1st XI go marching on

The 1st XI were away at nearby Old Finchleians competing for the Sea Rock derby on an overcast day with some showers throughout the day. The home side won the toss and elected to bowl first.

Danny Potter and Naz Asif opened the batting for the Village, but within 5 overs, were both back in the hutch after being caught at slip and by the bowler respectively. Majid Asif and Marcus Cara were the next two batsmen in and looked to rebuild the innings and were watchful early on against the opening bowlers who did not give much away in their opening spells of 7 overs each. The change bowlers did not apply the same pressure as the opening pair and both Majid & Marcus began to put away the odd bad ball to tick the score over and bring the score towards 100 at drinks. Marcus was first to bring up a deserved 50 and was soon followed by Majid as the platform was set for a total of around 250. Unfortunately this was curtailed as first Majid was caught after reaching his half century and then a few overs later Marcus also holed out, but the pair had put on a handy 113 run partnership though. Felix Charles looked to steady the innings but didn't get much help from Dave Overton, Kudzai Makopa or Saahil Mehra who departed without troubling the score, although Sars was extremely unfortunate to be given out on the most obvious bump ball ever! Felix would depart soon after and the Village had gone from a decent position of 130-2 to 162-8 with 10 overs to spare. Thankfully the long batting line up wagged at the end with James Thompson, Obaid Ur Rehman & Shash Seem adding 49 runs for the last 2 wickets mainly down to some lusty blows from both Obaid & Shash as the Village were bowled out for 211 with 2.4 overs remaining of their innings.

Saahil Mehra & Marcus Cara opened the bowling for the Village and Marcus especially was extremely stingy as he gave away nothing early on to put the pressure on the batsman, although this was helped by Mo Amir (a former Village player) opening the batting in what he must have thought was a test match as he never looked like playing an attacking shot in anger. Somehow Marcus did not take a wicket but his figures of 10-5-13-0 were extremely impressive considering his 2nd over went for 8! Shash Seem & Majid Asif were the change bowlers and continued the good work of the opening pair as runs were hard to come by for the home side and the pressure eventually told as wickets fell fairly regularly with Majid picking up a 5 wicket haul for his efforts with Shash also picking one up in the process. Naz Asif, Dave Overton & Kudzai Makopa would each pick up a wicket apiece as well as a run out by Saahil as the Village coasted home in the end, although the game probably should have been wrapped up a lot early if the Village could hold onto the numerous chances that were created. Unbelievable 11 chances went down in this game, and is starting to become an issue for the side that they will have to get right for next week with top of the league coming to the Village.

Majid Asif & Marcus Cara were the stand out performers on the day with their 113 run partnership to see the Village post a competitive total and then both bowling exceptionally well to restrict the home side. A comfortable although pain stacking victory in the end, but four wins from four is an excellent start to the league campaign.