Bashed by Shash (with assistance from Crocker and Ali)

The leafy surroundings of The Rudolf Steiner School in Kings Langley were the setting for the first match of the second half of the season. The skipper lost the toss and we were asked to bat on the narrow school pitch. Zaf and Crocker rattled along at nearly 5 an over for 15 overs until Zaf was adjudged LBW by the Kings Langley umpire (71/1, 15 overs). Andrew Teague (3) was unlucky to glove a ball that popped up from off spinner Richard Davis to the keeper a few overs later (81/2). Lee Crocker (59) reached his 50 with a 4 and looked set to unleash with a 6 off the next ball but chipped the ball back to give Davis an easy caught and bowled the ball after (92/3). Pete Jaffe (13) pulled a full toss over the clubhouse before producing a replay of last years 'favourite' dismissal by slapping the ball to cover (110/4), with Darshan Raval (4) falling to the curse of the Nelson by swinging and missing in the following over and being bowled by Josh Oldham (111/5). Kudzai Makopa (4) clipped a 4 nicely off his legs but was trapped LBW on the back foot an over later (115/6, 29th over). Ayush Shah and Dave Flavell attempted to introduce some stability to the innings with Ayush looking comfortable driving but the skipper scratched around until he top edged to gully (121/7). Ali Javed and Ayush then pushed on until Ayush (14) clipped a ball and was caught at square leg (134/8). Ali (11) snicked to keeper shortly afterwards (147/9, 42nd over) to bring Pryank in to join Shash. Shash was clearly not having the troubles that the middle order had and tucked into the bowling with no inhibitions, smashing the ball around for the next 8 overs to take us past 200 and reach his 50 with yet another boundary (4 singles, 7 fours, 3 sixes from 37 balls), ably supported by Pryank (7*). The skipper then declared on 203 from 50 overs.

We trudged back to the Kings Langley main ground looking forward to tea to find that it had already been eaten by the Kings Langley and West Herts 1st teams due to a communication breakdown, though they left enough cake to at least fill a few gaps. The regular opening pair of Ali Javed and Darshan Raval were opposed by a very decent pair of openers in Sifan Naeem and Minesh Patel, who looked untroubled whilst pushing along at 3 an over, playing shots freely. Naeem was middling every shot and was unfortunate to clip one of his few aerial shots to Pryank Patel at square leg who held on to a brisk catch to dismiss him for 29 (34/1, 11th over). Pryank repeated this a couple of overs later with a lovely one handed diving catch to dismiss youngster Harry Misselbrook (0) (42/2). Change bowler Shash then joined in the fun, with Dave Flavell taking an regulation catch at mid off to remove Minesh Patel for 13 (42/3). Wickets then tumbled at regular intervals to Ali and Shash, with Pryank also getting one, and the Kings Langley innings ended on 93 in the 36th over to give us the 30 points.

This ended up as a routine victory thanks largely to the batting of Lee Crocker (59) and Shash Seem (50*), and the usual excellence from the bowling attack. Ali took his first 5 wicket haul to end up with 5 for 26, with Shash taking 4 for 26. The form of the middle order remains a worry..... Still, we are top of the league by 26 points.

Kings Langley IIIs 4 points, Mill Hill Village 2's 30 points.

Next up Leverstock Green III's at home.