, Jack bowled well, but struggled to get some rhythm off his shortened run and was taken off after his 4 opening overs conceded 32. The first change bowlers, James C and Alexander claimed three wickets between them. James bowled five overs and despite conceding a few boundaries, he got the wicket he deserved, at a crucial time, with a simple catch for Jack. Off-spinner Alexander (arguably was the best bowler!) took a wicket with his first ball, which was a long hop down the leg side, but the opening batsman managed to nick it and Farzan took a good catch behind the stumps. He conceded a few boundaries including a six which was nearly caught on the boundary, though he bowled well for his six overs, getting another wicket by bowling one which kept low. A commendable effort must go to Aryan, who batted for the second time in the day, on loan, as the opposition were short on numbers. He again batted nicely, this time getting nine runs. Needing 73 off 15 overs, the target looked well within reach until Ronit came on with his quick pace on the ball and the opposition batsmen struggled to get him away. Despite not taking a wicket, he created pressure, and returned figures of 0 for 27, which did not quite reflect his decent effort with the ball. Spinner Mo conceded a few boundaries, though he did bowl when the batsmen had to go for it, and still restricted the amount of runs the opposition got.

As the match came down the stretch Mayfield required 23 runs of 12 balls. Alexander then bowled a really impressive tight over of quick darts onto the stumps and only conceded one run, to finish with figures of 2 for 26 off his 7 overs. Even though the first ball of the last over went for a six, the game was up and Mo finished the job off by only conceding three more runs off the final over to seal the victory by 12 runs.
Another great, hard-fought win for the Mill Hill Village Development side making them unbeaten from two games.

By Alexander Subramaniam