Winning start for the 2’s

The 2015 campaign started with the 2’s hosting Rickmansworth IIIs at the Burtonhole Oval on a chilly May day. The new format was 50 overs each side for the first 5 games, the toss was won and the opposition inserted on a dampish wicket. The opposition openers enjoyed a charmed life against the accurate probing attack of Ali Javed and Darshan Raval, with chances regularly dropping just short of fielders. The inevitable breakthrough came with Ali having Rory Cusack caught by Ajay Bhatia at cover, shortly followed by trapping Ray Hibbert plumb LBW attempting to pull a ball that kept low. Adeel Usman joined the procession of wickets, slashing at a wide ball from Ajay and lofting a high catch easily taken by Pete Jaffe at cover. Neil Burdett and Sam Stabler then put together the only significant partnership of the innings, with Burdett blocking and Stabler smashing any loose ball. The partnership was eventually broken when David Flavell bowled Burdett. Stabler followed caught at mid off by Flavell off the bowling of Lee Cara and the tail was wrapped up with little resistance by Lee Cara and Flavell, ending at 126 all out from 43 overs.

Kath Kelly’s wonderful tea was devoured and openers Lee Crocker and Shash Seem set about the target with some relish, dispatching the Ricky openers to all parts of the ground before Shash departed for 16 at 57 for 1 in only the 7th over. Crocker continued to brutalise the bowling but Jonny Gahan was bowled for 3 (72/2) and Crocker bowled by Asim Butt for a dashing 52, mostly from boundaries (87/3). The fine start looked to have taken the game away from Rickmansworth, but Pete Jaffe (6) departed from a loopy leading edge (92-4), followed almost immediately by Darshan Raval (Quack) (92/5), also bowled by Butt. Lee Cara then attempted to impersonate Crocker but lofted to mid on to leave us on 99 for 6 with Rickmansworth scenting an unlikely victory. Zaf Basit (23*) and David Flavell with a Lawrence Bird-style 1* saw us home for what looked like a comfortable victory on the scorescard.

The bowling attack was excellent, led by Ali Javed and Darshan Raval, backed up by Andrew Godfrey and Ajay Bhatia, all of whom put the opposition under so much pressure to both stay in and up the scoring rate that the bits and bobs bowlers Lee Cara (4 for 18) and David Flavell (3 for 24) reaped the benefit. Fielding was good too, with special ‘commitment’ shown by Andrew Godfrey and Darshan Raval.

Batting is always tough on damp May wickets and the swashbuckling approach taken by Lee Crocker and Shash Seem might be the best one until the pitches dry out.

Mill Hill Village IIs 30 points, Rickmansworth IIIs 8 points